Like weeding a garden, protecting democratic rights and freedoms is a job that is never finished. Our task is to monitor the pressure on civil rights and freedoms and stand ready to challenge violations. By its very nature, such work cannot be completed tomorrow, next year, or ten years from now. It is for this reason that that the B.C. Civil Liberties Association first established a long-term funding source. We established the B.C. Civil Liberties Association Endowment Fund in 1986, after a number of years of financial instability for the Association. In 2002, the BCCLA transferred management of this fund to the Vancouver Foundation. Several times since the BCCLA was established in 1962, we have had to cut back staff and programs when grants dried up. In 1986, only emergency funding from two public agencies kept the Association afloat. In 1997, the Law Foundation of B.C., our major funder, was forced to make painful cuts in all its grants to paralegal organizations and Gaming funding is always precarious. The Endowment Fund was created to ensure a stable source of funding. Gifts made to the BCCLA Endowment Fund remain in perpetuity, making the fund a permanent source of annual income for our work to protect civil liberties in B.C. This means that your gift to the Endowment Fund will benefit us for years: year after year we benefit from your gift by using the accrued interest to fund special projects and offset unexpected drops in revenue. Over twenty years, the accumulated benefit to the BCCLA will likely be several times the initial amount of your gift. This will provide a secure source of income for the Association, and a solid base to allow us to plan long-term initiatives. All gifts to the Endowment Fund are fully tax-creditable. If you have any questions about making a gift to the Endowment Fund, contact our Director of Development, Sarah Sandusky at 604.630.9750.