Donation acceptance and management guide

Preamble

The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation (“the Foundation”) is the only charitable organization in Quebec dedicated entirely to fighting breast cancer through research and innovation, awareness, education and support for people living with the disease and their families.

More specifically, the Foundation’s mission can be divided into four pillars of action:

Funding research and innovation
Defending patient rights and offering support
Generating cutting-edge knowledge and a sense of community
Leading prevention and education, activities and raising awareness

The Foundation is committed to showing compassion, dedication, respect, leadership and integrity to women with breast cancer and their loved ones, as well as to its donors, partners, volunteers and employees.

Objectives

This Policy plays a very important role, as it ensures that the donations received are used in accordance with the Foundation’s mission and vision. It sets out clear and specific guidelines to assist Foundation employees and volunteers in accepting donations, and clarifies the roles, responsibilities and expectations that the Foundation and its donors have of each other. Ultimately, this Policy helps maintain the trust that donors have in the Foundation and ensures that donations are put to the best possible use.

General policy

a) The Foundation undertakes to comply with all laws and regulations applicable to the charitable sector. In this respect, it undertakes, insofar as possible, to stay regularly informed of laws and regulations, as well as of any major studies related to the development and conduct of best practices in philanthropy.

b) The Foundation encourages all donors to discuss their intended major gift with independent tax or legal advisers so that all donors can benefit from a full explanation of all aspects of the charitable gift in question.

c) Only persons specially designated by the Foundation’s management are authorized to solicit donations.

d) The Foundation undertakes to respect donors’ wishes regarding the recognition or anonymity of a donation.

e) Every employee, volunteer or director undertakes to respect the confidentiality of the Foundation’s donors.

f) The Foundation undertakes not to sell its donor lists. It will exchange certain information with other non-profit organizations only if the donor has previously provided their consent in the online donation form. The only data collected will be the donor’s name and address.

g) All solicitations of donations made by or on behalf of the Foundation must:

be truthful;
accurately describe the Foundation’s activities;
disclose the name of the Foundation;
disclose the purpose of the fundraising;
disclose the Foundation’s policy regarding the issuance of tax receipts, including any policy on minimum amounts for which a receipt will be issued; and
disclose, upon request, whether a person or entity collecting donations is a volunteer, employee, or contracted third party.

h) The Foundation does not pay, directly or indirectly, any intermediary fees, commissions or other remuneration calculated on the basis of the number of contributions.

Donor rights

The Foundation hereby declares that every donor has the following rights:

To be informed of the Foundation’s mission and how it uses the donations it collects.
To be informed of the identity of the members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors and to expect them to exercise judgment and prudence in the performance of their duties.
To obtain a copy, upon request, of the Foundation’s most recent Annual Report and financial statements.
To be assured that their gift will be used in accordance with their wishes.
To receive appropriate thanks and recognition.
To require that any information about them remain confidential.
To expect a high level of professionalism from anyone acting on behalf of the Foundation.
To know whether those soliciting them are volunteers, employees or contracted solicitors.
To have their name and other personal information removed from the Foundation’s various lists, limit the frequency of communication; not be contacted by telephone or any other technological means; not receive printed materials regarding the organization, or, if so desired, cease all communications.
To feel free to ask any question they deem relevant at the time of donation, and to receive a prompt and truthful response.

Use of donations

The Foundation ensures that the funds raised are allocated and used carefully.

All donations earmarked for specific ends will be used for the purposes for which they were made, as described in the agreement to which they relate. Donations that are not earmarked for specific purposes will be used to fund investment projects in research and innovation, or support and education programs.

The Foundation may make bank investments in order to grow the monetary donations received. When it deems it appropriate, the sums of money required for its day-to-day operations will be allocated to this purpose. At the end of the financial year, the Foundation produces its financial statements. These are audited by an independent auditing firm and presented at the Annual General Meeting.

The Foundation is committed to abiding by its Investment Policy. Please refer to this policy to learn more about our investment objectives and donation management.

