Your Legacy Forever – Saskatchewan Community Foundation

Give where you live.

Starting a Legacy Fund is a meaningful way to honour a life well-lived while giving back to the community that shaped it.

Thanks for coming to our site. This webpage and ad campaign that brought you here are from the Saskatchewan Community Foundation.

For the past two summers, as well as this current one, we’ve had a small but mighty team go out into communities, knock on doors, talk about the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, and ask for permission to put up lawn signs.

It’s been a positive experience and our outreach team has had more than 1,900 conversations!

From those hundreds of conversations, they compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions:

What’s a Community Foundation?

Community foundations can be found around the world. There are more than 200 in Canada, and we are one of seven community foundations in Saskatchewan. Most community foundations help people create funds and give grants to charities, but that’s often just one piece of what we do.

What is the Saskatchewan Community Foundation?

The Saskatchewan Community Foundation has been around since 1969. It started as the Regina Community Foundation, then grew into the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation, and in 2026, we officially became the Saskatchewan Community Foundation. This name change reflects the reach of our Community Foundation and the provincial partnerships we are now a part of. We are happy to work in any area of the province that doesn’t have access to a local community foundation.

At the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, we have many different funds for donors, charities, communities, organizations, and businesses to help create community impact. While we have many funds and initiatives, Legacy Funds are the backbone what we do.

What is a Legacy Fund?

While we have many different funds for donors, charities, communities, organizations, and businesses, the Legacy Fund is the backbone of our Community Foundation.

Legacy Funds work on the principles of Give, Grow, Grant.

GIVE: Our Legacy Fund, also known as an endowed fund, is like a permanent savings account. It’s permanent because donations that go into the fund stay in the fund.

GROW: The money in the fund is pooled and invested. Once the fund has a minimum of $10,000 and has had time to create earnings (usually about a year), the fund is ready to grant out.

GRANT: When the fund is ready, donors make recommendations of where to grant. This means part of the earnings will go to the charity or charities of their choice. The grant amount is usually between 3.5% to 5% of the fund total.

What’s special about a Legacy Fund is that if you had a $10,000 fund, after around year 23, you would have given more to charity than the initial $10,000 donation and your fund will continue to grant each year it grows. That’s why it’s a great option for sustainable giving.

Why should I donate through you instead of directly giving to a charity?

Giving directly to a charity is a great option and one we fully support. In fact, we also have funds (click here to learn more: https://saskfoundation.ca/donors/leave-a-legacy) for immediate giving and we also help charities collect donations for events and campaigns. Many of our donors chose to give to causes immediately (through us or independently) but most have a Legacy Fund. This is because a Legacy Fund supports sustainable and long-term giving.

Also, because a Legacy Fund joins our large investment pool, there are cost savings and benefits including 9.2% average return for the last 10 years.

What kinds of charities do you support?

With the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, donors make recommendations of what registered charities the grants go towards. Grants from your fund can be made to any Canadian registered charity for impacts local and beyond. Our team will meet with you to identify your goals for community impact and the charities that you wish to support.

If you are unsure of where to grant to, we often use our Vital Signs Report to guide conversations and help highlight our community’s current challenges. Based on extensive research, the report identifies the five most pressing needs within our community with additional data and stories to help you learn more. We encourage you to explore the report at www.growingfuturesreport.ca.

What are the fees?

Every organization incurs administrative expenses, such as office space rental and staff wages. Legacy Funds allows the Community Foundation to be a completely self-sufficient organization. Admin fees ranging from 0.5% to 2% (depending on the type of fund and fund balance) fund our operation. We are a lean and fully self-sustaining organization that is built to last forever.

Over the past fifteen years, our investments have earned over 8% on average. This means that, historically, the investment returns have more than covered the administrative fees while allowing for annual granting (usually between 3.5% to 5%) and continued growth of the fund over time. Like a tree growing with time, the beauty of a legacy fund is that the impact also grows over the years.

To see the exact breakdown of these expenses, you can visit our website’s publication’s section and view our Audited Financial Statements here: www.saskfoundation.ca/reports

Who owns/runs you?

As a charity registered with the Canada Revenue Agency for 56 years, we are truly owned by the community. There is no single person, organization, nor entity that owns us, but rather a board of community-minded individuals who governs the organization. If we were to ever cease operations (which should never happen) or merge with another organization, our assets would transfer to another community foundation and continue to benefit charitable causes.

How do I know this is a trustworthy organization?

Transparency is key. We believe that to build a trusting relationship with our community, openness is essential. We practice this on our website where under the ‘Publications’ section, you can see yearly summaries of our grant distributions, investment reports, financial statements, and annual reports. In 2025 alone, we granted out over $7 million to 279 charities, and they are all listed on our website.

We are governed by a board of directors composed of community members who hold us accountable to our bylaws and the Saskatchewan Non-Profit Corporations Act that we operate under. We are also a member of the Community Foundations of Canada, whose own bylaws and regulations are an added layer of responsibility we adhere by to remain accountable.

We hold ourselves to the highest standard for transparency and accountability because we understand that trust is earned, not given.

Do my donations pay for your advertising?

No. This campaign was paid for by a wonderful anonymous donor who wants to see the Saskatchewan Community Foundation grow. 😊