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Whistler’s foundation investing in our future

By Kerry Chalmers Glacial ice, green roofs, snowboarding inner-city youth, forest history studies and expanding community capacity through dialogue are examples of the dividends being invested in Whistler through grants from the Community Foundation
1526whis2020

By Kerry Chalmers

Glacial ice, green roofs, snowboarding inner-city youth, forest history studies and expanding community capacity through dialogue are examples of the dividends being invested in Whistler through grants from the Community Foundation of Whistler.

The Community Foundation of Whistler (CFOW) will never deplete its donations as it is committed to sharing the fruits of its investments with other community-based organizations, making it arguably one of the most sustainable organizations in our resort community. The CFOW is a registered Canadian charity founded in 1999. Our vision is to improve the quality of life in Whistler by enabling, demonstrating and encouraging philanthropy in Whistler and beyond.

Community foundations are different from other non-profits because they exist to support communities as a whole. The operating structure of community foundations is such that we never deplete our resources. Instead, we use them to grow the capacity of other community-based organizations, hence contributing to the overall sustainability of a community.

Endowment Building:

A community foundation is different from other charities in that we do not spend our donations. The donations go into endowment funds, which are like savings accounts where the capital is never touched. The capital is invested in the financial markets, and the income is returned to the community in the form of grants. The donations continue to grow in perpetuity. Thus, a community foundation is essentially a community’s most sustainable form of support. The CFOW uses this structure to ensure that funding will be available for the community each and every year — forever.

The CFOW is proud to have a portion of our endowments invested in a Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) portfolio. This is an investment account that deals only with companies certified as socially and/or environmentally responsible. These are companies whose business and financial practices are screened. Corporations such as tobacco companies or companies that have poor environmental practices would not be deemed as “socially responsible” and hence are not qualified for investment.

SRI, or mission based investing, is a way for community foundations to use their financial assets to further their mission.

In the past, SR investing was not very popular because it was believed that SRI portfolios earned lower returns. However, research is now showing that this is simply not true. Many companies today strive to be certified by the Sustainable Responsible Investment Certification Program as socially responsible because this certification builds market confidence in their product and increases the pool of potential investment opportunities.

The CFOW was recently selected as one of seven community foundations from across Canada to participate in a pilot program on SRI. The purpose of this pilot program is to develop policies and practices that will allow other community foundations from across Canada to embrace SRI. Although the CFOW is the second smallest participating foundation, we have discovered that we are a leader in this area. We believe the CFOW is a Canadian leader in SRI, and this is reflective of the pioneering spirit in Whistler. We are a community that embraces the new and different, usually with ground-breaking strategies that eventually become the norm.

Granting:

The money that we make from our investments is returned to the community in the form of grants. We have a number of grant programs that support different needs relating to the environment, social justice and scholarships, as well as emergency situations.

The CFOW is the largest environmental grant maker in Whistler. The Environmental Legacy Fund (ELF) is the Foundation’s first, largest and fastest growing fund. The fund was created through annual grants from the Resort Municipality of Whistler’s collected landfill tipping fees. Its goal is to finance projects that provide environmental benefits to the community of Whistler

Some of the projects that ELF has recently funded include:

• Whistler Public Library Green Roof

• Whistler Community Services Society Greenhouse Project

• Whistler Community Forest Program

• Whistler Forum for Dialogue’s Sea to Sky Environmental Leaders’ Forum

• Whistler Biodiversity Project

• Get Bear Smart Society Waste Audit, and new bear-proof garbage bin pilot program

• Whistler Fisheries Stewardship Fish Distribution Mapping Project

• Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre Aboriginal Youth Ambassador Program

• Spring Creek PAC Outdoor Classroom

The CFOW’s Community Grants Program supports social sustainability by providing funding to projects that improve the region’s health and well-being. Recently funded projects in this area include:

• Zero Ceiling Society Youth Outreach Support Worker Position

• Whistler Secondary School’s Drama Club

• Lil’wat Fathers’ Day Regional Youth Soccer Tournament

• Pemberton Parent Tot Advisory Group

• Pemberton Secondary School Leadership Camp

• Whistler Community Services Society Single Parent Support Program

Community Convening and Leadership:

Our third area of focus alongside endowment building and granting, is community leadership. Within this area, we develop and host community forums and workshops for other non-profit organizations.

The CFOW is pleased to support Whistler2020. We believe in the power of community and the importance of sustainability. The CFOW looks forward to supporting Whistler on its journey to sustainability through grants, community convening and other leadership opportunities. We are a resource that Whistler can call on now, along our journey to 2020, and beyond.

Kerry Chalmers is the CFOW Executive Director and a member of the Whistler2020 Arts, Culture and Heritage Task Force. For more info, check out www.whistlerfoundation.com or contact Kerry at info@whistlerfoundation.com or 604-935-8080 .

SIDEBAR

Origin of Community Foundations

The Community Foundation movement started in 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea came to Canada in 1921 with start of Winnipeg Foundation. There are now 164 community foundations across Canada. We are all independent and autonomous, and linked via a national network called Community Foundations of Canada. More than 83 per cent of the country’s population, or 25 million people, are served by a local community foundation.

Community foundations have three main roles:

1. Endowment building;

2. Grant-making; and

3. Community convening and leadership.