Water is Life and Life is Precious!

Cheques can be made out to “Lifewater” and mailed to:

• Lifewater Canada
• 457 Heather Crescent
• Thunder Bay, ON, P7E 5L1
• Canada

*For U.S. donors, please refer to the U.S. Donations section below.

One-time or monthly credit card donations can be made through the highly secure CanadaHelps website.

*Please note that CanadaHelps charges processing fees that will reduce the total amount of your donation. For ONE-TIME donors, those fees are 4%. For MONTHLY donors, fees are 3.5%. For donations of securities, the CanadaHelps fee is 3% on donations of less than $10,000, 2.5% on donations between $10,000 and $49,999, 2.25% on donations between $50,000 and $99,999, or 2% on donations of more than $100,000.

eTransfer donations avoid transaction fees and can be made quickly and conveniently through your bank by following the steps listed below.

1. Log onto your Canadian bank account (not U.S. banks) and send your eTransfer to: info@lifewater.ca
2. Please email or call us to clarify whether you want your funds to go "where the need is greatest" or to a specific type of project in a country of your choosing!
3. Please email us your complete postal address so we can send you an official tax receipt (Revenue Canada requires a postal address to make the receipt official) and our twice a year newsletter.

Donations can be made to Lifewater Canada through the PayPal Giving Fund in Canada. PayPal will accept your donation and forward the funds to us without charging you or us a service fee. If you give through PayPal, please check the box that enables Lifewater to know who sent us the donation so we can personally thank you! Also, PayPal will email a tax receipt to you. Please check your email inbox, including your spam folder, for your receipt.

Donate stocks, mutual funds or other securities to Lifewater through the highly secure CanadaHelps website (click on the site's "Donate Securities" div). CanadaHelps charges processing fees of 2-3% which will reduce the total amount of your donation.

There are no capital gains taxes on securities donated to charities. That maximizes your gift to Lifewater and gives you a bigger tax receipt!

For example, if the stock you bought for $1,000 is now worth $5,000, you have a capital gain of $4,000 of which $2,000 is taxable income. If you donate the stock, you are exempt from this taxable gain. Depending on your tax bracket, donating stock instead of net proceeds can save you from $200 to $1,060 in income tax. And Lifewater receives more too!

You can donate Bitcoin and/or Ether to Lifewater Canada. Make your cryptocurrency donation through the secure CanadaHelps website. CanadaHelps will convert the gift to Canadian currency, give the funds to Lifewater Canada, and email you a Canadian-currency tax receipt. CanadaHelps charges processing fees of 2-3% which will reduce the total amount of your donation.

Some companies have donation matching programs which can multiply the impact of your gift to Lifewater Canada.

You can also direct part or all of your United Way payroll deductions to Lifewater Canada. Because we work overseas, we are not a designated United Way Charity. However, you can donate to Lifewater while actively supporting your workplace drive. On your United Way Pledge Form under the heading "Additional Giving Options," you can designate your donation to Lifewater using this information:

*Please note that some United Way offices charge a $16 fee for providing this service and the designated donation must be at least $25.

A planned gift — or legacy gift — to Lifewater Canada enables you to address your own immediate financial needs while providing a lasting legacy. It empowers you to continue to give back long after you are gone!

There are several planned giving or legacy giving options available to you including:

• Bequests and Wills: A bequest is a gift made through your will. Bequests are the most common type of planned giving, and anyone with a will can make a bequest. Your bequest can be fairly general (i.e., "use my bequest wherever it is needed most"), or relatively specific (identifying one or more of the countries in which Lifewater operates, and/or what type of project to support). Your lawyer can help you write or amend your will to include a bequest to Lifewater, or you can get help from Link Charity which administers Planned Giving or Legacy Giving to dozens of Canadian charities including Lifewater. You can make a bequest directly to Lifewater, or to the special funds that Link Charity oversees on our behalf:
  • Lifewater Endowment Fund: Both the principal and interest in the fund can be deployed to provide safe water
  • Lifewater Legacy Fund: The fund's principal remains invested and only the interest is deployed
  *If you include Lifewater Canada in your will, please notify us at: info@lifewater.ca so we are aware of your plans.

• Donor Advised Funds: You can establish an investment fund that will provide an immediate tax benefit to you while making regular gifts to Lifewater Canada. Link Charity can help you establish the fund, and arrange for it to end on a certain date or continue blessing people with safe water for generations to come.

• Charitable Annuities: A Charitable Annuity enables you to make an investment in Lifewater while receiving consistent income from that investment for yourself. Your investment/annuity can be managed by Link Charity.
  When you establish a charitable annuity with Link Charity (minimum $10,000 investment):
  • You receive a tax receipt for at least 20% of the invested amount
  • Link Charity guarantees regular payments to you at a locked-in interest rate for the rest of your life, with tax savings available on that income
  • Link Charity manages the entire investment so you don't need to worry about it
  • After your death, the remaining capital is released to Lifewater Canada

Learn more about Planned Giving by contacting Lifewater Canada president Lynda Gehrels (807-622-4848 / lifewatercanada@gmail.com).

For a confidential consultation with Link Charity, contact Robert Ennema (office: 647-435-724 / cell: 647-222-3704 / email: info@linkcharity.ca).

A donor-advised fund (DAF) is an account that facilitates charitable donations, similar to a charitable savings account. It provides a tax benefit to you and allows you to support charities of your choice. For more information on donating through a DAF, please email Scott Chapman, Lifewater Canada's Grants and Corporate Donations Manager, at scottchapman@lifewater.ca.

You can make a donation in U.S. currency and receive a receipt to reduce your U.S. taxes, through our partner organization, Friends of the Great Commission.

Fundraising through events is an excellent way for support Lifewater Canada. Our Get Involved page provides more information about how you can raise funds online or at your event.