How the Cortes Foundation Dispersed $105,000 to help Reduce Poverty

The Cortes Island Community Foundation recently announced that it is giving $105,000 to four of Cortes Island’s essential non-profit organizations. The Cortes Island Food Bank will receive $40,000, Whaletown Community Club – $22,000, Island Death Care Society – $26,400 and  Support Our Seniors – $16,600. This money came from the BC Government’s Community Prosperity Fund, which is intended to help local communities address poverty reduction and social inclusion. In today’s interview Christina MacWilliam, Co-Chair of the Community Foundation and a member of the granting jury, and Andrea Fisher, Operations Manager of the Foundation, tell us the story behind this grant and why these four organizations were chosen. 

Where should the money go – Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

Christina MacWilliam: “I think the most important thing to note is that we have a community foundation on Cortes Island. It has really opened the door for us to be able to participate in grants such as the Community Prosperity Fund.  The money comes through the federal government and it’s only the third time that money has been released to community foundations.  Then because we have a community foundation, we’re able to call for applications and support the nonprofit sector, or the social profit sector on Cortes, and bring monies into the community.”

Andrea Fisher: “The Community Prosperity Fund is a $25 million investment from the Government of BC that advances poverty reduction and social inclusion. The Government of BC partnered with the Community Foundations of Canada and over 50 local community foundations to deliver this fund. We received that announcement last October, and we’ve been working with the Community Foundations of Canada on our allotment, which ended up being $105,000. Now in the middle of September, we’re cutting cheques for four organizations to distribute that funding.” 

Cortes Currents: How many organizations applied and how did you pick the  winners? 

Andrea Fisher: “We had 12 organizations apply for the Community Prosperity Funding, which is alot.”

Christina MacWilliam: “The total ask from those 12 organizations was $316,000.”

Andrea Fisher: “We had our Gender Equity Fund in the past. I think three organizations applied for that funding.” 

Christina MacWilliam: “Yes, and I believe we were able to fund all three.”  

Andrea Fisher: “So this was a big uptake. There was a very flexible scope for the applications. They could apply for one, two or three year’s funding. They could apply for anywhere between $5,000 to $40,000. They could apply for operational expense support, which doesn’t always happen. They could also apply for a new project that they wanted to launch for poverty reduction, or they could also apply for an existing program that they already have. So, the opportunity for the funding was very flexible, which is why I think we saw so many applications from our community.”   

Christina MacWilliam: “They were all worthy  projects and we were only able to fund a third of the ask. That makes being a part of the prosperity granting jury challenging.”

“I’m going to talk a little bit about that jury process because I think it’s an incredible way to work in a small community,  to actually invite community members to participate in making funding decisions to support the island. We gathered a very diverse group of people from different walks of life, different parts of the island,  different genders and different ages. We used a scoring matrix to look at each application, which we read thoroughly.  The most important and meaningful part for me, and I bet it’s true for the other jury members, was  the impassioned discussions that we engaged in together around each of the applications.”

“Even though it was very difficult not to be able to fund every worthy project, we were all unanimously satisfied with the decision that was made. Every person that participated is willing to do it again, which says a lot about  the process.”

Andrea Fisher: “We ask a lot from our community jury. We had eight people volunteer to be a part of this process. They receive a $50 honorarium for their time, if they choose to receive that, but had to read through 12 applications that were very passionate, very collaborative, and had alot of community investment in them.”

“The jurors filled out their own scoring matrix. The first meeting was about 90 minutes long. They have passionate discussions about how they feel about those applications. Some people were influenced to change their minds when they received more education from their neighbors. We did the scoring matrix again, and had another meeting to decide the funding allocation.”

“Once we decide on our top applications as a group, we decide who is getting full funding for what they asked for and who is getting a percentage.  It’s challenging. It’s stressful. It’s emotional.  All of our jury members in this prosperity fund round really showed up with presence, with courage, with engagement.”

“There were some vulnerable conversations about people’s own experiences around poverty and around utilizing essential services from these nonprofit organizations. It was a very fulfilling process for me to be a part of.  I’m passionate about community led decision making, and I’m just so grateful to everyone that showed up for this process for us. Everyone did a really great job.”  

Christina MacWilliam: “Not to mention our facilitator.  Andrea facilitated these meetings, and I think that also led to them being as productive and meaningful as they were.”  

Andrea Fisher: “I have so much appreciation for Christina. She’s on our human resources committee. She’s on our granting committee. She’s participated in almost every community jury granting process that we’ve had. She has so much support for this island and for our staff and she’s volunteering her time. She’s just doing this because she wants to. She thinks it’s fun, but her skill set, her experience, her style of communication has benefited me personally, also this community and every decision making process that we have.”  

Christina MacWilliam: “I think, even for the board of the Community Foundation,  being part of the jury process  is itself a real education around needs-based investment on the island, because it’s easy to see through your own lens. When you are in conversation around difficult conversations about poverty and need, you just become more invested  in the work of  the foundation and being part of supporting Cortes. It’s not an arm’s length experience. It’s a very engaging and emotional experience.  We encourage board members to participate in the process, and we will continue to do that.” 

Andrea Fisher: “I am really excited about the four organizations that are receiving the Community Prosperity Funding.”

“The Food Bank is receiving $40,000 towards their operational expenses, and the majority of that is going towards food.  What we hear from Filipe Figueira (Executive Director of the Cortes Island Food Bank) quite often is that he is finding availability and access to funding for things like infrastructure (if he wants to build storage), or education (if he wants to teach people on how to make meals), but he’s been really struggling to find funding just to provide our local residents with food. This was an application that almost all of our jury was very passionate about and understood has a clear direct correlation to poverty reduction.” 

