Gift galvanizes local youth

Hamilton Community Foundation

How one couple’s gift of shares keeps on giving.

In 1998, when Kent Newcomb attended a national Community Foundations of Canada conference in Calgary, he heard young people from several Michigan foundations share their stories about being involved with community foundations. Their enthusiasm reinforced an idea that he and his wife Thérèse had been thinking about for some time – to help young people connect develop leadership skills they would use in the community and throughout their lives.

Kent and Thérèse feel that the best way to learn generosity and to value community service is by direct exposure, so they created a permanent fund at Hamilton Community Foundation, by donating 1,000 shares of McDonald’s Corporation to the foundation.

The Newcombs challenged the foundation to establish a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC). It was one of the first in Canada at the time. Since then, the foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee has grown into a vital force in Hamilton. More than 75 young people have been involved, reflecting an astonishing diversity of Hamilton’s youth – private and public school students, young people of all backgrounds, races, religions and income levels. The broad participation has been a hallmark of the Hamilton Community Foundation YAC and has helped to connect the foundation to Hamilton’s increasingly diverse community. Many of the young participants have gone on to leadership roles in their schools and the community. The Newcomb’s $100,000 gift continues to support the YAC, year after year – the power of endowment giving.

Because they chose to create their fund with a gift of appreciated securities, rather than cash, the Newcombs reduced their tax burden significantly, and created a gift that keeps giving year after year.

Today, there are more than 55 community foundation Youth Advisory Committees in communities from coast to coast. Together they contribute more than $2 million to non-profit organizations across Canada.