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Strategic Plan

Aqueduct Foundation Strategic Plan: 2025 to 2029

Built for the future of philanthropy

Our Strategy in Brief

Our first full strategic plan affirms what has always guided us: our commitment to expand the philanthropic options for committed donors of exceptional gifts and provide impactful funding to charities and charitable programs. In an environment that is increasingly complex, we aspire to be the bridge between donors and the important community needs they wish to support.

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THE CHALLENGE

Fewer donors + larger donations = more complexity

Canada’s donor and charitable landscape is changing. The percent of Canadian taxpayers claiming charitable donations on their taxes has almost halved since 1990, to just 17%. Yet, the value of giving continues to grow due to large donations from wealth, not income.

These donations are more complex for a variety of reasons:

  • The value of these donations is greater than ordinary, annual gifts.
  • Wealth is less liquid. It is what people live in and live on. It is locked away in businesses, real estate, and investments.
  • Donations from wealth must address tax, estate planning, and legal issues.
  • Donors of these exceptional gifts typically wish to support many charities and causes.
  • Many donations take years to complete and combine lifetime and estate donations.

For donors, there is no shortage of urgent public needs, but there are issues of trust and certainty about what and whom to support. Donors seek expert, values-aligned partners to support their charitable journey, both during life and after their deaths. They seek collaborators to help them give well and do more.

Complexity can be a barrier to giving because it slows or stops the flow of money into the community for public benefit. These are the gaps that need to be bridged for the greatest impact to be realized.

OUR RESPONSE

Helping donors bridge philanthropic gaps

Since 2006, Aqueduct Foundation has existed to bridge these gaps. With its mission to “facilitate personal philanthropy”, Aqueduct helps charitable individuals and families to support the charities, communities, and causes they care most about. Aqueduct is not a cause-based charity. It is a cause-neutral and serves as charitable sector infrastructure. Aqueduct helps donors plan and implement exceptional gifts, manages funds prudently, and implements innovative grants and programs.

What makes our model work
From the start, Aqueduct has been a trailblazer with new ideas, deep skills, and an open mind to help donors realize their increasingly complex goals. Aqueduct is built on strict financial and fiduciary responsibility to ensure it thrives well into the next century. Here are few qualities we see as key to our success:

  1. Our willingness to be innovative and creative. We take informed, calculated risks both in the donations we accept and the charitable purposes we undertake to provide public benefit.
  2. Our depth of knowledge at the intersection of finance, law, and philanthropy. The combination of the Board, Management and Scotia Wealth Management enables us to manage complexity with confidence.
  3. Philanthropic intent and donor-led innovation drives us to make the impossible, possible for donors and charities.
  4. Cause neutrality and our focus on donations from wealth. We want to provide flexibility to donors and public benefit to communities. As a bridge foundation focused on donations from wealth, we do not displace donations that should be made directly to charities.

In its first 18 years, Aqueduct has grown to become one of Canada’s largest foundations by the measure of assets, annual grants, and charitable activities. With growth comes greater charitable ambitions, increased obligations, and greater ability to serve unmet donor and community needs.

Aqueduct passing through a small village.

OUR RENEWED STRATEGIC FOCUS

Six themes to guide our choices

In 2024, Aqueduct Foundation’s Board of Directors began a strategic planning process that would articulate its ambitions for the next five years to 2029. We have identified six strategic themes to shape our future.

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Independence and partnership

Focusing on public benefit in partnership with wealth management experts

Aqueduct will grow as an independent, well-governed public foundation dedicated to its charitable purposes. It will be consistent in its actions, nimble in its approach, and guided by a strong philanthropic culture. Charitable impact and public benefit will remain at the forefront. Getting money out into the community is a core responsibility. Aqueduct will build on its independent volunteer governance culture defined by strategic oversight and smart checks and balances. Identity will be expressed through distinctive communications and branding. Aqueduct operates in partnership with one of Canada’s leading wealth management firms, Scotia Wealth Management, which is its primary service provider. This partnership provides estate and financial planning expertise, as well as a national reach.

