Creating an enduring legacy

RBC Charitable Gift Program

Whether you want to help advance life-saving medical research, boost educational efforts, sustain environmental initiatives, support the arts or assist others, your charitable giving can have a real and lasting impact in your community and beyond.

A convenient way to create your legacy

The RBC Charitable Gift Program (CGP), administered by Charitable Gift Funds Canada Foundation, helps make charitable giving easier for you and your family. The CGP is a simple and efficient way to give during your lifetime and/or from your estate that combines immediate tax benefits with the flexibility to support your favourite charities over time and across generations.

Establishing a charitable gift fund (CGF) provides many of the same advantages as a private foundation, without the upfront costs, complexity and ongoing administration responsibilities. Easy to establish and comparatively low in cost, a CGF is a flexible fund that you can tailor to your philanthropic goals.

How does it work?

1 – Give

Founding donor(s) establishes and names CGF

• Initial irrevocable donation minimum of $25,000 is made now or planned in advance as an estate gift.
  
• Donor receives tax receipt for the fair market value of the donation.

2 – Grow

Donation is held and invested within the named CGF

• Donated funds grow in a tax-exempt manner.
  
• Funds are managed by your RBC advisor, allowing for a customized, balanced investment approach.
  
• Your RBC advisor continues to work closely with you to help ensure your charitable giving goals complement your overall wealth management approach and fit into your financial plan.

3 – Grant

Founding donor(s) and grant advisor(s) submit grant requests for their charities of choice

• Grant requests must be a minimum of $250.
  
• Grant requests are unlimited, can be automated or made on-demand.
  
• Founding donor(s) can name grant advisors — persons who can also make grant requests from the CGF.
  
• Grant amounts and recipients can differ with each grant request.

Flexible program benefits

• Support charities that are close to your heart, now and in the future, including from your estate.
  
• Ability to contribute a wide variety of gifts — cash, securities, insurance policies.
  
• Plan ahead for an estate gift. Open and name a fund, and set legacy plans in place, without needing to make a donation now.
  
• A flex fund means no time restrictions on being able to dip into your capital contributions. This allows you to customize your charitable giving and granting on timelines that suit you.

Continuity

A CGF enables you to include family or others now in your lifetime by naming them as grant advisor(s) and to continue your giving across generations as named fund successor(s) to carry on your charitable legacy. If you name an individual as a fund successor, that person plays a similar role to that of the founding donor(s). If you choose not to name a fund successor, the foundation can be left to administer your fund and you can provide your legacy intentions so that grant requests will continue according to your preferences.

Your grant advisors, fund succession and legacy intentions can be updated at any time.

Trust

The RBC CGP is committed to the highest standards of professional practice and compliance.

Impact

Through both how and when you make contributions and grant disbursements, the RBC CGP allows you to shape and define your giving — whatever your areas of interest, you can make a difference for the causes you care most about.

If you would like to schedule some time to discuss the items outlined in this article, please click here to access our meeting scheduler.