We help you leave your mark. Community, family, leadership and prosperity for generations to come can all be part of your legacy when you join the Legacy Society at the Toronto Community Foundation.
Our Legacy Society is a community of devoted Torontonians who have selected us as their permanent means of giving back to the city they love and the causes they care about. And it's as easy as selecting us as a beneficiary of your estate or your life insurance policy.
As a member of the Legacy Society, we work with you to ensure the permanent endowment created at the time of your passing reflects your wishes for giving in the community. Some members entrust their families to serve as a selection council, which ensures flexibility in the Fund and creates a sense of family unity around philanthropy.
We'll work with you and/or your professional advisor to be sure everything is set up in a manner that reflects your wishes.
A Few Simple Choices
It's easy to join our Legacy Society. We'll do all the paperwork and work with your professional advisors and executor to finalize the arrangements at the appropriate time. You just need to make three decisions:
1. Ways to Give
When joining the Legacy Society at the Toronto Community Foundation, you may do so by simply including us in your estate - but we also accept various other methods of contributions. We also accept appreciated assets such as securities, real estate, life insurance, gifts-in-kind, RRSPs and RRIFs. We will work with you and your professional advisor to help determine what works best for you and your family.
Learn more about the different ways to give later ››
2. Type of Fund
You have the flexibility to choose a Fund that meets your needs. To help make this decision, a member of our team would be happy to explain the options in further detail and offer a recommendation based on your charitable interests and philanthropic intentions.
- Donor Advised Fund: You select representative(s) to direct grants to charitable organizations of their choice.
Learn more about Donor Advised Funds ››
Compare a Donor Advised Fund, a private foundation, and a bank ›› - Vital Toronto Fund: Your gift to our community endowment helps us respond to our city's most pressing needs, as identified in our annual Toronto's Vital Signs® Report.
- Field-of-Interest Fund: You identify specific areas you care about and rely on our experience and expertise to make effective grants.
- Designated Fund: You designate one or more charitable organizations in the arrangements for your Fund, and we'll grant to them every year.
3. Name Your Fund
Many Fundholders use their Funds to engage their families in philanthropy and so they choose to give their Fund the family name. Quite often, though, members will use their own name(s), which allows the Fund to forever commemorate a life well lived and a lasting legacy.
What our Fundholders are Saying
"We truly believe that the community foundation is the heart and soul of any community. That's why we took out an insurance policy and named the Toronto Community Foundation our beneficiary. While today, we like managing our private foundation, we know we can trust the Toronto Community Foundation to use these resources well as part of our lasting legacy in Toronto."
- Joan and John VanDuzer, Harbinger Foundation
More Information
Learn more about the top 10 reasons people choose the Toronto Community Foundation ››
Learn more about the Toronto Community Foundation and what we do ››