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Exceptional donations from wealth

Solving complex donation planning challenges

Aqueduct will be the leading foundation in Canada specializing in the acceptance and management of exceptional donations from the wealth. It will deepen its unique capacity to accept complex charitable property, such as private company shares, real estate, art, and ecologically sensitive land. It will be an expert in estate planning and crafting legacies by working with donors and their advisors. Aqueduct will focus its attention on donors who have charitable gaps they need to bridge. Aqueduct will plan, receive, and manage some of the biggest donations in Canadian history over the next decade. It will not displace donations that should go directly to community charities.

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Innovative granting and charitable programs

Providing unrivalled granting support and charitable programs

Aqueduct believes that Canada has affluent, ambitious donors with unmet charitable goals who are underserved by private foundations and other foundations with donor advised funds. There is a shortage of supports in personalized granting and charitable programs. To meet these needs, Aqueduct will deepen its capacity as a grantor to both Canadian registered charities and qualified donees, exemplified by strong research and grant-making processes. It will grant to non-qualified donees, such as foreign charities and Canadian not- for-profit organizations with charitable programs. It will expand its charitable programs, such as community-based scholarships, own charitable purpose property (i.e. real estate and art), partner with charitable organizations, and offer program-related investments. Aqueduct aspires to offer the broadest and most flexible range of charitable programs for Canadian philanthropists.

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Collaboration

Deepening our collaboration with donors and communities

Large foundations are sometimes perceived as remote and bureaucratic. Aqueduct will be engaged and collaborative – with its donors and fundholders, family grant advisors, and with charities and partners in the community. It will focus on loyal donors who combine lifetime and estate donations, and actively engage in philanthropy. It will also facilitate knowledge connections among its like-minded donors and introductions to organizations in the community. Aqueduct will foster shared programs with charities, such as serving as interim owner of ecologically-sensitive land, owning charitable purpose real estate, or managing charity investments. It will grant to charities in a trust-based, fair, and transparent fashion, while at the same time respecting donors’ requests for privacy. Aqueduct is dedicated to developing the health and sustainability of the charitable sector and will engage in collaborative public policy work to promote a strong regulatory environment in Canada.

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People

Fostering a committed, accountable, and nimble team

Dedicated, knowledgeable people are the backbone of successful social-profit organizations. Aqueduct will foster an ethical, engaged, committed volunteer and professional team. The Board of Directors has a long-service model to promote stable volunteer governance that is aligned with Aqueduct’s charitable mission. Board stability provides a positive environment for a robust governance culture, which is key for strategic consistency and accountability. The Management team will be supported with appropriate staffing levels, professional development, and competitive employment benefits. The desired outcome is a fearless, high-commitment team that is accountable, nimble, and responsive.

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Stewardship

Aspiring to be the most trusted philanthropic foundation

Aqueduct will be a best-in-class steward of charitable dollars. Dedicated to understanding and carrying out its donors’ charitable wishes, Aqueduct will prioritize its fiduciary and compliance obligations as a registered charity. It will:

  • Ensure that its resources are consistently dedicated to charitable purposes, bolstered by a charitable mindset and policies that focuses on community benefit not just growth of assets.
  • Use a variety of investment strategies to hire and monitor best-in-class investment managers and ensure investments are provided at a reasonable cost. Performance will be closely monitored against defined objectives by the Investment Committee.
  • Financial reporting will be clear and transparent to the public, as well as fundholders and their advisors.
  • Aqueduct will be a steward to living donors and grant advisors with donor advised funds and collaborate to achieve their charitable goals through granting and programs. It will create personal and impactful charitable legacies for our estate donors. As a custodian of legacies, our goal is to know every donor, their story and charitable priorities.
  • Aqueduct is committed to fair and responsible granting practices to help make it easier for charities to advance their mission and build strong relationships with their supporters.
  • Stewardship includes a responsibility in promoting public trust and the health of the charitable sector. Aqueduct will use its voice to advocate for best practices by Canadian charities to encourage confidence in the charitable sector and promote community impact.

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