On July 9, 2010 at the CRD Board of Directors Meeting a resolution was passed by the Board that $100,000 be budgeted for the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years from Electoral Areas A, B, C and I Grant for Assistance Program. It was also decided that these funds be utilised to leverage funding available through Northern Development Initiative Trust’s / NDI Community Foundation Funding Program.
This decision was encapsulated in the 2011 and 2012 Town Hall Meetings where budgetary items are discussed. Following these meetings and discussions at several community based meetings where this issue came up, I felt it important to fully research the decision and provide the facts so constituents can become (more) informed. As such, what follows here are the facts with some recommendations which are based upon several discussion. My apologies... this post is quite lengthy and detailed. For additional information and /or comments, please email me at hdixon-warren@cariboord.bc.ca
The CRD Board of Directors resolution reads as follows:
AI-24.4; North Cariboo Rural Directors Caucus RecommendationsCorporate Vote – Weighted
10-07A-90 Moved Director Armstrong; Seconded Director Glassford:
“That the agenda item summary from Bernice Crowe, Executive Assistant, dated June 29, 2010 regarding a recommendation from the North Cariboo Rural Directors Caucus meeting held June 8, 2010, be received.
Further, that the following recommendation be endorsed:
NDI Community Foundation Funding Program
That the memorandum dated April 13, 2010 from Danielle Johnson, Management Intern
regarding NDI Community Foundation Funding Program, be received. Further, that
$100,000 be budgeted for the 2011 and 2012 fiscal years from the Electoral Areas A, B, C
and I Grant for Assistance Program. Further, that these funds be utilized to match funding
from the NDI Community Foundation Funding Program.”
Carried Unanimously
In April, 2011, the Cariboo Regional District donated $100,000 to Quesnel Community Foundation (QCF) on behalf of Electoral Areas A, B, C and I. It is proposed that another $100,000 will be donated in 2012 as is outlined in the proposed budget to be approved in March, 2012. A complete breakdown of the Grants for Assistance program and donation to Quesnel Community Foundation from 2009-2012 can be viewed in the Table below.
CRD ELECTORAL A, B, C & I
GRANT FOR ASSISTANCE CONTRIBUTIONS FOR 2009 & 2010 COMPARED TO THE & ACTUAL AND PROPOSED DONATIONS TO THE QUESNEL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR 2011 & 2012
| 2009 | 2010 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||||||
| Grants for Assistance Program | Grants for Assistance Program | % of Grants for Assistance by Area | Tax Rate* | Actual Donation to QCF / Electoral Area | % of Total Donation to QCF | Fund Allocation / EA to leverage NDI | Tax Rate* | Proposed Donation to QCF* (Proposed Budget) | % of Total Donation to QCF | Fund Allocation / EA to leverage NDI |
| Unknown | $9,124 | 47.2% | 6.02 | $ 47,175 | 47% | $25,000 | 5.96 | $47,646 | 47.7% | $25,000 |
| Unknown | $7,407 | 38.3% | 6.02 | $ 38,175 | 38% | $25,000 | 5.96 | $37,598 | 37.6% | $25,000 |
| Unknown | $1,405 | 7.3% | 6.02 | $ 7,507 | 8% | $25,000 | 5.96 | $7,535 | 7.5% | $25,000 |
| Unknown | $1,381 | 7.2% | 6.02 | $ 7,142 | 7% | $25,000 | 5.96 | $7,221 | 7.2% | $25,000 |
| $ 12,355 | $19,317 | 100% | - | $100,000 | 100% | $100,000 | - | $100,000 | 100% | $100,000 |
| 2011-12 | | 2012 Endowment Disprsement | Proposed 2013 Endowment Dispersement | |||||
| DONATION TO QCF OVER TWO YEARS / PER ELECTORAL AREA | | Interest Earned on $50,000 /EA | | Interest Earned on $100,000 / EA | | |||
| Electoral Area | Total Donation | Total Funds Donated including NDI Funds | % of Total Donation to QCF | | (5% of beginning yr. balance X 9/12) | Total Interest based upon % EA Contributions | Based upon interest rates being the same as for 2012 | Total Interest based upon % EA Contributions |
| A | $94,822 | 47.4% | | $1,875.00 | $3,555.00 | $3,750.00 | $7,110.00 | |
| B | $75,771 | $151,542 | 37.9% | | $1,875.00 | $2,842.50 | $3,750.00 | $5,685.00 |
| C | $15,043 | $30,086 | 7.5% | | $1,875.00 | $562.50 | $3,750.00 | $1,125.00 |
| I | $14,364 | $28,728 | 7.2% | | $1,875.00 | $540.00 | $3,750.00 | $1,080.00 |
| - | 200,000 | $400,000 | 100% | | 7,500.00 | $7,500.00 | $15,000.00 | $15,000.00 |
NOTES:
i. Residential Tax Rate: /$100,000 assess property value;
ii. Grants for Assistance: (also known as Grants in Aid); every year the CRD considers Grants for Assistance applications from non-profit organisations to undertake projects of broad community interest. In 2012, Grant applications are available from central and south Cariboo CRD offices in June and applications must be received between August 1st and September 30th. As of November, 2010 North Cariboo residents are referred to the Quesnel Community Foundation for grant information
iii. Donation to QCF: The Electoral Area (EA) Contributions were “pooled” so the maximum value of $50,000 per EA over 2 years ($200,000 total for all 4 EA’s) could be used to leverage matching funds ($200,000) from Northern Development Initiative Trust through the Community Foundation Matching Grants program. The “2012 Endowment Dispersement” are the actual interest figures earned off each individual fund of $50,000 for the Electoral Areas.
