DONOR ADVISED FUND – Page Family Fund
After decades of hard work building and growing a successful business, Grimsby residents Judy and Tony Page got a message from a friend: You should create a fund with the Niagara Community Foundation.
It was the tip they needed.
Coming from families with strong histories of volunteerism and support of community initiatives, the Pages knew that “donating is a privilege not to be wasted,” Judy said. They are regular contributors to local causes, but they also had the ability and desire to do more. “We had thought about doing something,” Judy said. “But we just didn’t know how or what,” Tony added.
Meeting Bryan Rose and learning how the Niagara Community Foundation operates – both in terms of stewarding donors’ funds and in screening and working with the charities and non-profits who receive them – told the Pages exactly what they needed to know. “Working with Bryan was very comfortable. There was no pressure and he made the decision easier.”
The Page Family Foundation is a Donor Advised Endowment fund that donates earnings from the funds to charities chosen by Judy and Tony. They get input from their adult children, and, in the future, the decision-making responsibility will be handed over completely to them, something that also makes the couple happy: passing on their values of caring to the next generation.
The Pages are low-key people who don’t seek attention, but they are sharing their story in the hope that others can learn from them, the way they learned from their friend. “If someone else did it because we did it, that would be wonderful,” Tony said.
The ability to give back to their community is also a wonderful feeling. Both agreed. “It just feels like the right thing to do.”
