Stories

Donald and Alice Cannon Fund

Alice Cannon and her late husband Donald began a custom of annual giving to the Community Fund and their children continue the family tradition.

Alice Cannon and her late husband Donald began a custom of annual giving to the Community Fund and their children continue the family tradition.

HCF’s Community Fund has the flexibility to support the community’s top priorities. That’s why donors like Alice Cannon have chosen to contribute to it for so many years.

“My husband and I made our first donation to the Community Fund when the children were young adults,” says Alice, who at 91 is one of HCF’s longest-standing contributors. “A friend recommended Hamilton Community Foundation and we’ve supported it ever since.” Over the years, those contributions have built up and the Donald and Alice Cannon Fund is now a named fund within the Community Fund.

The Community Fund makes it possible for anyone to have a lasting impact with a gift of any size. New donations are pooled with permanent gifts from previous years. HCF’s Board of Directors then uses the fund’s investment income to support strategic priorities across Hamilton – like poverty reduction, the environment, youth and citizen engagement, and neighbourhood revitalization – while leaving the bulk of the principal to generate future grants.

That combination of permanence and breadth appeals to contributor Janet Cannon, Alice and Donald’s daughter. “My brothers and I like the idea that the fund meets a broad range of community needs, from the arts to poverty, education and health, year after year. My father dedicated his life to many of those causes as a lawyer and as a community volunteer, so it feels like we’re continuing his legacy.”

“Thanks to the foresight and generosity of past and current donors, the Community Fund is a powerful tool,” says CEO Terry Cooke. “It allows the Foundation to be strategic on key challenges – today and in the future.”

Excerpt from 2011-2012 Annual Report