A recently-formed fundraising organisation for the Island’s non-profit sector is to receive $6 million in donations over the next five years.

Bermuda Community Foundation (BCF) CEO and managing director Myra Virgil described the donations as “a founding investment” for the organisation.

An investment manager has not yet been put in place, but is expected to be chosen by March, Ms Virgil said.

The $6 million grant to BCF comes from the charity giant Atlantic Philanthropies, plus $2 million from RenaissanceRe Limited, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the XL Foundation.

The money will go toward “building a permanent charitable endowment that generates and supports strategic philanthropy in Bermuda”, Ms Virgil told The Royal Gazette.

BCF, which was incorporated on January 31, 2013, is aimed at “helping to facilitate giving in Bermuda”, she said, as well as “providing a vehicle for donations and growing philanthropy”.

The money will be invested by the Foundation, which will then offer its returns to the local non-profit sector across five “strategic funding areas”: critical community needs, memorial funds, scholarships, an emergency assistance programme, and medical assistance support programmes.

“Some might say it’s ambitious, but our aim is to have between a six and seven percent return,” Ms Virgil said. “Other foundations have achieved that type of return.”

Ninety percent of donated funds are directed as advised by donors, she said, but as investments take off the BCF will have unrestricted funds to pitch to registered non-profits as grants become available.

The organisation will also be able to monitor where grants are coming from, and where money is being used.

The move also introduces the BCF as a go-between for donors and non-profit — particularly for Atlantic Philanthropies, which has donated roughly $22 million to Bermudian charities and non-profit since 1982.

Domiciled in Bermuda, Atlantic Philanthropies is a private foundation created in 1982 by US billionaire Chuck Feeney.

Going forward, the group will no longer make direct grants in Bermuda, but will operate through BCF.