Your charitable giving can have an important impact. Every year Canadians give more than $10 billion to charitable causes, according to Statistics Canada. The motivation for giving is personal and for many it is a statement about who they are. A great deal of care and forethought is devoted to choosing the right way to give.
With this in mind, RBC has partnered with Charitable Gift Funds Canada Foundation to offer our clients a way to include charitable giving as part of their long-term financial plans. You have the opportunity to contribute to your own individual charitable gift fund, which you can name. The fund is managed by your investment advisor and administered by Gift Funds Canada.
Gift Funds Canada is an independent non-profit and has been registered as a public foundation with Canada Revenue Agency since 2003.
By establishing your own charitable gift fund, you receive a tax receipt for your donation up front. The donation is held and invested within your fund, managed by your RBC advisor. Grants to charities are made at your discretion: you choose to whom, when, and how much to give.
There are multiple ways to donate to your fund, which can include making cash donations or transferring securities. You can qualify for an additional tax advantage by donating securities with unrealized capital gains, in effect avoiding the capital gains tax you would owe in the event you sold the securities instead.
You have the ability to accept donations from other parties, perhaps family and friends, or by raising money through a charitable event.
You are able to include others as named grant advisors to make grant requests on your behalf. By naming a successor to carry on your charitable legacy you can continue your giving across generations. Without a named successor, Gift Funds Canada would step in and make grant requests according to your stated preferences.
The RBC Charitable Gift Program gives you the freedom make donations when they are most tax advantageous for you, while providing you the time to plan your grants effectively.
To find out more about the RBC Charitable Gift Program, please speak to your RBC advisor. Here are some additional resources: our comprehensive brochure, Charitable giving; and Creating an enduring legacy, about the RBC Charitable Gift Program itself.