COMMUNITY BOOSTER: Cambridge’s Terry Kratz is dedicated to lifting up locals, now and in the future
Terry Kratz has had a front-row seat to all things giving for many years. As one of the pioneers who helped establish what was then known as the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation, Kratz started as treasurer. The foundation had just been established in 2007 and challenges were everywhere.
“There were lots of challenges when you started with a bank account of zero and you had bills to pay,” the longtime Cambridge resident said.
Most important among those early uphill struggles was raising permanent endowments and finding the money required for operational costs.
The Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation recently unified with Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation to become Waterloo Region Community Foundation (WRCF). WRCF relies on the expertise of many volunteers and partners as it continues its community-building work through grants, investing, and convening conversations to amplify voices and share knowledge.
Kratz has been one of these go-to contributors. He served on the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation board for at least a decade, beginning in 1997, served on that foundation’s Investment Committee from 2017 through to the unification, and continues to contribute both personally and through his work as a partner at HFK McRae & Wilson LLP, where he specializes in accounting, auditing, income tax, and estate planning.
In 2008, he set up the Terry Kratz Fund, which is a Donor Advised Fund, operating similarly to a private foundation but without the administrative work. As a Fundholder, Kratz can choose annually which charities to support while leaning on WRCF’s expertise to help with granting decisions along the way.
“One year you can give to a social cause, next year you can give to a cultural cause, whatever you want. That’s what I have. I make that decision every year,” he said. “I think a lot of my clients like that, that they can continue to have some control on where you give the investment earnings from your endowment and how you can change that every year.
This form of giving also has the potential for a trickle-down effect where children might eventually look after a fund established by parents and keep the family legacy going.
Through his professional work at HFK McRae & Wilson LLP, Kratz has advised many clients looking for ways to make lasting impacts through their legacies and has assisted them to make charitable donations including setting up funds at WRCF.
“The thought leadership from WRCF does help to broaden peoples’ impression of what is really needed,” Kratz said.
Kratz is also making a gift to his fund as part of his will, an example of how wills aren’t just legal ways to distribute personal assets but can also be powerful tools to shape a community.
“My fund is a smaller fund, but I contribute annually to it. But you can also contribute when you pass away, get a tax credit for that, and benefit the community,” Kratz said. “I was interested in doing that.”
The longtime Cambridge community booster recently won a Community Impact Award at the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Awards.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Kratz said of the recognition. “As I said when I accepted this award, I think there are very many people that were in the room that night doing work in the community that deserves recognition more than I do.”
How to set up a bequest
The process for setting up a bequest is very straightforward. WRCF works with you to set up the fund agreement, which references that the fund will become active via a gift from the Will. Then, in your Will, you list WRCF as receiving a bequest. Fundholders can choose from a variety of types of funds. When WRCF receives the money via the estate, the fund becomes operational.
It’s important to note that future Fundholders can update their fund agreements with WRCF as many times as they’d like in their lifetime (at no cost). Regardless of any changes to the fund agreement, there is no need to subsequently update their Wills, as the Will just indicates that the bequest will be sent to WRCF; it is the fund agreement with WRCF that dictates what happens when the donation from the estate is received.
If you are an existing Fundholder and are looking to add to your fund through a bequest or any other type of planned gift, we are happy to work through those details with you.
For more information about setting up a bequest and to ensure that you have the proper wording for your Will, contact Dan Robert at dan@wrcf.ca or 519-725-1806 x 205.