Stories

Where the personal meets the collective

Donors to Hamilton Community Foundation are offered a simple way to maximize their impact while supporting the issues they most care about: contribute to the Community Fund alongside their personal causes. And they are taking advantage of it.

Joan Heels, for example, established a donor-advised fund to support vocal awards and music. But she has specified additional support to the Community Fund because, she says, “I also want to be sure I am giving HCF the power to meet needs they identify through their research and community knowledge.”

Similarly, the Great Lakes Trust Fund incorporates support to the Community Fund alongside donor Loren King’s passion for “a forever fund by open water swimmers, to give back to our home waters.”

The Community Fund is the Foundation’s most flexible fund: the one that powers big picture, community-wide initiatives like ABACUS for education and SCAFFOLD’s leadership on affordable housing. It’s also the fund that is ready to respond when needed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Community Fund grants went out immediately so that local organizations could meet the city’s needs right away. In short, it allows the Foundation to think big and be nimble.

Donor-directed funds can support the Community Fund (CF) in three ways: build a percentage donation to the CF into their fund agreement, make a regular grant to the CF from their fund, and/or designate the CF as the final recipient of their fund when it winds up. Any of these options are easy to put in place with HCF staff.

HCF’s Vice-President, Philanthropic Services, Andrea Buttars sums up the strategy: “Donors can give to their favourite causes while also supporting broader community needs that are often underfunded. In this way, charitable giving is both meaningful personally and powerful collectively. We can’t overstate the impact of that commitment.”

Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report