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Donations are an important cornerstone of RBC’s community
programs, with a tradition of philanthropy dating back to
our roots. We take great pride in the accomplishments of
our community partners, and appreciate the opportunity to
invest in their good works.
Governance
The member companies of RBC Financial Group administer
charitable donations through the RBC Foundation, established
in 1993. Our formal Donations Policy is reviewed annually
by the Public Policy Committee of the Royal Bank of Canada’s
Board of Directors, outlining our giving guidelines and strategy.
The RBC Foundation has an independent Board of Directors,
comprised of heads of each of our businesses worldwide. The
Board is responsible for setting the overall donations direction,
policies and procedures, along with ratifying all donations
made in Canada. The RBC Foundation is staffed by a team of
five employees, including the Executive Director of the RBC
Foundation, who is responsible for overseeing global donations.
To ensure our giving is appropriate and responsive to local
needs, we also have professional grantmakers situated in
each of our regional headquarters in Canada ( Vancouver,
Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax) as well
as businesses in the United States (RBC Dain Rauscher, RBC
Centura and RBC Insurance).
Due Diligence
RBC Foundation receives about 20,000 requests for funding
each year. Seeing so many proposals for funding, we are in
a privileged position to notice when the mandates of different
charities overlap, and we encourage synergies between organizations.
Our goal is to ensure that our charitable partners have sustainable
sources of funding and use their donors’ funds responsibly.
Our grant-makers follow a rigorous process when evaluating
proposals to ensure the funds are invested with the utmost
care and responsibility. We look at whether the charity has
a wide range of support and assess the charity’s ability
to deliver its programs. The process includes a complete
assessment of the charity’s fiscal management and governance
practices. All charities must provide audited financial statements
in order to qualify for RBC funding.
Social Impact
In 2005, the RBC Foundation expanded our application requirements,
and we now require our charitable partners to clearly demonstrate
the social impact of our contribution. Further, we expect
our charitable partners to outline the specific details around
the goals and gaps they encountered during the period of
time they receive funding from the RBC Foundation.
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