Types of donations accepted

The types of gifts accepted by the Foundation are as follows:

a) Cash and cash equivalents

b) Publicly traded securities (including stocks, mutual funds and bonds): Contributions made in the form of stocks/securities will be recorded at fair market value on the day of the transaction and transfer. In the case of publicly traded securities, the Foundation will sell them immediately to convert them into cash.

c) Donations of materials and real estate: the fair market value will be assessed at the time the property is donated, at the donor’s expense.

d) Donations of services: the Foundation accepts contributions of services if it deems them useful to its activities. However, such a donation does not entitle the donor to an official tax receipt.

e) Bequests under a will

f) Donations of life insurance policies

g) Gifts of residual interest or charitable remainder trusts: donating a property or asset while continuing to benefit from that property or asset.

h) Donation of a charitable annuity

i) Endowment: a gift of capital in which all or part of the interest is used to fund the activity in question. An agreement signed by the donor and the Foundation is required for endowment funds. The minimum amount required to establish a named endowment fund is $50,000. Any amount may be allocated to a general endowment fund or to an existing named endowment fund. The way in which the interest accrued on endowment funds is handled is described in the Foundation’s investment policy.

Naming guidelines

Where appropriate, the Foundation may consider naming programs, endowments or funds to recognize significant financial contributions.
The Board of Directors is responsible for approving or rejecting any proposed name. It is also up to the Board to abandon or transfer a name.
Acceptance of a donation with a proposed name is conditional on the Board’s approval of the name.
No name will be approved or retained if it adversely affects the image of the Foundation in the eyes of the public.
The Board has the power to delegate a mandate to staff members to negotiate the terms of any proposed name. The length of time a name will remain in force will be negotiated in all cases.
The Board reserves the right to determine the physical presentation of the name of a program, endowment or fund.

Declined donations

The Foundation is under no obligation to accept any donation offered to it. In particular, it may decline donations in the following cases:

(a) A donation that is contrary to the law or public order.

(b) A donation that could entail any form of unlawful discrimination.

(d) A donation for which a consideration other than appropriate recognition is expected to be given to the donor or any other person designated by the donor in return, whether this consideration is monetary or of any other form.

(e) A donation whose terms result in the donor retaining undue control over the use and management of the funds donated.

(f) A donation that creates financial or other obligations that are deemed inappropriate or disadvantageous to the Foundation.

Donation acceptance committee

If the Foundation has any questions about the acceptance or value of a donation, it must promptly call on the donation acceptance committee. This committee is made up of:

one member of the Board of Directors;
one member of the audit committee; and
the President and Chief Executive Officer.

This committee must report to the Board of Directors on any donation submitted to it for approval. The Board is responsible for making the decision to accept or reject a donation.

The donation acceptance committee must seek advice from the Foundation’s legal counsel regarding the acceptance of any donation that is not governed by the Policy and for which there are questions as to whether it should be accepted or declined.

Issuing of receipts

The Foundation will issue an official receipt for charitable donations of $25 or more, in accordance with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidelines. Receipts for donations under $25 will be issued only if requested by the donor.

If there is any uncertainty as to whether or not a contribution constitutes a charitable donation, a decision will be made in accordance with the rules established by the CRA.

The official donation receipt includes, among other things and as the case may be, the registration number given by the CRA, the Internet address of its website, a statement of the value of the donation, the date of the donation and the date of issue of the receipt, the name and contact information of the donor, and a sequential number for official registry purposes according to the laws in force. These receipts are accepted by provincial and federal governments as part of taxpayers’ and businesses’ annual non-refundable tax returns.

Official donation receipts will be issued for the year in which the donations are received. In the case of donations received after December 31, the postmark is considered the date on which the donation was made. Receipts are issued in the donor’s name only. For credit card donations, the receipt is issued in the name of the cardholder, and for cheque donations, the receipt is issued in the name appearing on the cheque as the account holder.

Policy approved by the Board of Directors on November 27, 2018

Donation Policy