Sometimes when I talk to people about charitable giving and civil society work in our community, I’m torn between focusing on the successes and highlighting the unmet needs.
On the one hand, I'm proud to share impressive figures, such as the more than $20 million the Victoria Foundation granted to 441 organizations last year. Talking about this kind of impact is energizing. Exciting. Fun.
On the other hand, I worry it can be dangerous to put too much emphasis on our numbers. Sometimes, it can give the impression that all is well with the world. And that’s not the case.
The truth is every year the Victoria Foundation is unable to fund all the vital community initiatives we would like to. Each year our assets grow, and along with them our giving, but we are never fully able to meet the demand for support and we're always looking for ways to do more.
Take, for example, our annual Community Grants. Every year we receive more grant applications than we can possibly fund. We do our best to optimize our grants for the greatest impact, but inevitably fall short of the funds required.
Fortunately for us, and for the hundreds of organizations we support each year, our generous donors have been stepping up to help meet this demand through our annual Make It Happen! booklet. Released in mid-September, the booklet provides summaries of the many Community Grant applications we’ve received and gives donors a chance to fund not just individual organizations, but specific projects and programs they're passionate about.
Through Make It Happen! last year, donors helped fund more than 104 community projects and initiatives, adding more than $800,000 of the total $2.3 million granted. This year, Make It Happen! will highlight more than 140 projects looking for funding.
For the first time, this year we are aligning these grant applications with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a roadmap to a better world that is increasingly framing how the Victoria Foundation carries out its mandate. Each applicant identifies which SDG their project aligns with, to directly show how their initiative is helping our community towards a promising future.
For more information about our funding opportunities, please go to our website at victoriafoundation.bc.ca and keep an eye out for Make It Happen!, arriving soon. I hope you’ll consider investing in the people, ideas and activities that strengthen our community.
Sandra Richardson is CEO of the Victoria Foundation.
