First Baptist Calgary Foundation (“the Foundation”, also “FBC Foundation”) was incorporated as The First Baptist Church of Calgary Alberta Foundation in September 2000 under the Alberta Societies Act, was registered effective September 13, 2000, as a Public Foundation, and commenced operations in January 2001. We changed our name on June 3, 2015, to First Baptist Calgary Foundation.
The Foundation was established to manage donations, memorials, bequests, and loans directed to the First Baptist Church Fellowship of Calgary, Alberta (“the Church”). Prior to the creation of the Foundation, the Church had accumulated various donations, memorials, and legacy gifts that were donor designated to be put into long-term investment and used for earning profits to provide long-term financial benefit to the Church; this funding was intended to be used to take care of the historic infrastructure of the FBC buildings. Collectively, these donations and gifts, were known as the “Endowment Funds” and totaled $27,497. Once the Foundation was created, the Church transferred these “Endowment Funds” to the Foundation as seed money to get the Foundation operations started.
The objectives of the Foundation are: 1) to develop and maintain a capital fund primarily to assist the Church to maintain, repair and expand their current facilities, and 2) to fund special ministry projects. There are no externally restricted funds other than the endowment, as all the funds are used to assist with non-routine capital and project expenses of the Church with any disbursements during the year going towards ongoing projects of the Church. The operations of the Foundation focus on development and maintenance of a capital fund: Donated funds are invested by the Foundation, and grants are then provided to the Church, funded from the proceeds of the investments made. Internally, we strive to maintain the original donations in the capital fund by restricting grants to only be funded from the investment proceeds.
From inception through late 2006, all investing was done directly by the Foundation Board of Trustees. The intent was to grow the fund to a size that would be financially desirable (~$1,000,000 minimum) to be taken on by a 3rd party Investment Management firm, without being lumped into a “pooled” group of investors, so that we would maintain complete autonomy over our investment portfolio. In 2006 the Foundation Board of Trustees vetted and selected an Investment Management firm to manage the Foundation fund going forward. In Dec 2006 the Foundation transferred a total of $993,607.72 to them to invest on our behalf.
From inception in 2000 until 2007, the Foundation’s focus was solely on the Church’s infrastructure needs; all donations were utilized to provide grants to the Church to be used toward the upkeep of the infrastructure and facilities. A new “additional” mandate was embraced in 2007; the creation of “Ministries” side of the Foundation. From this point forward, donations made to “Infrastructure” and “Ministries” have been kept in separate allocation categories within the Foundation fund.
The Foundation is a registered charity (#866398795RR001) and therefore is exempt from paying income tax and can issue official income tax receipts for donations received. Note that even though both organizations are registered charities, the Foundation and the Church are completely separate legal entities, each with their own CRA tax identification number. A Foundation can be considered to be a charity for other charities: The FBC Foundation is a charity for the First Baptist Church Fellowship of Calgary. The bylaws of the Foundation mandate that grant monies from the FBC Foundation are to be provided only to the First Baptist Church Fellowship of Calgary.
Grants are provided by the Foundation to the Church to financially support non-routine Church infrastructure related capital expenditures and provide one-time “seed money” for ministry related projects. The Church is required to submit (with approval of the Church Board) applications for grant funding from the Foundation. Our mandate is to not provide funding for day-to-day expenses of Church operations. Routine operational expenditures of the Church need to be paid for by regular tithing to the Church within the confines of the Church’s budget.
The Foundation bylaws provide that “active” members of the Church are also members of the Foundation, with full voting privileges. Any member of the Foundation (as defined by the preceding) may remove themselves as a member of the Foundation by written submission to the Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
The Foundation is run by a board of 5 to 9 trustees who are all volunteers, elected annually at the AGM. The Foundation has no employees, but does pay for 3rd Party accounting, auditing, investment management, and insurance services.