InFocus Magazine

It’s an amazing cornucopia, but a bit overwhelming: there are approximately 3,000 grant-making foundations in Canada, according to the non-profit agency Imagine Canada, which offers an online database of these organizations.

That number, and the database, are impressive, but also can be intimidating to a grassroots initiative needing funds for a local cause, or to a potential donor who wants to be sure their money is well-spent and kept within their own community.

Luckily for the people of the Comox Valley, one name on the database is the Comox Valley Community Foundation (CVCF). The CVCF is run by locals for locals, giving both donors and recipients a personal, direct connection to the charitable process.

Since it was founded in 1996, the CVCF has given more than $1 million to well over 100 local charitable projects, and to educational institutions through student bursaries. In 2011, it gave away $32,000 to eight projects. The range of the recipients reflects the Comox Valley’s diversity, and the CVCF’s five focus areas: arts and culture, environment, seniors, health and welfare, and education and youth.

The CVCF has supported environmental groups, sports teams, theatres, museums, arts groups, search and rescue, salmon hatcheries, and community forests; it has helped build docks, therapeutic gardens, therapeutic riding facilities, playgrounds, fitness centres, trails, resource centres and a skate park. It addresses issues from homelessness to hunger, to domestic violence, and more.

“It’s nice to be able to support such a tremendous number and diversity of groups,” says Lorne Harder, CVCF president. Harder, an insurance broker, was invited to join the board when his sister, who’d been involved since the Foundation’s inception, stepped off. He says he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

“I like to be involved in community and this is my charity of choice. It’s local and very efficient,” says Harder.
This diversity is one of the hallmarks of a community foundation—a special type of grant-making organization that collects and distributes funds within a defined region.

The CVCF is one of 46 community foundations in British Columbia; there are more than 170 in Canada, which together hold more than $2.4 billion in shared assets.

Other than the limited geographical focus, the other defining characteristic of community foundations is their total reliance on an endowment fund. This means that all donations are pooled in a fund that is never spent, but instead invested. The annual earnings are distributed as grants, while the principal stays untouched, and grows continuously as more donations come in.

“The nice thing about this is that people making donations know it is a forever gift—there will always be a community foundation, and their money will always be doing good in the Comox Valley,” says Wendy Lewis, CVCF board member and treasurer. Lewis is a chartered accountant, and like Harder, she stepped up to fill a gap on the Board when her partner, Ben Vanderhorst, stepped down.

When people give money to a community foundation, Lewis explains, they often have the whole community interest at heart and don’t want to direct their support toward one specific issue.

Donors are welcome to target the funds they give to general issues, such as “animal welfare” or “children,” but not to get more specific than that, and most donations go into the general discretionary fund.

“The way this works means you can touch a lot of good things with one donation,” says Lewis.

“Also,” adds Harder, “Because we are broad in focus we can adjust to changing needs in the community.”

The endowment fund ensures the CVCF’s longevity. As the economy waxes and wanes and markets rise and fall, the CVCF will have more or less money to disburse, but their ongoing existence is secured. Donors need to trust that the 17-member board to have an accurate and in-depth understanding of community needs and to respond accordingly, and to steward their money wisely.

“This is not just an oversight board; it’s a very hands-on active board,” says Harder. “Our guidelines specify that we have to have a very diverse board. The first priority is to bring the skill sets needed to run the foundation. Also, we need people who are connected enough to the community, and as broad a representation of the Comox Valley as possible.”

Lewis continues: “So we look for a mix of people from accounting, the school district, hospital and other sectors.”

Because there is so much work involved, the CVCF board attracts people who are truly passionate about the Foundation’s work. For instance, long-term CVCF supporter Richard Graham has contributed both as a volunteer and a donor. Graham is a retired retail jeweler (from Graham’s Jewellers, now run by Graham’s son) who got involved when the CVCF was founded.

“The Foundation was Stan Hagen’s idea and he enlisted people like Richard Swift, Murray Presley and Judith Harder. I was asked to join the board right at the beginning in 1995 and served for five years. I was the Fund Development Chairman for those five years,” Graham recalls.

“We started out with zero money but we had the help and advice of the Vancouver Foundation, which is the biggest community foundation in Canada, and we had just over a million when I left the board.”

“The whole thing was a volunteer effort those first five years,” Graham adds. “We didn’t spend one cent on administration.” Currently, the Foundation hires one part-time staff person, but otherwise is scrupulous about keeping its administrative costs low.

As well as giving copiously of his time, Graham and his wife, Valerie, have donated money regularly over the years. “There are two things I like about giving money to the CVCF,” he says. “The first is that you know the money will keep giving forever. The second is that the interest from the funds goes to charitable and worthy groups in the Comox Valley, rather than off in Vancouver or somewhere else.”

There are many different ways people can contribute to the CVCF, says Graham.

