Media and Marketing Attract Donor’s Attention

The roots of a $150,000 fund recently established through the BMO Nesbitt Burns Charitable Giving Program can be traced back to a local newspaper article about la Fondation communautaire du grand Québec, read by the donor more than a year ago.

The article resonated with the donor’s desire to create a lasting legacy, so he called the foundation’s Executive Director, Nataly Rae, to find out more. “For a long time he had dreamed of creating his own endowment fund,” says Rae. “He wasn’t ready to make the move just yet, but he wanted to find out more about the financial advantages of giving shares to charity.”

A few weeks after their conversation, the donor read about community foundations again. This time through the newsletter he receives from his BMO Nesbitt Burns advisor, with whom he has worked for more than a decade. The newsletter featured an article about BMO Nesbitt Burns’s new charitable giving program. The timing was perfect. The donor called his advisor to set up a meeting.

Although the donor now calls Quebec City home, his heart remains in Sept-Îles, a community where he lived and worked for more than 40 years. His BMO Nesbitt Burns advisor, Bernard Leblanc, still lives in there, but the two stay in touch and meet in person whenever they can.

“We’ve worked together for many years, so when he called to talk about his charitable giving, I wanted to help in whatever way I could,” says Leblanc. They both drove several hours to meet halfway in Baie-Comeau.

Working with his advisor and the local community foundation, the donor was able to direct his giving to the hospital and the United Way in Sept-Îles -- the community of his choice. He was so pleased with the process that he plans to contribute another $100,000 to his fund in the near future.

“Our foundation has established a strong relationship with our local colleagues in BMO Harris Private Banking and I’m looking forward to working with Bernard and his team at BMO Nesbitt Burns as well,” says Rae. “Supporting Your Community is a wonderful opportunity for everyone involved. It really is a win-win-win situation.”