BCBusiness

COURTESy OF BOSA FAMiLy FOUNDATiON directors with a wide range of expertise. "That really went a long way to give me condence that, as an athlete and as a graduate in physical education, that the business mechanisms were put in place for accountability, for the ability to do the work in the program side," Hansen remembers. He also began to realize that the talents he had devel- oped from doing the tour were transferrable to several leadership areas, which increased his condence. Leadership isn't so much having the subject expertise in a eld, Hansen notes, but having a vision and assem- bling a team of talented indi- viduals who work to support that vision, play their part and move toward achieving important goals. g i v i n g a D v i C e : Being passionate about a cause can help you keep focused and sustain you on the journey, says Doramy Ehling, COO of the Rick Hansen Foundation. Make sure you have the right governance structure in place with clear and transparent accountability mechanisms, which will also help give future donors and supporters condence in your vision and business model. Ehling rec- ommends consulting a lawyer with expertise in not-for- prots about the best model and reporting requirements, and possibly your accountant or an auditor. Another key to success: bring on people who have similar values and align- ment with your goals. P r i v a t e f o u n D a t i o n "W e gave in an ad hoc way for many, many years," says Bosa Family Founda- tion director Sylvia Bosa, of the Robert Bosa develop- ment companies' approach to donating to charity. "It's really people pulling at your heartstrings, and it's reac- tive," she explains. "It's busi- ness associates: 'Oh, my son's school's doing this.' 'Can you buy a table for this?' 'Do you have something to donate to this auction?'" Although the Bosas still do some of that, several years ago they real- ized that it wasn't clear where the money was going and decided to create a formal foundation to be more strate- gic in giving back. Make that two founda- tions. Each of the family's companies—Bosa Properties Inc. and BlueSky Properties Inc.—formed a private foun- dation, referred to informally by the umbrella name Bosa Family Foundation. Because a percentage of the prots from every project goes back to the community, it simplies accounting if each company gives to its own foundation. And "as a private foundation, we can really designate where the money goes," Bosa points out. "We know exactly what we're doing, and [we're] keeping all that overhead as low as possible because we don't want any of that funding to go to any sort of overhead admin stu•." The foundations focus on supporting children and youth in the communities where the companies are building. The Bosa Properties Foundation has donated to programs in Coquitlam, New Westminster, Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria and across B.C. The BlueSky Properties Foundation has done the same in Eagleridge, Housing Strategy The Bosa Family Foundation gives back to programs in the communities where the development clan builds homes "Leadership isn't so much having the subject expertise in a eld, but having a vision and assembling a team of talented individuals who work to support that vision" —Rick Hansen hEALThY connEcTIon Bosa employees help out at Project Chef, which teaches children about sourcing, preparing and enjoying wholesome food philanthropy FEBRUARy 2018 BCBusiness 43

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