THE
B.C. CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION ENDOWMENT FUND
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 Murray Mollard,
Executive Director.
