2023 Make it Happen!

Make it Happen!

giving Your guide to and with the Victoria Foundation

impact

How do you want to make an on your community?

With so many issues and opportunities, what are the best ways to invest in our community?

Working together to address our communities’ challenges makes all the difference. Collectively, we can make a powerful impact that improves lives. In this edition of Make it Happen! read about how donors are working together with the Victoria Foundation to invest in vital issues that address the wellbeing of our community. Each year, through the generosity of donors, we fund hundreds of initiatives, both large and small.

You can use the information in this guide to learn about the charitable organizations and the causes that matter most to you. Whether you choose to support a particular charity close to your heart, or one of the programs and funds listed in this publication, we are here to help you explore how we can work together to invest in non-profit organizations in our region and the vibrancy they bring to our community.

How donors are

“ ” in our community Making it Happen

The Victoria Foundation has a pulse on the community and knows the charitable organizations that deal with the social issues where we focus our giving each year. As fund holders at the Foundation, if we need additional information, they are always available to help with our granting decisions. We are also very pleased to see the movement towards trustbased philanthropy by the Victoria Foundation where more flexible funding application and reporting procedures are making it easier for grantees to access funding.”

– Sue & Carl Stovel

Giving back to our community is very important to us. In these times especially, with rapidly rising food costs, we have become particularly interested in supporting food security. The Victoria Foundation has introduced us to several organizations working in this area that were not initially on our radar. Becoming aware of these other organizations was a reminder that there are so many great entities working hard in our community and that need funding. The Victoria Foundation has a deep understanding of who they are and how donors can help.”

– Chanda Pacholuk & Allen Gage

There are many dedicated charities and non-profits in Victoria working on the issue of housing. I wanted to donate to housing support and to find a way for my gift to benefit several recipient organizations. The Victoria Foundation’s Community Action Funds made it possible for me to do that, and I was thrilled to assist several worthwhile programs at the same time. If you have a vision for how you want to help, the Foundation has a way to Make it Happen!”

– Charlotte Bell

The Victoria Foundation has an in-depth understanding of the organizations that help uplift others in our community. The Sheldon Gilmour Foundation supports charities through the Victoria Foundation because of its research and dedication to the greater Victoria community.”

– Sheldon Gilmour Foundation

voices

The of our community

Listening and learning how to best respond to community needs

What is the non-profit sector telling us? There are several ways we ground our work in community knowledge and the needs of the sector. The Foundation participates in ‘state-of-the-sector’ research and facilitates convening and conversations to amplify the voices of an array of perspectives and diverse experiences from within our community.

Vital Signs® Reports & Vital Conversations

For 17 years, the Vital Signs® report has provided an annual community check-up that measures the vitality of our region. Through a citizen survey, the report identifies concerns and supports action on issues that are critical to quality of life in Greater Victoria. Sponsored by Coast Capital, Vital Signs® gives us the knowledge and data to guide decision-making when it comes to allocating resources and supporting the community. As a follow-up to the issues raised in Vital Signs®, Vital Conversation events bring together local leaders and residents to discuss key issues and explore opportunities to solve problems. In 2022, we partnered with Coast

State of the sector research

Capital to bring together experts for a conversation centered on the question: How can we afford to live here? The Vital Conversation was part of the Rising Economy 2022 conference produced by the South Island Prosperity Partnership.

Vital Signs® and Vital Conversations help bring community knowledge, solutions, and opportunities to life and are important ways we listen to and amplify the voices of our community. An initiative of Community Foundations of Canada, Vital Signs® is a national program that helps communities across the country measure wellbeing and quality of life.

In 2020 and 2021, the Victoria Foundation and other provincial partners came together to strengthen advocacy efforts and support the communities we served during the pandemic. This state of the sector research informed the Victoria Foundation of current and urgent needs in the community. In January 2023, the Victoria Foundation partnered with Vantage Point, the City of Vancouver, United Way British Columbia, and the Vancity Community Foundation for a third in a series of reports. Stay tuned for the results of this survey that will be available in mid-April at victoriafoundation.bc.ca

Using community knowledge to inform decision-making

One important way the Victoria Foundation helps to honour the voices of community is by continuing to align our granting with trust-based philanthropy, which holds equity and transparency as core values in the work. As a way to act on these values, one of our granting initiatives, the Community Grants Program, has three groups of community knowledge holders that inform our granting decisions.

