Launched today, the Mackenzie Charitable Giving Fund is the first charitable giving fund of its kind offered by a mutual fund company in Canada. It allows Canadians the opportunity to grant money to the charities of their choice each year, and uses the expertise of well respected Mackenzie and third-party fund managers to seek to grow the value of their original donation over time.
“The perception is that you have to be a millionaire to be a philanthropist, but that’s simply not the case; with the Mackenzie Charitable Giving Fund you get benefits similar to your own private foundation for as little as $25,000,” said Brad Offman, vp, strategic philanthropy for Mackenzie Investments. “Setting up a charitable gift fund can help maximize the potential of your donation. Planned giving is like creating a garden: planning and preparing produces better results than just scattering seeds into the wind.”
“We expect to increase the awareness about charitable giving in Canada by offering this new approach through the more than 30,000 financial advisors that work with Mackenzie,” Offman added.
The program offers donors the opportunity to:
- Set up an account that may be named by the donor;
- Make donations to the fund of either cash, securities and insurance;
- Pay no capital gains tax on “in kind” donations of securities;
- Receive a tax receipt for each donation;
- Recommend grants annually to their favourite charities (select from over 80,000 registered Canadian charities) based generally on the amount of the income generated annually; and
- create a charitable legacy.
For more information you can visit the Mackenzie Charitable Giving Fund website at: www.mackenziefinancial.com/giving