Stories

2017 marks the 10th anniversary of the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society (SHHS). Over the past ten years the Society has provided over $3.5 million in funding to Surrey organizations that assist people experiencing homelessness. The Society has supported 55 projects with more than 50 partners assisting over 500 individuals, including children, who were homelessness or at imminent risk of homelessness.

Often organizations that approach Vancity Community Foundation for support are managing multiple competing priorities. Through enterprise capacity reviews, Vancity Community Foundation assists organizations with assessing their key strengths and challenges in the areas of product/service, marketing, management, and governance, infrastructure and systems, operations and human resources, and financial systems.

When Margaret Mitchell passed away on International Women’s Day in 2017 at the age of 92, she left a legacy of advocating for the rights of women and greater economic and social justice for all. Her Fund continues to support programs and initiatives that promote economic and social justice for women in East Vancouver.

As an independent non-profit urban development organization based in Vancouver, BC Artscape aims to create the conditions for artists and creative communities to thrive by developing and managing affordable space, programs and services.

In 2017, with an investment from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Affordable Rental Housing Innovation Fund, the PDF Loan program expanded and introduced a new Pre-Construction loan that provides additional and longer-term capital into non-profit affordable rental housing initiatives.

Vancity Community Foundation supported ShredMasters to participate in a custom marketing workshop to build internal marketing capacity while completing a marketing plan. CSE also received support to hire a sales person to grow the client base for both ShredMasters and ValleyRecycling, a commercial and residential supportive employment recycling social enterprise the organization also operates.

As part of VCF’s commitment to strengthening social enterprise, and in order to help vendors with their sales our social enterprise developer worked with Megaphone to develop a workshop that would give vendors some tools to better understand where their customers are coming from.

Open each winter season, Aunt Leah’s lots sell high-quality Christmas trees and accessories, including stands, wreaths, swags and greenery, across Metro Vancouver. The lots are run by a combination of employees and volunteers and also provides training and employment opportunities to at-risk youth.

At just 19 years old, youth in the BC foster care system “age out” of eligibility for services and supports and are assumed to become fully independent. The effects of this loss of support are devastating. Former youth in care are over represented in homelessness, poverty and the mental health and justice systems.

In 2017 the Kathi Fund reviewed its first round of applicants; solopreneur, Chelsey Allen, was selected as the Fund’s inaugural recipient. Chelsey is based on the Sunshine Coast, where she loves being part of her vibrant ocean-side community and is inspired by the healing and nourishing power of the sea...

BC has had one of the highest poverty rates in Canada for the last 15 years. There are almost 600,000 people in our province desperately trying to make ends meet and keep their heads above water. The We Can’t Afford Poverty campaign is a community art-driven campaign to eradicate poverty from British Columbia, starting with raising social assistance rates.

Back in 2012, Central City Foundation approached Vancity and Vancity Community Foundation about financing the purchase of a building in New Westminster. Central City Foundation was interested in providing a low cost lease option to a local non-profit, Aunt Leah’s.

Together with Catalyst Community Developments Society, and Simon Fraser Society for Community Living (with SHARE Family and Community Services), St. Andrew’s United Church in Port Moody is pursuing a vision for a re-development of their existing Church property that will greatly benefit the Tri-Cities community.

Founded by West Coast LEAF and the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC and with a significant contribution from an anonymous donor, Rise Women’s Legal Centre is a full-service storefront family law legal clinic serving low income women in the Lower Mainland.

In 2006–2007, neighbours and community activists worked hard to preserve their much-loved Salsbury Garden, but were unable to save it from the pressures of development. Now, a decade later, a couple of those people have partnered with Vancity Community Foundation to create a Donor Advised Fund in the garden’s name.