Truth and Reconciliation Legacy Fund to help charities ‘forever’

Truth and reconciliation have been a major topic in Canada for a number of years.

This past week, the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation announced its new Truth and Reconciliation Legacy Fund.

The foundation has been supporting local charities since 1969, with a focus on long-term impact. Victor Roman Morrow, the foundation’s manager of community impact and communication, said the legacy fund had been talked about for a number of years, but things were finally put into motion this year.

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“The idea of having a donation that lived forever is something that was important to some of the community members on the Truth and Reconciliation Fund. So, since 2022, it’s been talked about. In 2024 is when we were at the point of when we were able and ready to actually establish it,” said Roman Morrow.

The fund is starting with about $100,000, but Roman Morrow said the foundation is working to increase that amount significantly.

“Our goal is to actually increase that to seven million dollars by 2030,” said Roman Morrow. “What that would mean is about $350,000 given out to charitable organizations every single year, forever.”

Roman Morrow described how a legacy fund is able to grow and be used in perpetuity.

“It’s essentially like planting a seed. That donation is planting a seed, and then the interest every single year that it grows on that investment is given back to the community,” Roman Morrow explained.

“So, it’s that interest that’s given back that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving, and that seed donation is never touched. That’s what allows it to live on forever and have an impact on community forever.”

He said the fund has to stay untouched for the first year in order to grow, and said the foundation is seeking partners to help with immediate needs.

“Our Indigenous advisors made it really clear that the main pillars of (truth and reconciliation) are around culture, language, and education. So anything, any programming that’s uplifting Indigenous culture for Indigenous people or non-Indigenous people, is really what we’re looking at doing,” he said.

“And making sure that we can make an impact and truly celebrate Indigenous culture and Indigenous needs through educational opportunities, ceremony, creating relationships.”

Roman Morrow said the fund is now a core pillar of the foundation, which will exist long into the future.

“Generations after us who work at the foundation will still be nourishing that and working towards it,” he said. “It’s a core pillar that we can’t get rid of now.”

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