Build: Become A Community Investor

Making an Impact Starts With You.

We believe in facilitating local philanthropy, supporting local charities, and developing our community so that our home is a more vital, strong, and fair place to live, work, and play. At the Foundation, we believe that change starts with a single act of kindness, a spark of compassion, or a generous gesture. It’s about recognizing that together, we have the power to create a community that thrives, leaving no one behind.We offer a variety of flexible options to help you fulfill your charitable goals.

Legacy Giving

Through legacy giving you can give back to charitable causes, now and forever.

When a donation is invested through WCF, it is planted as a seed that lives on forever. This means your donation will grow and give back forever. This is possible through expert financial management of over $7,000,000 in pooled investments. When your donation gets pooled with these investments, it means your donation has the ability to grow faster, and you will be able to give back more to charitable causes as a result.

What does your donation today look like 25 years from now? What about 50 years from now?

When you give to a charity today, it is likely that you expect them to use your donation within the coming months. However, once your donation is used, it is gone forever. Through legacy giving, you’re able to create a fund with your donation that builds over time and grant back to charities, year after year. This means over time you will give back more than your initial donation, and continue to give far into the future for many generations to come.

There are many ways you can give.

Westlock Community Foundation staff have the expertise to help you give in a wide variety of ways. We work with you to find what works best for your personal situation. Some common ways people will leave gifts are through a will, estate, or even stocks. Below are a few examples of ways you can give through our Foundation.

Why Leave a Gift in Your Will?

A Will is a timeless way to leave your legacy. An investment like this tells your story while providing your ongoing inspiration to future generations. A gift in your Will may specify a sum of money, a specific asset, or a portion of your estate to be donated to WCF or an existing Fund at WCF.

By including a charitable organization in your Will, you will make an impact and support community causes that are meaningful to yourself.

We are happy to work directly with families, charities, corporations, and legal and financial advisors. If preferred, your donation may also remain anonymous.

Download our Legacy Information Booklet and Free Legacy Planner Below.

Legacy Planning Information Booklet

Legacy Planner Kit

Support by Focus Area

If you want to support your community through a focus area, you can find a variety of causes who are currently accepting online donations through WCF who are aligned with specific focus areas.

General Causes Education Rural Living Youth In Action Medical

General Causes

Awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, the Community Priorities Fund sustains our biggest granting program. Support from this program comes from community donations, beginning with the first gift to the Community Foundation received in 2019. Donors choose this fund as a way to allocate their gifts to support the needs of the day, as represented by applications for funding. This program supports a wide range of projects from communities throughout Westlock, Westlock County, and the Village of Clyde.

Donate To This Fund

Education

Westlock Literacy & Learning Fund

The Literacy & Learning Fund was established by the Westlock Literacy and Learning Centre to support the ongoing development of the community. This significant contribution marks a major step forward in supporting educational opportunities and enhancing literacy-related programs and services in Westlock and the surrounding communities. The Westlock Learning and Literacy Centre’s exceptional generosity will provide a lasting impact on the region's literacy landscape.

Donate To This Fund

Westlock Educational Scholarship Fund

The Westlock Educational Scholarship Society Fund assists students who wish pursue post-secondary education and/or research.

Donate To This Fund

Rural Living

Rural Resiliency Fund

The Rural Resiliency fund was established in honour of Albert and Florence Miller. The Miller family farmed in the community for many decades. The purpose of this fund is to provide support for a high quality of life throughout rural Westlock, Alberta, through organizations, projects, and initiatives that enhance rural communities. Grant applications to this fund are accepted once yearly.

Donate To This Fund

Youth In Action

The Youth in Action Granting Fund aims to empower young leaders by supporting youth-led initiatives that will benefit the community. Projects funded through Youth in Action grants must be initiated, led, and organized by residents of Westlock, Westlock County, and the Village of Clyde, Alberta up to 25 years of age, in collaboration with a charitable partner.

Donate To This Fund

Medical

Westlock Compassionate Fund

The Compassionate Fund has been started by a local social worker and the generosity of 100 Women Who Care, Westlock. This fund is an opportunity to support some of the hardest to serve clients interacting with the healthcare system and with little to no former supports. This fund helps to cover unique circumstances that are not covered by Emergency Social Services.

