Are you interested in helping to make the Kitimat Community Foundation a success?
The ACT – Aluminum City Telethon has moved to being the Kitimat Community Foundation. The ACT telethon board of directors have completed the initial work of establishing a community foundation.
The move to a community foundation gives Kitimat the opportunity to get the most out of our giving.
Kitimat is a community that is known for our citizens to be highly supportive of services and causes. In the history of the Aluminum City telethon thousands of dollars have been raised annually for over 30 years.
These dollars have supported non-profit services in our community. Now with the establishment of the Kitimat Community Foundation, we can continue this legacy and be responsive to how our community is changing.
A Community Foundation gives us the opportunity to diversify and work together to establish support for all kinds of charities – not just one sector or issue area.
A foundation allows us to work together to meet the needs in our community. We can build lasting support and still address immediate needs.
It is a way to strengthen our community by facilitating giving, by partnering with donors to build permanent and other funds that are used to support community projects and services.
Funds can be unspecified and the board of directors of the Community Foundation can direct the use of these funds or funds can be designated for identified purposes.
All grants are allocated to worthy projects through charitable organizations committed to enhancing the quality of our life in Kitimat. These can include education, health, environment, sports and recreation, arts and culture, social services and others.
A Community Foundation has many options for how funds are raised, managed and how grants are given.
The Kitimat Community Foundation is our Foundation and is led and managed by community members. This means those involved will have broad expertise about our community.
We are hosting our first meeting of the KCF on May 17 at 7 p.m. in the Kitimat Hospital Community room. At this meeting we will be looking for those interested in working with us.
The Foundation will be a member of the Community Foundation of Canada. This link will provide us support and knowledge of how to make our Foundation successful.
We will also partner with other community foundations in the north to invest and manage our funds. For more information visit www.cfc-fcc.ca .
A Community Foundation allows us to multiply the impact of gifted dollars by pooling them together. In the North we are taking the opportunity to benefit from the Northern Development Institute Trust matching $50,000.
With the monies raised in last year’s Telethon we are well on our way to accessing these matching funds. This year the Telethon will be again held in October and the funds will be managed by the Kitimat Community Foundation.
Foundations can carry a variety of funds ranging from flow through funds to endowment funds that benefit the community forever and can create personal legacies. Grant giving is to registered charities in Kitimat.
The Telethon board members have done the initial work to set up our Foundation and are now looking for community members to be on the Foundation board or one of our committees.
Community Foundations have a board of directors, fund raising committees, grant-giving committee and others, depending on how we plan for our success.
All donors to a Community Foundation receive a charitable tax receipt. Monies raised can be placed into a variety of funds including a Telethon fund, sustaining funds, family designated funds, health funds or others that meet defined criteria.
By joining with other Foundations such as working with the Terrace, Prince Rupert and Prince George Community Foundations we can share resources and the work to be done.
Please join us and become involved. With increased community member involvement we can make the Kitimat Community Foundation a success and continue having a healthy, welcoming community.
More information can be obtained from Margaret at the Child Development Centre. The CDC is lending support to this important initiative because it and other non-profit service providers have been well supported by our community and a Community Foundation moves us forward to continuing this essential support.