Community Engagement Committee

5 members (Victoria Foundation Board of Directors and community members)

Responsible for oversight of the Community Grants Program and supporting staff-led grant review process

Seeking community knowledge and expertise

Share knowledge and lived experience, and conduct grant reviews with staff

In February, a meeting was held to gather the perspectives of the Community Advisory with the intention to root grantmaking more strongly in community and to listen and learn about what our region needs. The group was asked the following questions. “What are you seeing as the most pressing needs in community?” and “What groups do you see in community working in these priority areas?” To learn more about the outcomes of this discussion and for your opportunity to ask questions about what we are hearing from the Community Grants Program applicants, join Foundation staff for an online session on May 3. Register here

Listening and responding to the community

The Victoria Foundation’s annual Community Grants Program (CGP) supports local organizations with flexible, general operating funds to meet immediate needs and helps non-profits build long-term resilience. The program is built on trust-based philanthropy principles that promote equity, are centred on relationships, and increase an organization’s access to funding. We recognize the historical and systemic barriers to accessing funding for some communities and encourage applications from organizations that are working with equity-deserving groups.

In prioritizing the distribution of flexible, general operating funds, the Foundation meets organizations where they are at. We seek to understand the mission, vision and opportunity that guides their daily work and strengthens our community as a whole.

Each year, application funding requests to the program exceed the available funding. Fund holders and Victoria Foundation donors have generously stepped up in past years to help bridge this gap. Deadline for grants and donations in support of this program is May 19th, 2023.

Trust-based Philanthropy

The Victoria Foundation continues to focus on incorporating principles of trust-based philanthropy and applying an equity lens to its work throughout the community. As grant makers, we have a responsibility to confront the ways our sector has contributed to systemic inequities.

Looking back on the Community Grants Program 2022

In 2022, in collaboration with the Victoria Foundation’s fund holders and Community Action Fund donors, $4.32 million was distributed to 191 local organizations. Of the total amount granted, over $1.53 million came from direct donations made to the Community Action Funds or from Donor Advised Funds held at the Victoria Foundation. These grants and donations enhanced the available funding and allowed us to support a record number of organizations.

$3.15 M

From endowed funds where donors have given the Foundation discretion to allocate

128

191 organizations funded grants supported organizations or projects that significantly benefited equity-deserving populations including Indigenous, Black, People of Colour, women, children and youth, persons with disabilities, and newcomers.

$4.32 M

of funding distributed

CGP supports the long-term resilience of the sector and is rooted in listening and responding to the voices from community

$659,000

The Community Grants Program is one part of the Victoria Foundation’s overall granting initiatives. In 2022, the Victoria Foundation granted a total of over $25 million.

From Donor Advised fund holders who allocated grants to program applicants

Exploring power imbalances

We ask all applicants to the Community Grants Program to share feedback with us about how we can continue to make the program better. Here is what one applicant shared:

$518,000

From individual donors contributed through the Community Action Funds

The Victoria Foundation is the most intuitive and straight forward application process available. Those of us who apply for these types of funds are already overburdened with patching together grants and funding agreements and providing subsequent reporting. Having a simple process like this is a game changer and I wish others would follow in your footsteps. You can feel a level of trust being offered to applicants and it is appropriate and meaningful.”

– Anonymous

Building community action together

Give confidently to the causes that matter most to you. The Victoria Foundation’s Community Action Funds (CAF) offer the opportunity to focus your giving on one of the many complex issues facing our community.

Your gift is combined with donations from other individuals, families, and organizations to have greatest impact within a shared area of interest. You can either give to the broader Vibrant and Caring Community Fund or one of the more specific cause areas listed below.

The purpose of the Vibrant and Caring Community Fund is to support our region’s areas of greatest need. The Vibrant and Caring Community Fund supports projects, programs and services that are among the most important in our community. Many donors choose to make their gifts to this fund, allowing the Foundation to proactively respond to critical needs as they arise.

When you make a gift to a Community Action Fund, you can have confidence that your gift will be put to the highest and best use. Your gift to a Community Action Fund between January and May will be distributed through the Victoria Foundation’s trusted granting initiative – the Community Grants Program.

Click on the icons to learn more about the Community Action Funds.

