“Your gift goes on”: Roughrider Foundation welcomes legacy donations

Where there’s a will, there’s a way to assist the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation.

Legacy donations are an excellent option for fans who want to make a meaningful, enduring contribution to the CFL team’s charitable component.

“Even before we had the charity, we were approached by people who somehow wanted to include the Roughriders in their will or their legacy because the team has meant so much to them,” said President-CEO Craig Reynolds, who played a key role in establishing the Foundation in 2019.

“Now that we have a Foundation, it’s a natural. The Foundation is supporting youth and the growth of the game that so many people love. It’s just an avenue for them to give back to the Club in a way, to the work that the Club is going, to communities in Saskatchewan, and specifically to youth in Saskatchewan and the game of football.”

Reynolds himself has already made provisions for a legacy donation. The same applies to the Roughrider Foundation’s Executive Director.

“When you’re alive, you can know that your gift goes on,” Cindy Fuchs said.

“Our fan base is so passionate. This is a really good time to connect the fan base back to their passion with the Rider Foundation.

“This is a way for them to be able to leave a gift for the Riders and the players to do the community work that they’re doing.”

From the outset, Fuchs helped to establish the Foundation’s three pillars: Education, health and amateur football.

In addition to founding initiatives such as “Grow the Game,” the Roughrider Foundation has a team of Player Ambassadors who devote part of their off-seasons to visiting schools across Saskatchewan. The appearances focus on Foundation programs that revolve around mental health (Win With Wellness) and literacy (Rider Reading).

“I’ve grown to appreciate the good work that is being done and, more importantly, the impact that it’s going to have on kids in the province,” Reynolds said. “I think about literacy and where we’re at as a province, which isn’t as strong as we should be. Then I look at the mental health side and specifically the impact on kids.

“Having our players going to schools and talking about mental wellness and mental health and being real and authentic with them, it has such an impact. When professional athletes of the stature of our guys go in there to talk about their struggles sometimes with stress and mental health — real problems — we see how the kids open up to the players.”

Those interactions will increase in frequency and impact as the Foundation continues to grow.

“We want to make sure that 20 years from now, the Foundation is still doing good work,” Reynolds said. “There’s a natural inclination to look at funding long-term.

“Legacy is a really important part of most well-established charities’ funding sources. Even before we had the charity, we were approached by people who somehow wanted to include the Roughriders in their will or their legacy because the team has meant so much to them.

“Now that we have a Foundation, it’s a natural.”

The process is as simple as making provisions in a will for money from the estate to be allocated to the selected charity or charities.

“There’s two things that we know: We’re going to die and we have to pay taxes,” Fuchs said. “But wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to pay as much in tax after we died and more of that went to charity?

“It’s a big decision to make and sometimes it can take a person or a family six months to make that decision. They can make the decision, but then they have to go and put it in their will.”

For more information, please contact the Foundation’s Legacy and Donor Relations Manager, Caleb Blundell (caleb.blundell@saskridersfdn.com).