“When I joined we had no money at all. My wife and I made a commitment to give $5,000 before I left the board. We managed that and have been giving ever since. We donate six to eight times a year, mostly through In Memoriam gifts for significant people in our lives who have passed away. It’s so easy to do—you just phone the office and give them your information. It takes just a few minutes. They send a letter to the families of the person who’s passed away, and this has the added benefit of spreading the word about the foundation,” says Graham.

While the donors clearly get a great deal out of their relationship with the CVCF, obviously it is the recipient organizations, and the people they serve, who benefit the most.

“We are very, very, very grateful to the Comox Valley Community Foundation,” says Anne Davis, Program Coordinator at the Comox Valley Transition Society, which this year received $5,000 to renovate the laundry room at Lilli House, their home for women and children who are escaping abusive relationships.

“Try to imagine the state of our laundry room,” Davis says with a laugh, and explains: “We’ve been in operation for 18 years, which means somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 women and children have come through. The laundry room had never been renovated before. It had been poorly laid out to begin with and was in horrible condition. Now it is beautiful, and efficient.

“The CVCF has been great to work with,” she adds. “They are very community-minded and very concerned to be helpful in a practical way.

“And for women who stay at Lilli House, who are in really, really difficult circumstances, this kind of donation sends a powerful message that the community cares about them.”

Davis says the CVCF is much more accessible than most other types of foundations. “These are people we rub shoulders with on a daily basis, who really know our community. With other types of grant applications, we have to spend lots and lots of time explaining and describing where we live—not so with the CVCF.”

The CVCF wants to hear from as wide a variety of charitable organizations as possible. They provide support to grant-seekers by offering an annual granting seminar, which takes potential applicants through the whole application process, making sure they understand what is required and what is and isn’t eligible for funding.

CVCF grants range from $1,000 to $20,000 and can only be given to groups who are a registered charity. The Foundation does not cover regular operating expenses such as staffing, and will not cover 100 per cent of a project’s costs. Beyond that there are few limitations.

In addition to the Transition Society, grant recipients for 2011 included L’Arche Comox Valley, the Cumberland Community Forest Society, the Tsolum River Restoration Society, Comox Valley Project Watershed, the Black Creek Community Association, the Cumberland & District Historical Society, and the Sid Williams Theatre Society Endowment Fund.

In early January, grant recipients and Foundation donors will be guests at a special event called the Grant Tea.

“This annual event is the highlight of our year and what we are all about,” says Kathy Penner, vice chair of the Distribution Committee for CVCF. “We have the pleasure of formally handing cheques to these worthy organizations, and donors learn first-hand about the wide variety of projects that their contributions go toward.”

A total of 10 charities will receive funding for the coming year for a wide range of projects, ranging from equipment for therapeutic riding to archival storage containers for a museum.

The level of competition for funding is variable year by year, says Lewis, depending both on the level of community need and the amount of funds available to give. “Some years we are flush and in others we don’t have enough to fund everyone we’d like to,” she says.

When groups are awarded a grant, they are matched with a board member who helps steward the grant, and who reports back to the other board members.

This is one of the best parts of being a board member, says Lewis. “The biggest reward of all this is seeing things happen. The Comox Valley is my community, and to be able to provide sustained support is a really, really big deal.

“We all tend to live in our own little bubbles, but there are groups that truly are needy and deserving, and when you find them it’s nice to have a foundation with a perpetual income stream to support them.”

There are lots of ways to support the CVCF, says Lewis. “You can just go to the website and hit the “Make a Donation” button. It’s that easy. Or you can make a bequest through your will so that a gift comes out of your estate. You can make a gift of cash, stocks, bonds, real estate, or other assets,” she says.

As a chartered accountant, Lewis is eager to explain that charitable giving can have significant tax benefits. “Under Canadian tax law, for every dollar you give over $200 annually, you get a 43 per cent tax credit. So it costs just 57 cents to donate a dollar. It’s a pretty good bang for your buck. There are also huge tax benefits for gifts of securities, especially those with gains. It’s a real windfall from a tax perspective, for you or your estate.”

While Lewis is of course eager to solicit more donations to CVCF’s endowment fund, she says the foundation is careful not to compete with other local non-profit groups for local funds.

“Our mandate is to support other local charities, not compete with them. We are all contributing to the fabric of a vibrant, healthy Comox Valley. The CVCF doesn’t do our own projects. Instead we get to be really diverse and to give support in small doses, where it can make an immediate, practical difference,” she says.

She and Harder are both deeply appreciative of the work done by the Comox Valley’s many charitable organizations.

“The cool thing about the Comox Valley is that we have a large number of people who are involved in volunteer and charitable work, with an incredibly wide range—whether it’s mountain sports, homelessness, head injuries, children, or so many other issues… it’s so diverse,” says Lewis. “This is a community of giving.” The Comox Valley Community Foundation is clearly an integral part of that.

For more information about the Comox Valley Community Foundation, visit their website at:
www.cvcfoundation.org