Wendat Community Programs and Huronia Community Foundation partner on endowment fund

NEWS RELEASE
HURONIA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION/WENDAT COMMUNITY PROGRAMS
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On July 24, Wendat Community Programs and Huronia Community Foundation (HCF) signed an agreement to open the Wendat Community Programs Endowment Fund and make the first deposit.

Executive Director of HCF, Scott Warnock remarks “I have had a long term affiliation with Wendat and I am delighted that they are taking this step to help secure their financial future.”

Funds placed in an Endowment Fund are held in perpetuity, generating income to be disbursed to charity on an ongoing, annual basis. “An Agency Endowment Fund will create a financial bedrock for the agency, and help sustain its services forever” said Roberta Bald, President of HCF’s board of directors.

“As a financial planner, I certainly appreciate the need for not only emergency reserves but thinking and planning for the long term” remarks Michael Webb, President of Wendat.

Universities and hospitals have known the value of Endowment Funds for decades. HCF is now on a mission to convince smaller, local charities to have the same long term financial plan. And they are having good success.

The list of Endowment Funds supporting local charities can be found on the Foundation’s website. It includes lots of smaller charities like Askennonia Seniors Centre, Gateway Centre for Learning, Hospice Huronia, Sistema and Huronia Community Players. Now Wendat Community Programs will be added to the list with the signing of this Fund agreement.

“It can be hard for charities to think about planning for 30 to 50 years down the road when we are facing so many community needs right now” said Andrea Abbott-Kokosin, Executive Director of Wendat Community Programs. “But we also know that the needs will only increase for the two target groups we serve, frail seniors and adults disabled by mental illness, and we want Wendat to still be here 50 years from now and able to help.”

Wendat’s board was encouraged to start an Endowment Fund by former Wendat Executive Director, Lorna Tomlinson who now sits on the HCF board as a volunteer. 

“I only had one regret when I retired after 3 decades as the ED of Wendat. It was that I did not start a Wendat Endowment Fund 30 years ago” comments Lorna Tomlinson. “If I had done that, with yearly contributions and the power of compound interest, there would be well over a million dollars in that Fund today. Money that could continue to generate tens of thousands of dollars annually for Wendat, year after year, forever.”

In addition to agency Endowment Funds, HCF has many Funds set up by businesses, individuals, or families often as a memorial to a loved one. The Fund holder determines which charity will receive the proceeds from the Fund and this can change from year to year. Agency Endowment Funds, on the other hand, only support the agency that established the Fund. All moneys in HCF’s Endowment Funds are invested jointly with many other Community Foundations and have earned an average in excess of 7.5 per cent over the past 7 years.