This text is part of the Philanthropy special

As baby boomers age, the capital available to support the community increases.

In addition to charities (which include non-profit organizations) and public foundations, private foundations – whose assets can be donated by a company or family – are growing in importance in the country. The organization Philanthropic Foundations Canada As of September 2022, there were 970 private foundations for 1083 public foundations in Quebec. Across Canada, the number of private foundations has increased steadily since 2005, while the number of public foundations has changed little.

The wealth increase

If Daniel Asselin is now Senior Director of Philanthropic Development at Fondation de l’Université de Sherbrooke, he has been around the world of charities for several decades and knows the Quebec portrait well. He has observed an acceleration in private philanthropic culture since the 2000s. “Individual donors and extended families have gotten rich over the last 25 years,” he says. This allowed them to sort of take the place of corporate donations, which, while exceptional during the pandemic, have tended to stagnate over the past twenty years. In fact, the generosity expert believes Quebec’s entire philanthropic base is “breaking through the glass ceiling.” “Some small organizations that live off two to three events a year certainly struggle, but most large organizations are very active right now and are achieving their goals,” he notes.

The significant growth of private foundations is also noticeable for Lili-Ana Pereša, President and CEO of the McConnell Foundation ($716 million in assets) and who has been involved in the philanthropic community for more than 20 years. “Currently, there is clearly a generation-to-generation transfer of wealth,” she says.

In the transition from the first to the second or third generation, foundations are often taken over by people who are under 50 or even 40 years old. “They have a different philosophy of philanthropy, are more focused on impact and are much more open to environmental, diversity and inclusion issues,” notes Karel Mayrand, President and CEO of the Foundation of Greater Montreal.

Éric St-Pierre, who has headed the Trottier Family Foundation ($240 million in assets) since 2016, can confirm this. “Our founder Lorne Trottier had a passion for science and education. But when the foundation decided in 2015 to involve the next generation (their children), the dynamic changed,” he says. Climate challenges then became a focus of the Family Foundation alongside health.

“Climate change is a major concern for new generations, but according to the American group Climate Works, only 2% of philanthropic funds are invested in this issue,” stresses St-Pierre. For him, the preservation of a viable planet is paramount. “If we can’t solve this problem, we will have problems that are much bigger than all the work we are doing to support young people in science and education. Unfortunately, compromises will have to be made,” he emphasizes.

In addition, the Trottier Foundation has just announced as part of the second The Montreal climate summit, held earlier this week, announced it will invest $10 million over five years to decarbonize hospitals and healthcare facilities and improve their resilience to climate change.

This special content was created by the Special Publications team at Duty, related to marketing. The elaboration of Duty did not participate.

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