Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/398704
p a g e 2 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l F a l l 2 0 1 4 Photo: Jaime Kowal The First Word . . . Kevin McCort Gord MacDougall President and CEO Chair, Board of Directors Vancouver Foundation Vancouver Foundation Diffi cult decisions: choosing which projects to fund As a charitable foundation whose purpose is to fund projects and programs that will make life better for the people who live in our communities, the process of granting is an exciting one. Yet it's also challenging at the same time. Vancouver Foundation receives hundreds of proposals for worthwhile projects every year, but we simply cannot fund them all – which means making some di cult choices. On average, we receive requests for up to ve times as much money as we have available to grant. With so much need in the community, and so many worthwhile initiatives seeking funding, how do we best decide where to allocate our granting dollars? Our vision is one of healthy, vibrant and livable communities across British Columbia – and no one knows community needs better than community members. at's why consulting with community volunteers is a crucial aspect of determining what our granting priorities should be. For example, our current focus on connections and engagement is in response to our community consultation in 2011, which found that people in metro Vancouver felt an increasing sense of isolation and disconnect from their local neighbourhoods. Another overriding issue people are concerned about, according to our research, is youth homelessness – which was the impetus for launching our Youth Homelessness Initiative. Once we know what issues are of greatest importance to British Columbians, the next step is to make sure we truly understand those issues. We do this by conducting surveys and reports such as our 2012 metro Vancouver survey, Connections and Engagement, measuring people's community connections and engagement, and our 2013 survey of public attitudes toward foster youth aging out of government care, Fostering Change. A better understanding of the problem is the key to knowing which initiatives will be most e ective – and would therefore be most worthwhile to fund. And nally, to make sure we're putting our donors' resources to best use, Vancouver Foundation relies on Advisory Committees for each of our granting areas that donors can choose to support: animal welfare; arts and culture; children, youth and families; education; environment; health and medical education/research; health and social development; youth homelessness; and youth philanthropy. Together, these Advisory Committees comprise more than 150 volunteer experts – scientists, academics, leaders and frontline sta – who generously dedicate their time to help us make informed granting decisions. ey share their expertise and intimate knowledge of the issues, emerging trends, community needs and organizations that are active in their elds. ey review and evaluate grant applications and make recommendations directly to the board of Vancouver Foundation about which ones will have the most impact in the community. From deciding which issues to tackle, to choosing the projects and programs that will make the greatest di erence, informed decision-making is of paramount importance at Vancouver Foundation – and donors can be assured they are supporting worthwhile projects in communities throughout the province.