Paying It Forward, Together
When Lisa and Jeff Hood established their fund with the Guelph Community Foundation, they were intentional about one thing from the start: the name. The Hood Family Fund is named for their whole family, including their two children, because from the very beginning, this was never just about Lisa and Jeff. It was about building something their family could grow into together, and about planting seeds of generosity in the next generation the same way seeds had once been planted in them.
Neither Lisa nor Jeff grew up in wealthy households, but both learned early that giving back did not require wealth. For Lisa, the lesson came through participating in the annual Terry Fox Run, a tradition her family kept every September without exception. Her mother pushed her in a stroller, pulled her in a wagon, and eventually sent her and her brother out to knock on neighbours’ doors asking for a nickel per kilometre. “I learned from a pretty young age that even if you don’t have a lot of money, there are ways to get involved and give back,” she says. “Every nickel adds up.” For Jeff, the shift came later, shaped in part by a career change that deepened his connection to the Guelph community and, in no small part, by meeting Lisa. “Meeting Lisa and learning about her career really changed my point of view,” he says.
Lisa has spent her entire career in the nonprofit sector, first in higher education and now in community nonprofit, and has long been intentional about her own philanthropy. The idea of making a longer-term commitment had been on her mind for years. What brought it into focus was a shared conversation about the community they love and the one they want their children to grow up in. The Hood Family Fund is directed toward inclusivity and community engagement, with a particular focus on reducing barriers for people who lack the resources to participate fully in the community. The inspiration was close to home. “When we go to sign our kids up for something, it’s never a question of whether we can afford it,” Lisa says. “It’s a question of do we have the time to get them there. And we felt really strongly that we wanted to create those opportunities for others in our community to fully experience the same community that we love.”
Lisa’s connection to the Guelph Community Foundation predates her family’s fund by more than a decade. She volunteered with the Foundation around 2012, “It was that exposure to the Community Foundation that first made me aware of what you all do,” she says. Today, in her role at the YMCA of Three Rivers, she sees the impact of community foundation granting firsthand, as the Y benefits from funds held at multiple community foundations across the region. “I see firsthand the impact that these contributions have,” she says. “It’s a real privilege to see from a charity’s perspective how quickly these kinds of contributions add up.”
Passing these values on to their children is central to everything the family is building. For their children’s birthdays, Lisa and Jeff ask them to choose a cause they care about and make a charitable donation in their name. The conversations that follow have been some of the most meaningful their family has had, touching on how to give thoughtfully, how to give locally, and how to make sure generosity is intentional rather than reactive. “We hope eventually, when they’re a little older, they can get more involved in this fund,” Lisa says, “so that they can help inform some of those decisions.”
For the Hood family, the fund is one part of a broader commitment to charitable giving that includes annual donations and planned gifts; It is also about the fund being named with their family’s name, with hope for the community their children will inherit. “It does feel really good to give back,” Lisa says, “and to know that you’re helping someone who is less fortunate, access something that they really need or deserve.” To anyone sitting on the fence, her invitation is simple: just try it. The Hoods did, and they have never looked back.