Donate To This Fund

Can’t find exactly what you’re looking for?

The Community Foundation gratefully accepts gifts from anyone who wishes to support the community through our work.

You can make a donation to any of the Community Foundation’s endowment funds, and your gift will help maintain a consistent level of charitable support provided by that fund. Donations of $20 or more are eligible for a tax-deductible donation receipt.

You may also make a donation by contacting the Community Foundation office directly at 780-349-2212 or info@westlockfoundation.ca. We accept cash, cheque, or credit card. If you wish to send your donation by mail, please address it to our office: 102-10011 106 St., Westlock, AB T7P 2K3

Clicking the link will take you to WCF's donor portal on a new page.

Donate Now

Ways To Donate

Looking for different ways to donate?

The Possibilities are (almost) Endless!

Here are some common ways people give, even if you don't have cash.

Shares:

Selling shares and gifting the cash means you pay capital gains tax on the proceeds of the sale. Gifting shares avoids paying capital gains tax which means the charity gets more money and you get a larger tax receipt.

Life Insurance:

From a tax perspective, You'll receive a charitable tax receipt for the cash value of the policy and for any premiums you pay.

Real Estate:

You will receive a charitable tax receipt for the full fair market value of the property. If gifted during your lifetime, the tax credits can be claimed in the year of the donation or can be carried forward to offset tax during the subsequent five years.

Endowment Fund Options

Endowment funds are permanently invested gifts that provide lasting support for charitable organizations in Westlock and the region.

Thinking about your legacy? The Community Foundation offers a simple, effective way to provide lasting support for the causes and organizations that are close to your heart. Consider an endowment fund for your charitable bank account. Through our professionally managed investment portfolio, your fund will generate income that you can use to award grants to the charity or charities working to advance the causes that are important to you.

Fund Types

How your endowment fund supports the causes and organizations that you are passionate about is entirely up to you. You can name your endowment fund anything you’d like—name it in tribute of a loved one, to honour someone special, or even name it after yourself.

Donor-Advised Fund: You decide which charity or charities you want your fund to support on an annual basis, and the Community Foundation grants from your fund accordingly.

Donor-Designated Fund: You choose which charity or charities you want to support when you establish your fund. Based on your wishes, the Community Foundation automatically grants annually to the charity or charities selected.

Field of Interest Fund: When you establish your fund, you may choose an area of interest that you want to support—a specific age group, a geographical location, or an issue that is important to you. The Community Foundation will grant to organizations from the chosen field.

Scholarship Fund: You choose the institution, criteria, subject, or type of student to support through the creation of an annual scholarship.

Our Guide to Giving can help you answer questions about how you can support the community through our work.

Download Here

Creating a fund with us is easier than you might think. We work with each donor individually to develop a giving strategy that meets their charitable goals.

Contact

Charity Funds

The Community Foundation is pleased to offer its services to not-for-profit organizations. Not-for-profit organizations may choose to establish a Charitable Endowment Fund or a Managed fund with us. Setting up a fund with us can be cost-effective, reduce administration, and can be an integral part of your sustainability plan.

Charity Funds are endowments that help to provide long-term financial support for a charitable organization. This type of fund can be established with a gift to the Community Foundation from a charity or a private donor, and enables any donor to make additional contributions to the fund. Charities in good standing receive an annual grant from the fund, providing a regular source of operational income to support the charity’s mission, mandate, or programming.

The day-to-day management and administration, coupled with the need to retain the services of lawyers, fund managers and accountants to administer a charitable endowment can be time consuming and costly for many organizations. Through the Community Foundation, it’s simple. You build the fund, we’ll do the rest!

How to get started

You can establish a Charity Support Fund for your favorite charity.

Creating a fund with us is easier than you might think. We work with donors of various means to develop a giving strategy that meets your charitable goals.

If you are a registered charity in good standing, Contact Us to discuss your fund options. You can also read our Endowment Building Toolkit to help you get started.

Endowment Building Toolkit

Donation Calculator

Use this tool to estimate the giving potential of a cash donation, or of a gift of appreciated assets, including stocks, mutual funds, and RRSPs/RRIFs.