The Community Action Funds in Action: A snapshot of the impact

9-10 Club Serving Soup to the Hungry (Food Security Fund)

- Received $15,000 in 2022

It takes a village to build community, and when it comes to helping make sure nobody goes hungry, the Soup Kitchen from the 9-10 Club Serving Soup to the Hungry plays a large role. In 2022, the society provided over 32,000 meals to Victoria residents facing food insecurity. On average, the program serves 110 to 120 individuals a day.

Over the last three years, operational costs for the program have increased significantly with the shift to bag meals, client growth, inflationary price increases,

KidSport Greater Victoria (Health & Wellness Fund)

- Received $25,000 in 2022

roughly 200 local sport organizations to provide underprivileged kids the chance to get in the game, and benefit from lessons related to teamwork, work ethic, fair play, and leadership. Families need support, with the average cost at $334 per applicant.

KidSport Greater Victoria anticipates that it will receive requests for support from roughly 1000 eligible children and youth in the CRD this year, requesting help so they can be active through sport. Demand in 2023 is up significantly, with more requests for support received and granted than in the last seven years!

and food prices. A Victoria Foundation grant supported the ongoing operational needs of the Soup Kitchen Program, helping provide more people with meals.

The Soup Kitchen is totally dependent on donations to support its operations. The Victoria Foundation grant has helped the program not only serve at-risk community residents but also address a significant increase in client need.”

– 9-10 Club Serving Soup to the Hungry

KidSport Greater Victoria was able to reach 26% more children and youth than in 2021. For many young athletes, it was their first foray into playing organized sport.

Sport and activity are essential for all, but even more so for youth in our region.

KidSport Greater Victoria works with

Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness (Housing Fund)

- Received $29,905 in 2022

Through the support of the community, including the Victoria Foundation, in 2022

From its beginnings, the Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH) has been guided by the voices of the Indigenous Street Family who share their thoughts, experiences, and perspectives on solutions. In 2021 the ACEH developed an Indigenous Systems Improvement Map (ISIM) informed by 127 Indigenous Street Family members. Based on the ISIM feedback, ACEH has taken action to address the gaps identified, along with creating a Collaborative Response Network with local service providers. Through Greater Victoria’s most recent point-in-

Thanks to this support, I am a happy hockey mom. Because of the war in my country, I was forced to leave it. I have found protection and a safe place in the wonderful country of Canada. I have two children. My son Roman’s dream came true, thanks to your money. My son joined the hockey team! He lived by this idea for a long time, now he is training hard, getting stronger and better every time.”

– Family benefiting from KidSport’s support

time count, 1,523 people in Victoria were identified as experiencing homelessness, with Indigenous peoples comprising 33% of this population.

The ACEH has opened a downtown, centralized location with direct supports for the unhoused Indigenous Street Family. Ongoing support has been provided for over 150 individuals, including basic needs, integration, health, wellness, and cultural support along with Indigenous justice programming. A final step is to implement an Indigenous Gathering Space.

The Victoria Foundation’s work is grounded in community

Strategic Initiatives at the Victoria Foundation

Strengthening community wellbeing is at the core of everything we do. In partnership with others, our goal is to generate long-term transformative change. We do that through our Strategic Initiatives by grounding our work in community knowledge and building strong relationships with community partners. Our Strategic Initiatives contribute to a stronger non-profit sector for greater community impact and resilience.

Read about some of our initiatives that are strengthening community wellbeing, with support from donors.

1. Vital Youth

2. Collaborative Granting Initiatives

3. Food Security Initiatives

1. Vital Youth

The Vital Youth initiative, launched in 2003, introduces local youth to philanthropy and helps them learn about important causes and issues in the community.

As one of Victoria Foundation’s longest-running initiatives, the Vital Youth program has inspired hundreds of young people over the years. We currently have 12 schools participating in the program.

How does the Vital Youth Program work?

The Victoria Foundation allocates $3,000 to each student committee, comprised of students grade 9 and above, to recommend grants to registered charities of their choice on southern Vancouver Island. An additional $500 is invested in the school’s permanent endowment fund held at the Victoria Foundation. As this investment grows, it continues to generate interest for future granting.

We wanted to donate to smaller, lesser-known charities so we found the Victoria Hand Project. They make prosthetic arms for people at a lower cost so people can afford them, and I think that’s wonderful…. I love seeing people smile and if I can do that for many different people, I think that makes the whole world of difference. It just kind of makes my day knowing I did something that helps other people.”

