Good Things Come in Threes

The Community Foundation of Ottawa is celebrating success with the establishment of three new Supporting Your Community funds worth close to $500,000.

“This is an outcome of the effort that our foundation put into the program mere days after the SYC program was launched,” said Bibi Patel, the foundation’s Director of Development and Donor Services. “We’ve developed excellent relationships with our BMO colleagues at every level and this is the result.”

For instance, Paul St. Louis, Regional Director Wealth Services, BMO Harris Private Banking has become a real champion of SYC.

St. Louis helped shepherd a donation of more than $400,000 through the SYC process recently after a Nesbitt Burns client left 80% of his estate to charity. When the Investment Advisor met with the client’s nephew, who was executor of his estate, he mentioned the SYC program as an option for meeting his uncle’s charitable goals. The advisor then referred the client to Paul St. Louis.

While Patel worked with the donor via email, she chose to keep BMO in the loop every step of the way. “They are my partners in this venture, so I keep them involved,” said Patel. “It’s also a great way to show them how the relationship is evolving.”

Also, when Tony Bennett, Vice President and Regional Director, BMO Harris Investment Management Inc., was reviewing a client’s portfolio he immediately thought of Supporting Your Community to help his client manage her unrealized capital gains. Another fund was started with a $14,000 gift from a client whose grandmother gave her a piano when she was six years old.

“The client wanted to leave proceeds from her estate to her favourite charity,” said Bennett. “But by giving through SYC she received tax benefits and was able to make – and enjoy – the gift while she was still living.” Her fund will be used to help a disadvantaged student studying piano at the University of Toronto’s conservatory.

In the midst of success, Patel is quick to point out that the foundation’s relationship with BMO has been years in the making. Within days of the SYC program launch, CFO was meeting with more than a dozen investment advisors at Nesbitt Burns. Then they followed up with smaller meetings and one-on-one discussions in the other lines of business.

“We recognized that this was a big leap into the philanthropic world,” said Patel, “so we really worked at it.” The foundation also designed special information packages for meeting participants and did a lot of travelling to various BMO boardrooms.

“We’ve really seen this program evolve over time,” said Patel. “During our first meetings, there was some interest. Then several champions became engaged. Now, there is widespread interest in the program and questions and interest is coming from all corners.

Patel uses donor stories to bring the SYC concept to life for advisors in BMO’s various business lines. One of her favourite stories involves a donor who set up a fund in memory of her husband. For the first year, Patel couldn’t get her to think about other options for her fund aside from the one she had in mind. Then, they slowly began to connect more regularly. Today, after many small steps forward over a three-year period, she is an incredibly engaged donor, starting to get informed about the community, interested in going on site visits to grantee organizations and talking about potential volunteer opportunities.

“My point is this: Call us! We can make giving come alive for your client,” says Patel. “I want our BMO colleagues to understand how we work with people and how it may take years to build the relationship, but the rewards are enormous.”