BMO Financial Group and Community Foundations of Canada, the largest network of public foundations in Canada, today launched Supporting Your Community, the first and most widely available philanthropic program of its kind in Canada.

Supporting Your Community is the first collaboration between a major Canadian financial institution and CFC’s network of Community Foundations. The program joins BMO’s force of more than 2,200 investment professionals with over 130 community foundations across the country, to create more opportunities for donors to make charitable contributions that have a lasting, local impact. With a minimum donation of $25,000, donors can create their own charitable fund.

Supporting Your Community helps donors formalize their giving and provides them with the charitable and financial advice to help maximize the impact of their. The program will also help donors choose which local issues or charitable organizations they want to support and co-ordinate all grant-making activities.

“This highly collaborative effort between BMO Financial Group and CFC sends a strong signal to prospective philanthropists that building a permanent endowment for a charitable cause is now available to more Canadians than ever,” said Bill Downe, Deputy Chair, BMO Financial Group and Chief Executive Officer, BMO Nesbitt Burns and Head of Investment Banking, in a news release.

BMO Financial Group chairman and CEO Tony Comper and his wife Elizabeth will create the first charitable fund under the new program.

To establish an endowment, the donor meets with a BMO advisor to discuss the program, the types of donations that can be made and how their donation will fit into their overall financial plan, including providing taxation and investment advice.

The advisor introduces the donor to the appropriate Community Foundation and sets up an initial meeting. Working together with the Community Foundation, the donor identifies the causes or organizations to which the funds will be directed. The Community Foundation manages the granting and administration of the donations.

Each gift through Supporting Your Community will continue to give year after year, because it will be part of a permanent fund, invested and managed by BMO, to protect the principal and optimize the value of the grants.

The program will be expanded across the country, and is initially available to any Canadian interested in giving in 28 community foundations across the country.

For a complete list of participating community foundations, please refer to the attached news release.