Quick response fuels foundation’s SYC success

The Foundation of Greater Montreal was excited when it established its first fund under the Supporting Your Community program last summer. Then, in the fall, something happened: the calls just started coming in…and didn’t stop.

“We started getting calls in October for meetings,” says Kathleen Weil, President and CEO of FGM. “Sometimes they wanted to meet at the bank, sometimes in groups. Other times they came to the office.”

Suddenly there was incredible interest in the program coming at the foundation from various fronts. But the key, says Weil, was the foundation’s response to these queries.

“As soon as they called, we got the ball rolling. We were immediately accessible when they needed us,” she says. “We got a lot of feedback about how quickly we responded to calls and requests.”

Now the foundation has five funds established under SYC, varying in size from $25,000 to $200,000 and two bequests worth a total of $2 million. All of the fundholders have characterized their gifts as ‘initial deposits’ that they intend to grow over time – and there are already more fund opportunities in the pipeline.

An initial challenge in the process was setting up accounts under the BMO Nesbitt Burns Charitable Giving Program. “Once we figured out how to help the Investment Advisors with the paperwork it was much easier,” says Weil. “Now we use templates and we’ve got it down to a 24-hour turnaround time.”

In fact, a couple of Investment Advisors opened accounts for themselves, or a relative, to get a first-hand look at the process and learn more about the community foundation from a personal perspective.

“They really get philanthropy,” says Weil. “They wanted to ‘test’ the system themselves and now they’re ready for business!”