Carberry, Man. -- When the good burghers of Carberry, Man., went looking for ways to lend a helping hand to local community groups, from the bowling league to the arts council, they turned to what they know best, potatoes. Volunteers planted, maintained and cultivated a 40-acre field over two seasons, netting more than $80,000 in seed money for an endowment. When a couple of high-tech entrepreneurs in Kitchener, Ont., had the same idea, they opted for a similarly familiar gesture, reaching for their stock portfolios.

The endowment they created to support local social, environmental and arts groups is worth $12-million.

But, despite their dramatically different approaches on the surface, and a few digits more on the bottom line, the farmers and software engineers chose an identical vehicle for their philanthropy: the community foundation. "I think we're caught between two worlds of philanthropy, the old and the new," Barbara McInnes, executive director of the Community Foundation of Ottawa-Carleton, said in an interview.

One of her recent workdays typifies that balancing act. She spent the morning with a fortyish high-tech entrepreneur looking to donate pre-IPO share options that, if the company goes public, could be worth tens of millions of dollars. The afternoon was spent having tea with a wealthy widow looking to make a substantial gift from the estate of her late husband. "Our success has come from being comfortable in both worlds, in recognizing that donors have similar goals," Ms. McInnes said.

Community foundations are a little-known movement, but one that has managed to amass an impressive $1.2-billion in assets.

More important than the money is the fact that community foundations have become the vehicle of choice for dynamic young e-philanthropists, while maintaining their appeal to the bequeathing families and seniors who were traditional supporters.

The common bond between the two is a desire to build community, to leave a legacy by improving the quality of life for future generations, said Monica Patten, president of Community Foundations of Canada. The group marked its 10th anniversary at a conference in Ottawa this weekend.

"Whether it's appreciated stocks or a family donation, people are looking for real and lasting ways to make a difference in their communities," she said. "Donors know that community foundations can act quickly and have the flexibility to help them meet their philanthropic goals." The foundations, which operate independently in 98 communities, do not solicit money. Largely based on word of mouth, they collect funds in endowments, and revenues from investments are distributed to community groups.

Donors can also give to a general fund, or create specific funds that send proceeds to their causes of choice. (With Canada's tax laws, this is far more beneficial than creating an individual foundation, which U.S. donors tend to do.) This ability to control a gift over the long term leads community foundations to boast that they have "glass pockets," a trait that appeals to e-philanthropists.

Over the years, community foundations have also developed expertise in tax matters, particularly in handling gifts of stocks and options, the favourite methods of donation by Internet millionaires and established investors alike.

In doing so, administrators have gained particular insight into the way philanthropy is changing and the challenges that lie ahead for Canada's voluntary sector.

For example, almost 80 per cent of gifts to community foundations are now in shares. And, whereas as few years ago, most gifts were bequests, living donors are now the norm.

Still, David Uffelmann, chairman of the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Foundation, said the common assumption that the high-technology sector is turning philanthropy on its ear is not correct.

"To me, entrepreneurs who earn wealth in traditional fields and those who earn it in high-tech are similar. The differentiating factor really is age," he said in an interview.

Many wealthy families, he said, have built their assets over years, or even generations, while high-tech millionaires can literally become rich overnight, often in their 30s.

Practically speaking, what this means, Mr. Uffelmann said, is that the younger donor needs to be educated. Their instincts are right, they want to give, but they simply do not know how to do so efficiently, he added. "A 60-year-old who wants to make a gift has likely been active in the community for 30 years and has a feel for the community and its needs. Contrast that with a 33-year-old who has been working 80-hour weeks since leaving university. They want to give a gift, but they don't know the community in the same way," Mr. Uffelmann said.

Contrary to what many believe, however, young entrepreneurs do not need to be sold on the benefits of community. Because many high-tech companies struggle constantly to attract workers, they are aware of the value of quality of life.

"A clean environment, bicycle trails, good schools, a variety of arts groups, playgrounds, safe streets. The young donors are really aware of this stuff, and they want to know how they can improve all these elements of the community," Mr. Uffelmann said.

In March, the chairman of the Kitchener-Waterloo Foundation negotiated what was, at the time, one of the biggest gifts ever to a community foundation, $12-million. (Weeks later, it was surpassed when Joyce Young gave $40-million in shares in the computer-software company Red Hat Inc. to the Hamilton Community Foundation. A long-time volunteer with community groups, she said her biggest challenge was giving away the money responsibly.) Michael Barnstijn and Louise MacCallum, a pair of under-40 retirees from the high-tech darling Research In Motion, approached the Kitchener-Waterloo Foundation and spent less than an hour in the office before turning over a small fortune.

"That's another thing about young donors -- they do their homework. They came prepared like it was a business deal, and they closed it quickly," Mr. Uffelmann said. Yet, in the hour between their commitment and the stock market closing that day, the value of the shares rose $1.6-million. In Carberry, a prosperous small town of 1,500 where the livelihood of most citizens depends on a plant that transforms local potatoes into McDonald's french fries, life and money move a little more slowly, but the philanthropy is no less impressive. The proceeds from the communal potato field gave the newly minted Carberry Community Foundation its start, but it was soon supplemented by gifts from members of the community.

While the biggest to date has been $11,000 from retired grocer Fred Switzer, the endowment is on track to surpass $1-million by the end of next year. "We don't have any Internet millionaires in Carberry. Just old-fashioned, hard-working people," said Don Forbes, a board member of the foundation. "They don't just give us money, they give us their trust." As someone who has toiled quietly in community groups for decades, he does not resent the attention afforded the e-philanthropists, saying that, ultimately, everyone benefits from the media attention that big gifts have generated.

But Mr. Forbes cautioned that foundations should not be blinded by potential riches from the high-tech sector and forget the collective wealth created by philanthropists who, individually, contribute small potatoes. "I figure we're all try to do the same thing, to make sure that our kids have a great community to grow up in," Mr. Forbes said. "The details don't really matter."