Where We Give
Benefaction Gives Back
Benefaction is a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) Foundation helping donors to support the causes most dear to their hearts. Grants from Benefaction are approved based on recommendations from our donors for their respective DAFs; therefore, we do not accept applications for grants.
However, as an organization, Benefaction also gives back. Our granting is comprised of the following three funds: The Philanthropy Fund, established to support organizations that promote philanthropy; The Reciprocity Fund, addressing systemic inequalities that pervade our society; and The Director’s Fund, which grants to organizations of chosen by Directors.
Philanthropy Fund
This Fund was established to support organizations who promote philanthropy and charitable gift planning by fostering knowledge development and encouraging good practice in the charitable sector.
2023 Awards, as agreed by the Board:
$25,000 to Canadian Association of Gift Planners
$12,500 to Carleton University directed to the Nonprofit Leadership Program (MPNL)
$12,500 to Imagine Canada
Reciprocity Fund
This Fund was created in 2022 as an effort to acknowledge the systemic inequalities that pervade our society, including the philanthropic sector. As an example, Indigenous-led organizations have been significantly underfunded in Canadian philanthropy for years. According to The Giving Report, published annually by Canada Helps, Indigenous Peoples charities only received 3.3% of overall Canadian online donations in 2021. As a settler philanthropic organization, Benefaction established our Reciprocity Fund to support organizations across Canada in the spirit of reciprocity.
2023 Recipients, as agreed by the Board, for a total allocation of $100,000:
Honouring Indigenous Peoples
HIP brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples for community well-being and advancing the next generation of leaders. Our grant has gone to support their National Youth-to-Youth Truth and Reconciliation Initiative Program for 2024, who’s goal is to foster understanding, reconciliation, and environmental stewardship among Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth.
Indspire
Indspire is an Indigenous national registered charity that invests in the education and achievement of Indigenous people. With the support of its funding partners, Indspire provides financial awards, delivers programs, and shares resources with the goal of improving educational outcomes for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students. Indspire’s North Star is supporting the educational journey so that every Indigenous student will graduate.
Legacy of Hope Foundation
This foundation is a National Indigenous charitable organization with a mandate to educate and create awareness and understanding about the Residential School System, including the intergenerational impacts, while trying to address racism, foster empathy and understanding and inspire action to improve the situation of Indigenous Peoples today.
National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association
NATOA is a charitable organization committed to providing Indigenous Peoples of Canada with the resources and information that will help them efficiently create, manage, and operate trusts as a means to ensure the seven generations yet unborn, can benefit from the goals and dreams of the present generation.
Directors Fund
Directors grants are made at the discretion of individual Directors and may be made to any charitable organization recognized by CRA. The annual amount each Director may disburse is based on a weighted average of their years of service and the amount of reserves in the Directors Fund pool that year. In 2023, the Directors Fund was allocated $100,000.