July 25, 2024
Kathy Hawkesworth spent more than two decades helping Edmontonians help Edmontonians
After more than two decades at Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF), Kathy Hawkesworth is getting ready for the next chapter in her life’s story: retirement.
“It’s a little like standing in front of this gorgeous vista, and you don’t know what your next step will be, in two feet or 10 feet or going forward from there. It’s very exciting, but there’s a lot of factors unfolding,” she says.
Over the past 23 years, Hawkesworth has worn a number of different hats at ECF, including Director of Donor Services, in-house counsel and Philanthropy Advisor. In every role, her focus remained the same: helping Edmontonians invest in their community for the long term. She played an integral part in the foundation’s success in that time, but remains modest about her personal impact.
“I’m of course delighted that the foundation has grown and blossomed over the years, but it hasn’t been me. It’s been the people I’ve worked with, the foundation and the donors that have made that happen,” she says.
Before joining ECF, Hawkesworth worked as a tax advisor, first at a law firm and then a national accounting firm. The expertise she developed in tax law, coupled with her passion for charitable giving and community investment, proved to be invaluable when she joined ECF. Martin Garber-Conrad, ECF’s CEO during much of Hawkesworth’s tenure, remembers the value she brought to the foundation and to donors.
“We used to joke that she’d go to sleep with the Income Tax Act on her nightstand. And there aren’t too many lawyers that do that,” he laughs. “But she knew it extremely well, and having somebody with that knowledge base and skill in-house was exceedingly useful.”
Throughout her time at ECF, Hawkesworth used that knowledge to help hundreds of donors establish endowment funds that now provide meaningful, ongoing support to the causes most important to them. No matter the donor, the cause, or the size of the gift, she showed an unwavering commitment to supporting the community.
“She would spend as much time with somebody who had a $10,000 fund as somebody who had a $10-million fund. Kathy knew it was about using ordinary amounts of resources to do extraordinary things in the community, and to keep on doing them for a very long time,” says Garber-Conrad.
While there are many aspects of her work that she’ll miss, Hawkesworth notes that some of the most meaningful moments in her career happened during conversations with donors.
“Every donor is different, and every way they want to support the community is different,” she says. “But there is a consistency in that these are people that want to make a difference. Getting to understand how they want to do that, that’s a very privileged thing to do, and something I’m absolutely going to miss.”
As she prepares for the next steps in her journey, Hawkesworth is looking forward to exploring her many interests and activities, including cycling, yoga, walking and pursuing her other creative outlets. As a new grandmother, she also plans to spend time with family during what she calls her “gap year.”
“I didn’t have a year off after high school or after university, so now I’m doing it while I figure out the third chapter here,” she laughs.
No matter where her busy lifestyle takes her in the future, Hawkesworth says her work at ECF will always hold a special place in her heart.
“I have had the most fulfilling career, and the most wonderful people in it, I’ve been so lucky. So I’m saying goodbye, but it’s also more like see you later in a different role,” she says