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"Canada is recognized around the world as a country with the greatest quality of life and the vitality of our culture and heritage is one of the strongest signs of our collective success. Today, Canada has everything it needs to become one of the major creative centres of the world. Our artists are powerful instruments of change and innovation. In their diversity lies our strength and originality on the international stage... We salute the richness of Canadian culture and... help our artists pave the way to the future...

"Arts and culture are not just for today. We have a responsibility to preserve our heritage and to promote the creative arts for future generations. An important measure of a great civilization, of a great society, is its contribution to humanity through the sciences and the arts, through its discoveries, its innovations, its cathedrals and canvasses, its stories and its music."

The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister of Canada
May 2001

Since the Canada Council for the Arts was established in 1957, Canada has seen an explosion of artistic activity, in large measure because of the Canada Council and its efforts to develop and sustain the arts. The Canada Council is a success story. Its demonstrated ability and its record are matters of national pride and have contributed to nation building through excellence in the arts.

The Council awards more than 100 prizes every year. It administers the Killam Program of scholarly awards, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO and the Public Lending Right Commission operate under its aegis. The Canada Council Art Bank contains 18,000 works of contemporary Canadian art which are rented to the public and private sectors.

In 2003-04, the Council awarded 6,147 grants to artists and arts organizations and made payments to 14,435 authors through the Public Lending Right Commission. Grants, payments and awards totalled $137 million.

Private Sector Contributions

The Council has received a number of private donations and bequests. Today, these are valued at some $69 million in private endowments, the income from which allows the Council to award over 100 prizes, awards and fellowships valued at close to $4.4 million each year.

The Canada Council actively encourages individuals, corporations, foundations and organizations to help build Canada's artistic future by contributing financial resources through gifts and bequests, which will enable the Canada Council to sustain and encourage the arts in Canada in ways that are not possible through its regular programs.

The funds to create these prizes have been prudently managed by the Council. The generous donors were visionaries who have contributed significantly to the cultural legacy of Canada.

Donor Recognition:

Donors of endowments receive significant recognition for their contributions at the national level across Canada in press releases, awards ceremonies the Canada Council's Annual Report, web site, competition information sheets and other materials. Unless donors request otherwise, their generosity to Canada Council and to Canada's artists is publicized in all appropriate ways. Donors are also regularly invited to various Canada Council functions in Ottawa and in their local area.

Donations provide a means for honouring and recognizing exceptional individual artists and for investing in Canadian talent. Donations may take a variety of forms, provided the purposes for which they are intended are consistent with the provisions of the Canada Council Act. Donors may contribute by direct gifts, bequests, life insurance policies (the premiums of which are creditable for tax purposes) and gifts in kind (real property, stocks and bonds, artworks or fine stringed instruments). The terms of all major gifts are set out in an agreement with the Canada Council, and gifts are acknowledged by an official tax receipt.

Management of Gifts and Bequests

The Canada Council's Investment Committee, chaired by Tania Willumsen, is responsible for managing these funds to maintain and increase their value in terms of purchasing power while producing the maximum sustainable net annual returns to finance the appropriate prize or program. The Council's investment portfolio, which includes the initial endowment that established the Canada Council, the Killam, Molson, Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton, Walter Carsen, York Wilson and other endowments from individuals and organizations are worth about $262 million (at March 31, 2004).

Donated funds are managed within the Canada Council's general endowment portfolio, but are accounted for separately in the Canada Council's books. Merging the principal of donated funds with the larger managed fund increases their revenue and growth potential. In order to protect the integrity of donated funds and to minimize administrative costs, gifts are normally accepted according to these principles:

• The Canada Council will accept any amount, large or small, intended for general purposes.
• The amount of a conditional donation must be appropriate to the purpose and should include provision for administrative costs (such as peer assessment, publicity and presentation costs) in addition to the cost of the award or grant.
• Ordinarily, costs incurred by the Canada Council in administering donated funds will be charged against the income of such funds.
• The Canada Council should have the right to determine the frequency of an award in circumstances in which perpetual awards are provided with insufficient endowment funds to sustain the original schedule of awards.

The Canada Council manages and coordinates all activities dealing with distribution of information, adjudication, awarding and publicity:

• Develop, review and enforce eligibility criteria and rules. 
• Select the Peer Assessment Committee, following Council's Peer Assessment Policy. 
• Chair, manage and facilitate the Peer Selection Committee deliberations. 
• Handle all announcements, press releases and coordination of the prize ceremony. 
• Report to the Donor at the end of each Prize cycle.

Most prizes and awards are adjudicated through the regular adjudication process of the appropriate disciplinary section. Such awards involve minimal additional administrative costs, which are charged to the prize fund, per the agreement between the donor and the Canada Council. For many major awards and prizes, separate juries are required.

Forms of Donation to the Canada Council

The simplest form of donation is unconditional, leaving the principal or net annual investment returns to be disbursed at the discretion of the Canada Council. Donors may place certain conditions on gifts or bequests. Some examples:

• Conditional as to principal: The terms of such a donation could specify that the principal be kept intact and that only the net annual investment returns be spent as determined by the Canada Council.
• Conditional as to purpose: The funds or the net annual returns from invested funds could be used to support a particular arts activity by providing periodic prizes or awards to individuals or grants to organizations.
• Conditional as to identity of the donor: This kind of donation could specify that the funds be used for prizes named for or by the donor and awarded in perpetuity.
• Annual donations: Certain donors prefer to make annual donations to Canada Council to fund prizes, either for a limited or long-term period. Canada Council may choose to accept such donations under negotiated conditions. Such donations are also eligible for an income tax credit and are acknowledged by an official tax receipt.

August  2007