It is well recognised that the Quesnel Community Foundation / QCF provides a valued service within the City of Quesnel and throughout the North Cariboo. The time and effort put forth by the volunteers of this organisation is appreciated and valued. Many local groups have benefited. The goal is to use the income generated to promote the well being of the community by providing grants to charitable organisations. As with all Community Foundations, the QCF is an independent, volunteer driven charitable organisation that aims to strengthen their communities by facilitating philanthropy, by partnering with donors to build permanent endowments and other funds from which they support community projects, and by providing leadership on issues of broad community. The majority of endowment funds within Foundations are private whereby private funds have been donated with specific criteria attached (e.g. arts and culture, sports, scholarship, etc.). The QCF supports a wide range of projects that are of demonstrated benefit to area residents. Funded activities provide a direct service to the community, or take an innovative approach to addressing changing needs and concerns within the North Cariboo region. Projects approved for funding could involve any number of concerns including, but not limited to, Healthcare, Education, Arts, Heritage and Culture, sports and recreation, and Environment.
The QCF has a single intake but three stage process by which a group can receive funds. These stages are outlined online at http://www.quesnelfoundation.ca/grants.aspx. They are as follows (in take dates for 2012 in parentheses):(i) “Letter of Intent / Brief Proposal” (Friday, January 6, 2012)
(ii) Grant Application – The QCF Board of Directors makes the final decisions on which organisations receives a Grant (Friday, February 17, 2012)
(iii) Post Award
When dealing with public funds, the need to ensure the granting of funds is fair and un-bias is critically important. This was one of reasons why the Northern Directors decided to donate funds to the Quesnel Community Foundation. They had decided they want to remove any subjectivity and not be involved with the granting of government funds. I fully agree that the granting of government funds should be a transparent, non-politically based process whereby grants are awarded based upon merit and need. It is also worth noting that the Foundation will accept a maximum of one project application per community organisation per year.
FUNDS ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY RESTRICTED TO THE ELECTORAL AREAS WHO CONTRIBUTED
Following is a NDI News Release that can be viewed online at http://northerndevelopment.bc.ca/news/101/18/100-Million-Commitment-By-Northern-Development-Results-in-Over-1-Billion-in-Partnered-Investments| Projects approved at the April 27th, 2011 board meeting included: A total of $200,000 will be committed from the North Cariboo allocation in matching donations to the Quesnel Community Foundation to benefit the following Cariboo Regional District Electoral areas:
In lieu of the Cariboo Regional District's current Grants for Assistance program, the Cariboo Regional District Electoral Areas A, B, C, and I have each donated to the Quesnel Community Foundation. The donations will contribute to the general endowment of the Quesnel Community Foundation to strengthen its ability to give rurally and to support local community groups and non-profit organizations through grant-making. The Quesnel Community Foundation recently celebrated its tenth anniversary on April 9th, 2011 and the Cariboo Regional District’s donation along with Northern Development’s matching grant in the amount of $200,000 enabled the Foundation to reach over a million dollars in the endowment. |
Although the Quesnel Community Foundation has funded both groups and projects operating within both the City of Quesnel and the North Cariboo area, there are no guidelines / conditions that states that the interest incurred off the funds donated from the Electoral Areas will be available to groups within the Electoral Areas. Although specific funds have been establish within the Quesnel Community Foundation for the four EA’s who have made the contributions, these funds are not specifically for the benefit of these Electoral Area as is stated. Rather these funds are not “restricted” in that other groups and persons undertaking projects in other areas can access these funds.
