All things MicroGrants! Tune in for a group discussion about MicroGrants – the history of the granting program, event highlights, application tips, and more! This conversation features Connie Quayle, Mark Vonesch, Francis McKenty, Immanuel McKenty, Jemma Hicken, and your host Manda Aufochs-Gillespie.
Continue reading Folk U: All Things Microgrants
The 2026 Microgrants 4 Neighbours program is out, and there are some changes this year.
Jemma Hicken explained, “Our Microgrants 4 Neighbours is a super cool little grassroots granting program. It operates with the philosophy that our community knows what it needs, and that low-barrier granting really gives individuals a chance to get small chunks of money and make things that they’re enthusiastic about happen in our community.”
“It developed out of Cortes Island Literacy‘s Seed Grant program in partnership with Folk U, but now Microgrants is run by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, in partnership with the Neighborhood Small Grants Island Network, which is a really cool program as well. It basically operates the same microgrants-for-neighbors program under the NSG Neighborhood name. Small grants exist in many other communities around BC, so it’s happening all over the province, but maybe Cortes did it first.”
Continue reading 2026 Microgrants 4 NeighboursIn this morning’s interview Manda Aufochs Gillespie, Executive Director of the Cortes Island Community Foundation, discusses a fund called Communitas and explains how the Cortes Foundation doubled the money for this year’s Grant in Aid.
Continue reading Communitas: how the Cortes Foundation doubled the money for this year’s Grants in Aid
The Cortes Community Foundation has once again shown how invaluable resource it is to the community. Regional Director Mark Vonesch has a budget of about $25,000 a year for Cortes Island’s Grants in Aid. When the time to disburse the funds arrives, he normally receives requests for far more money than is available. This year was no exception; however, thanks to the Cortes Island Community Foundation, nearly all these requests will be met.
Continue reading Cortes Foundation made up shortfall for 2026 Grants in AidOn Tuesday, October 14th the Cortes Island Foundation invited island nonprofit and public service organisations to attend a Social Profit Forum hosted at Hollyhock. This all-day event was well attended and featured presentations by two representatives from “local economy” projects with successful track records: Tara Janzen from the Shorefast Institute for Place-Based Economics and Andrew Greer from Purppl, a consulting group that advises clients who wish to establish “regenerative enterprises.”
Ms Janzen gave a slide presentation describing the successful economic re-invigoration of a small Newfoundland island called Fogo. Mr Greer offered some tools for turning social profit goals into specific business plans and strategies, using examples from the Okanagan area.
Attendees were invited to come up with ideas and concepts for place-specific economic development on Cortes Island, with the goal of providing living-wage jobs that would allow — among other things — local kids to grow up and remain in their home community instead of having to leave in search of gainful employment. The theme of the day was how to create a local economy that provides employment, investment, and income to benefit the community, rather than importing labour and goods and benefiting distant shareholders.
Continue reading Cortes Social Profit Forum 2025