– Adele Jenkins, Vital Youth participant

2. Food Security Initiatives

Over the past 10 years, the Foundation has worked alongside our region’s food system’s passionate community members to build collective community capacity and resilience. We have continued to work with many donors to invest significant funding resources into the local food system. Together, we have accomplished so much!

™ In 2014, the food systems roadmap brought together dozens of organizations and provided a new understanding of the complexity and interconnectedness of our regional food system.

™ In 2015, the Food Share Network formed to coordinate the distribution of healthy food to 70+ agencies, including neighbourhood houses and community centres, to be redistributed to families and individuals in need right in their own neighbourhoods.

™ In 2019, the Food Security Distribution Centre warehouse was purchased as a community asset, providing critical

infrastructure needed to collect, process, and redistribute high volumes of food from retailers.

™ In 2020, the South Island Farm Hub launched to purchase local, organic food from farms and processors and redistribute back into our community. Today, the FarmHub has expanded to include over 30 farmers and 25 food processors selling through an online market. The Foundation and others in our community will continue to work together to address the food security challenges and opportunities specific to our region. Going forward, building equity in our regional food system will be a focus and critical to community wellbeing.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the interconnected weakness of our food, social and economic systems and offers lessons for building more just and resilient food systems,”

– Ariel Reyes Antuan, founder of IYÉ Creative, a food and land collective built on the concept of mutual aid, which differs from the charitable model, and is an open system where people come and experience and become agents of change.

3. Collaborative Granting Initiatives

When organizations work together towards shared goals, they can have far greater impact than when working alone. In response to community organizations seeking support for greater collaboration, the Victoria Foundation offers a specific Collaboration Stream of the Community Grants Program. In 2022, ten collaborations were supported for total funding of $500,000 including to the project listed below.

XAXE ÁLEṈENEȻ EQÁTEL TŦE MEQ, a Collaborative Conservation Partnership Initiative

(2022 Collaboration Grant Stream Recipient)

Through the 2022 Community Grants Program, Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) received $24,950 to fund XAXE ÁLEṈENEȻ EQÁTEL TŦE MEQ, a Collaborative Conservation Partnership Initiative. The purpose of this collaboration between HAT, PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ , and W̱SÁNEĆ community members is to address a systemic problem: colonial models of conservation negatively and disproportionately impacting Indigenous people and their territories, devaluing Indigenous wisdom, practices, and involvement. These colonial models of conservation make it difficult to sustain Indigenous ways of living and providing for livelihoods on their territories.

The collaboration helps address current inequalities in western-led conservation, envisioning a new model that relies on and uplifts Indigenous knowledge and worldviews, establishing a pathway to empowering Indigenous stewardship of XAXE ÁLEṈENEȻ EQÁTEL TŦE MEQ (Sacred Homelands in Relationship to All).

This funding provided essential resources for HAT and PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ to further our joint work of supporting and facilitating real, tangible Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship work. Something as simple as HAT providing administrative support for monthly restoration and stewardship events can allow PEPÁḴEṈ HÁUTW̱ staff time to focus on strengthening and growing programs. This strengthening will underpin further growth and leadership of Indigenous land stewards.”

– Habitat Acquisition Trust

Other Granting Initiatives

The above are only a small sample of the dozens of granting and leadership initiatives supported by the Victoria Foundation. Check out some of our other current granting initiatives: Investment Readiness Program, Community Services Recovery Fund, Gender Equity Fund, and Greenshield

SARA NEELY, LLB, CFRE Director, Philanthropic Services sneely@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

NATASHA BENN Manager, Philanthropic Services nbenn@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

JESSICA DOLL, CFRE Manager of Giving Initiatives and Partnerships jdoll@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

KAREN MCMILLAN Philanthropic Services Administrator kmcmillan@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

TRACEY TROUSDELL Philanthropic Services Coordinator ttrousdell@victoriafoundation.bc.ca

The Victoria Foundation connects people who care with causes that matter. Our mission is to strengthen community wellbeing by investing in people, opportunities, and solutions. Since 1936, the Victoria Foundation has been managing charitable gifts to create permanent, income-earning funds that support hundreds of charities each year. We grant over a million and a half dollars a month, and to-date we have distributed more than $313 million to support charities locally and across Canada.

From the left: Sara, Karen, Natasha, Jessica, Tracey.

Together, we can Make it Happen! To learn more about how you can support the initiatives, funds, or programs in this guide, please contact our team.