In the online News Release (Community Foundations of Canada / http://www.cfc-fcc.ca/news/news.cfm?intNewsID=1803), the following is stated “The northern Cariboo Regional District Directors are thrilled to present the Quesnel Community Foundation with this cheque to establish funds for Electoral Areas A, B, C and I within the Foundation." The establishment of funds for Electoral Areas infers that the funds are for those areas rather than just named by the Area.In viewing the QCF website, the foundation manages several endowment funds that are specific (e.g. Island Mountain Arts, Quesnel Woodlot Association, Ashleigh Smith, etc.) Each of these have specific dispersement criteria.
ENDOWMENT FUNDS ARE ONLY DISTRIBUTED TO ORGANISATIONS WITH CHARITABLE STATUS
As a Public Foundation, community foundations are restricted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to make grants or distributions only to organisations that have a registered charitable business number. As such, organisations, including registered not-for-profit societies or small community based groups cannot directly receive funds for a proposed community based project. To do so, these groups must establish a formal partnership with a registered charity who will receive the funds for the proposed project from the community foundation. This relationship must be in writing, not be a relationship of “convenience” and should outline the terms of the agreement. The Agreement should include the following:
a) A full description of the project providing responsibility to the registered charity for insuring the project is completed by the organization as described;
b) That the registered charity has responsibility for distribution of funds to the organization as work progresses; and
c) That the registered charity has responsibility/accountability to the community foundation for performance of the organization.
There are many more volunteer, community based not for profit groups than registered charities. Additionally, not all groups have registered not for profit society status. Finding an appropriate charitable organisation to partner with can be challenging to a small group and simply adds another hurdle for the volunteers to tackle to receive funds to undertake a worthwhile project within their community.
Additionally, the QCF will only will accept a maximum of one project application per community organisation per year. As such, if a community based charitable organisation partners with a not-for-profit group for a grant with the QCF, it is not able to partner with another group.HERE ARE A FEW RECOMMENDATIONS WHICH COULD BE IMPLEMENTED TO ADDRESS THE CONCERNS ABOVE:
DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN THE ELECTORAL AREAS AND THE FOUNDATION
Create a Partnership between the Quesnel Community Foundation and each of the Electoral Areas in that the Foundation has an “administrative” role in terms of providing expertise on the management and investment of the four funds. The Foundation would not be involved, in any way, in how these funds are dispersed within the Electoral Areas. The benefit of creating such partnerships between the established foundation and the EA’s would be as follows:· The Foundation provides all the administration and looks after any reporting requirements;
· For the Electoral Areas funds, the funds should be 100% retractable. As such, should a community wish to remove its funds from the Foundation in the future, and set up its own fund which it manages, this option exists;
· Each Electoral Area is responsible for implementing its own grant application and to ensure the fund dispersement process is of greatest benefit to the community; it is known that the community members are in the best position to ensure needs of the community are addressed;
· Each electoral area forms a “Grant Committee” which creates a process by which Grants can be accessed; this could include a “Call out to the Community for Grant Applications”, a Grant Ceremony, etc. The other benefit of this process is that it will engage people thereby creating community by encouraging residents to celebrate local achievements and successes;
· Additional donations to a specific community’s fund are more easily to be encouraged because donors directly feel and see a direct link to their community;
· The EA will view that they “own” the fund thereby more likely donating additional funds to it, promoting it, and they will get to determine how any available funds are dispersed; people are not less likely to donate to a fund which they view as not having a direct benefit to them;
· Trust is developed within the community as funds available through the interest accrued on the electoral money invested is granted directly back to the community; This trust can again lead to increased donations in the future;
THE CARIBOO REGIONAL DISTRICT IS A REGISTERED CHARITY FOR GROUPS WITHIN THE ELECTORAL AREA WHICH THEY CAN PARTNER WITH
To aid small community based groups that need an organisation with charitable status to partner with, the Cariboo Regional District agrees to take on that role. This will facilitate the process for EA based volunteer groups in access the fund set up in the name of the Electoral Area in which they live.The CRD did sponsor / partner with local Electoral Area groups for 2011. This was decided that this would be a "one time only offer".
ALLOCATION OF FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT DISBURSEMENTS ARE CONSISTENT WITH EA CONTRIBUTION
The other benefit of ensuring that funds are dispersed tied to the contributions made to the fund will encourage further contributions / donations.
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