A gift today, a gift forever
Your community foundation plays a vital, lasting role in your hometown by supporting charitable projects that improve life for individuals, families and the entire community.
If you’ve visited a library, received care at a hospital, toured a heritage site, strolled around a public park, attended a theatre or music performance, or been to a playground in Manitoba, chances are your life has been touched by a community foundation.
These organizations support all aspects of community life, making grants to a wide variety of worthy causes – from daycares to seniors’ homes, scholarships to school improvements, food banks to fitness, and much, much more.
These grants are possible thanks to generous gifts from local donors from all walks of life. Community foundations pool and endow (permanently invest) all gifts and the income earned supports a variety of projects within the foundation’s catchment area. The original contributions are never spent, ensuring a lasting legacy for donors and a permanent source of support for the community.
Canada’s community foundation movement started in 1921 with the establishment of The Winnipeg Foundation. Ninety years later, there are 48 community foundations in our province – nearly a third of Canada’s total. These foundations are part of Manitoba’s history of generosity, a tradition in which we can all participate and take pride.