The Idea
Better financial plumbing for the places we live.
For most essential services, community fundraising is the norm. It works, and it matters. But there is also room for new tools that can retain that generosity and turn it into predictable, long-term support over time. Canmore Legacy is one such tool -- designed to complement traditional fundraising by providing a quiet, continuous stream of support in the background.
The problem nobody names
Most communities look healthy on the surface. People work. Businesses operate. Services run. Money moves.
And yet, year after year, the same institutions are always fundraising. Hospitals, community programs, and local initiatives are constantly asked to campaign again--hoping the next drive meets its goal. This outcome is not about motivation or care. It is the predictable result of relying primarily on campaign-based funding.
The fundraising paradox
Fundraising is generous. It is often inspiring. And it is also structurally limited.
What fundraising does well
- Responds quickly to immediate needs
- Mobilizes community energy
- Creates awareness and shared purpose
What it can't do
- Provide predictable, recurring funding
- Compound into a permanent asset
- Operate quietly for decades without restarting
It raises money--but it rarely becomes infrastructure. It doesn't turn into something that works in the background, year after year.
The uncomfortable observation
Every day, enormous economic activity flows through a town — electricity, natural gas, food, services, commerce. Almost all of the surplus from that activity leaves permanently. This is not an accident. It is the predictable result of how modern economic systems are structured. Communities are very good at participating in these systems. They are simply not designed to retain much of the value they generate.
A different question
The usual question is:
“How do we raise more money?”
A better question is:
“How do we redesign everyday systems so that some of the value stays here—permanently?”
The plumbing problem
If you want water in your house, you don't run a fundraiser every morning. You build pipes.
Communities are very good at building roads, utilities, buildings, and institutions. But they have rarely built financial infrastructure that feeds themselves over the long term. Most support still relies on campaigns rather than systems.
The simple insight
When taxation and traditional donations have natural limits, one option is to capture a small part of everyday economic flows.
Not through force. Through participation. The most powerful funding sources are recurring, boring, predictable, and already happening. The best systems don't ask people to change their behavior. They just change where the result goes.
Why everyday spending matters
Everyday spending is stable, scalable, and permanent. It continues in good years and bad years.
When even a small portion of that flow is redirected, the result is a funding stream that never needs to be restarted.
What "Legacy" actually means
Legacy is not a plaque, a donation, or a named room. Legacy is a structure that keeps working after you're gone-- something future residents inherit, already built.
What this is (and is not)
This is not
- A protest against markets
- A rejection of business
- A political statement
This is
- A practical design decision
- Financial infrastructure for community benefit
- A system meant to operate for decades
The quiet conclusion
One reliable way to strengthen long-term funding is not to ask harder, but to build something that can help fund itself quietly in the background.