“We also chose the Whaletown Community Club  to receive an investment towards paid staff. This might be an executive director position for them, which they’ve never had before. The Whaletown Community Club is run by a volunteer board only, and they really struggle with having the capacity to do all of the  events, the meals and a safe place for our residents. Gorge Hall is really important, and so that funding will go towards operational expenses to pay staff for the Whaletown Community Club.” 

“The group-led decision was really focused on the definition of what poverty is and how each application relates to reducing poverty on Cortes Island. They wanted something impactful. They wanted an organization that they could rely on to use that funding to make a difference on our island.” 

“Our Death Caring Collective Society is also receiving operational expense funding for paid staff, which they also have never had before.  They’re also a volunteer run board. We can see that the organization is producing quite alot of impact in our community, from the educational posts to the gatherings that they host, just to educating people on the death and dying process. When it actually happens on the island, their volunteers are there supporting people in a big way. As to how that relates to poverty reduction, people aren’t having to pay for a funeral service or transferring bodies off island. The Death Care Society is  supporting our island in a really huge way and our jury was very passionate about that.” 

“The newly formed ‘Support Our Seniors Society’ has shown us, through Ester Strijbos’ leadership, that she is able to produce quite a lot of initiatives for our seniors on Island. She has 153 clients at Support Our Seniors that she provides services through the Better at Home program. One of those programs is the Movement Wellness Series that she’s provided in the past that had really great engagement, really great attendance. Those series are not only just for seniors, they’re open for everyone,  so that people have a way to move their bodies in a safe and instructed way. That funding is going towards that program.”

Christina MacWilliam: “The conversations kept coming back to the topic of poverty, and there were several stories of seniors on our island working. Staying mobile and being able to continue to work is crucial for them with respect to finances and trying to alleviate poverty. There was  a connection between wellness, movement and financial well being.” 

Andrea Fisher: “I do want to acknowledge the time, the energy and the passion that went into every application, including the 8 organizations that are not receiving funding. One of the goals that the Cortes Community Foundation put forward was asking for these organizations to collaborate and partner with each other for their applications. I saw that spark quite a lot of enthusiasm as the leadership of these nonprofits were creating their applications. Some of the project ideas that came out are very new. They’re very innovative towards ways to reduce poverty and to create inclusion on Cortes Island.”

Christina MacWIlliam: “It’s just heartbreaking when you can’t fund worthy projects.”

Andrea Fisher: “Those applications from the eight organizations that did not get funded are not going to be forgotten. Christina has taken a few of those applications to the Cortes Community Foundation Board, to prioritize for funding in the future, if we happen to get access to further granting, or future donors that are interested in supporting projects like those.” 

Cortes Currents: It looks like you’re going to make a significant impact on the organizations that you are donating to. Do you think there will be more funding opportunities like this in the future? 

Christina MacWilliam: “We certainly hope so and we don’t know, because this kind of funding, directly to community foundations from the government, is new. It’s not something that has been happening consistently in the past.  We’re hoping it’s a trend,  but it’s also part of politics. We know how that can change on a dime. No pun intended, but  we certainly hope so and the community foundation is going to be there to jump on any of those opportunities if they do come up again.” 

Cortes Currents: “Do you have any thoughts that you want to add on any topic?” 

Andrea Fisher: “I am really thankful for the prosperity funding , that there was $25 million that was put into our community foundations. We received $105,000 of that because we fit in the box of ‘population 70,000 or less.’ So if anyone’s interested in searching to see what other community foundations are doing, like the Campbell River Community Foundation or the Quadra Community Foundation, their populations are larger than us. They might have been able to fund more applications than we did.” 

“We are really hoping for top up funding, which we were able to receive through the gender equity funding. That grant was $40,000 originally, and then the top up was $200,000. So we’re really hopeful.”

“I also want to speak to the opportunity this grant gave us for multi-year funding.  So the investment that the Food Bank is receiving will be used over a 3 year period. The Whaletown Community Club and the Death Caring Collective will use those wages over a 2 year period. Similar for Support Our Seniors.” 

“So often our grant opportunities, especially Grants-in-Aid, seem so small when we’ve been receiving $25,000 dollars to go into the community. Often an organization gets $5,000 and it’s gone. They do a workshop, they do some investment in development or capacity building for that organization and it’s gone.” 

“The Community Prosperity Fund is providing more financial sustainability into the future, which is something that our Cortes Community Foundation is really focused on. To build this sector on our island so that we’re not in a scarcity mindset all of the time for funding.” 

Christina MacWilliam: “We are a very small  community and probably the smallest community foundation in the Community Foundations of Canada. There are over 200. Some of the problems are as big, if not bigger, on Cortes when it comes to poverty and poverty related issues.”

“So that is something that we are bringing  forward often now  in conversations with other community foundations. I, as well as  another board member and another staff member, are attending the BCCF conference, at the beginning of October, that will bring all of the Community Foundations in British Columbia together in Burnaby for three days. Just by being there and bringing Cortes forward in conversations, we’re becoming more known. We are so blessed to have incredible staff from our foundation that  are excellent speakers and engaging people and really making us known in the community foundation community, not only in BC, but actually in the larger Canadian organization. 

“Rural communities often are excluded from a lot of the resources that are much more accessible to people living in urban centers. It’s just such an important message to be continually bringing forward and bringing to the table.”

Links of Interest

Top image credit: Equipment used in the Movement and Wellness Series – submitted photo

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