Dufferin Community Foundation helping local charities survive

May 28, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By MARNI WALSH

The Dufferin Community Foundation (DCF) has taken steps to help support local charities struggling to survive and continue their vital work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DCF announced last week, that “rather than concentrate exclusively on building endowed funds, which focus their earnings on specific uses over the long term, the Foundation will pool donations to this fund and grant them to those local charities deemed most in need within the next three months to a year.”

“The current need is clear and immediate,” says Gord Gallaugher, the Chair of the Foundation. “How will the loss of revenue from cancelled events affect the ability of our charities to provide the services so many of our most vulnerable have come to depend upon?

“We have already planned to increase our small grant program this year, but ‘business as usual’ will not be enough.” he says. In that spirit, the Foundation is “reaching out to the community and our local charities to encourage working together, embracing the concept of the power of many.”

The Dufferin Community Foundation was created in 2014, when a steering committee was formed to address the growing fundraising challenges of local charities.

“Rural communities have a long-standing history of helping one another,” says DCF Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, Debbi Goss. “Over time, it became evident that our local charities spend so much time, effort and resources on fundraising every year, resources that could be better spent delivering the programs and services they were created to offer.”

DCF Committee members were encouraged by the success of close to 200 community foundations across Canada contributing significant dollars to charities in their area.

“These foundations had been able to do that by building large pools of invested money, from which the annual income could be granted without touching the capital,” says Debbi Goss.

Dufferin Community Foundation is building on the success of that model with an experienced team of Grant Reviewers and members that include local representation from Headwaters Communities in Action, Trillium Foundation, and the not for profit and business sector. Ms. Goss explains,

“Large corporations look for distribution channels for programs they wish to fund. They have forged partnerships with Community Foundations of Canada, relying on their expertise to understand local needs and opportunities. As members of Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) we are in a unique position to participate in these national programs.”

She says the federal government chose CFC to distribute a significant part of the Emergency Community Support Fund (ECSF.) $100,000 is available in Dufferin Country through applications, which are being accepted for review from qualifying Dufferin charities at dufferincommunityfoundation.ca.

“Our Grant Review Teams are highly skilled, experienced and in an ideal position to deliver this much needed funding locally.” says Ms. Goss. “The partnership includes the Canadian Red Cross and United Way Centraide Canada.”

She added, “We understand the impact of this pandemic will be far reaching and the needs will continue long past when this emergency funding ends. Our focus continues to be on building endowment funds so that we can distribute the earnings well in to the future.”

“We continue to be inspired by the spirit of philanthropy in Dufferin County,” says Gord Gallaugher, “and urge anyone who is in a financial position to donate to do so. Our collective efforts today support sustainability for generations to come. We can’t come together physically, we can pull together while staying apart.”

Donations may be made at the Dufferin Community Foundation website or through canadahelps.org.