"The challenge that lies before us is one which we brought on ourselves and we would not have done it otherwise. The Anglican Foundation of Canada is just too popular. We have over the years excited many churches throughout the country to find their hope and future in the good work of the Foundation. We have responded over the years to the tune of about $20M [twenty million], to bring peace of mind and strengthen the vision of many churches". "Our challenge is that the AF is in need itself of undesignated bequests that will help us to respond to the ongoing needs of the Anglican Church. It is therefore this new challenge that we face, and one that will have to be responded to in the coming months. The bishops of each diocese have been asked to give permission to encourage support for the Anglican Foundation through benefices, annuities and wills, as well as a major membership drive."
The Canadian Council of Christian Charities is gearing up to fight a move by Revenue Canada to restrict issuance of tax receipts by religious charities.
"Charles Longworth feels passionately about the work of the Anglican Church in Canada's North. He has worked in northern dioceses as an engineer and is particularly interested in supporting ministry in First Nations communities. Charles has thought about how he might do this, and has concluded that making a charitable gift with stocks and other listed securities would be better than writing a cheque. This is because all of the taxable gain in a qualifying gift of securities is now entirely exempt from taxation -- as introduced in the May 2, 2006 federal budget."
Author is National Gift Planning Officer of the Anglican Church of Canada.
In May 2003 Canon John Erb spent nine days visiting 30 Anglican Foundation projects in the diocese of Kootenay, meeting people and raising awareness about the Foundation. "Each visit provides a development opportunity for the future, hopefully encouraging Anglicans to remember the AF in their Wills or with Memberships. The demand is increasing, and with the market just beginning to recover our investment returns have been down resulting in the fact that we have had considerable difficulty attempting to meet the many requests financially. What lies before us is a major challenge".