The strength and resiliency of the Capital Region’s non-profit sector matters. Whether organizations are working in housing and homelessness, arts and culture, the environment, or providing services for youth, seniors or others, their work impacts us all in some way.
It’s with that understanding that the Victoria Foundation encourages organizations working across Greater Victoria’s non-profit sector to apply for the 2023 Community Grants Program.
Granted to local, registered charities and qualified donees, the funds work to strengthen the non-profit sector and long-term resilience of our community in areas ranging from environment to mental health, homelessness to racial equity.
Last year, 191 local organizations were supported by $4.32 million from the Victoria Foundation’s Community Grants Program, including more than $1.53 million from direct donations to either the Community Action Funds or from Donor Advised Funds.
“Without community grants, many services for our community would not have the capacity to run and many children, youth, adults and seniors would be without the support they need,” says Tara Skobel, executive director of The Reconciliation Project Society. “I appreciate the Victoria Foundation’s low-barrier approach to their granting process and how they truly engage the community to understand each local neighbourhood’s unique needs.”
The Community Grants Program helps the Victoria Foundation strengthen community wellbeing by investing in people, opportunities and solutions to improve the region, says Foundation CEO Sandra Richardson.
“As we heard in the 2022 Vital Signs report, there are a lot of people and causes that need our support to improve the conditions or sustain what is working. The Community Grants Program is one opportunity to respond.”
Start the process:
2023 Community Grants applications are welcomed through April 4. Using Trust-Based Philanthropy principles to promote equity, centre relationships and increase accessibility, the grants provide flexible, general operating funding to qualified applicants through two grant streams:
- Vital Stream: requests up to $30,000
- Collaboration Stream: Variable Amounts – see application guidelines.
Recognizing the historical and systemic barriers to funding for some communities, the Foundation encourages applications from organizations working with equity-deserving groups.
“The application process was easy,” says Neil Belanger, executive director of the B.C. Aboriginal Network on Disability Society. “The benefits from being approved were vital to us as an organization, and more importantly to those we serve.”
Learn more about the Community Grants Program application process guidelines here or online at victoriafoundation.bc.ca/community-grants-program
The Community Grants Program is one part of the overall granting strategy for the Victoria Foundation, established in 1936. As the sixth-largest of more than 200 community foundations nation-wide, the Victoria Foundation manages charitable donor gifts that become part of permanent, income-earning funds. Proceeds are then distributed as grants for charitable or educational purposes – more than $25 million in 2022 alone and over $312 million since 1936. Learn more at victoriafoundation.bc.ca