WITH $9,400 provided to five community groups in its first round of distributions last year, the Terrace Community Foundation is taking applications for a second round.
Formed by the City of Terrace in 2011 as a way to support local projects, the foundation uses interest earned from its capital base for that purpose.
It has taken several years for the foundation to earn enough money from its capital base to begin regular distributions and drew on the support of the Minerals North conference here in 2013 for the initial distribution, says foundation chair Joyce Gibson.
“Minerals North 2013 offered us Trevor Linden when he came for the conference and he agreed to stay an extra day so we had an event [at the REM Lee Theatre] and sold tickets and did really well,” Gibson explained.
“And the speakers at Minerals North all agreed to donate their honorariums to the foundation as well.”
To date the foundation has a capital base of nearly $377,000 with $50,000 of that coming as seed money from the City of Terrace which was matched by the Northern Development Initiative Trust.
Other donors include BC Hydro, Chances Terrace, the city-owned Terrace Community Forest, and LNG Canada, which is one of two liquefied natural gas projects planned for Kitimat and TransCanada Pipeline, which would build the pipeline to feed LNG Canada.
The foundation’s capital base was significantly boosted in the spring when it received $10,000 from Shell, a major partner in LNG Canada, and an additional $60,000 from LNG Canada itself.
“That was quite a surprise. We had invited them to attend our first distribution. They not only came but they then made the announcements,” said Gibson.
For now the community foundation’s assets are handled and invested through an agreement with the Prince George Foundation which also handles the assets of six other smaller northern B.C. community foundations.
Distribution decisions remain with the local foundation but having its assets managed by a larger foundation maximizes interest earned and reduces expenses, explained Gibson.
“They have a paid person which we could not afford on our own,” said Gibson.
With its call for second round applications, the foundation is also encouraging people and companies to consider donations to its own endowment fund, she said.
“But we also take donations which we will hold in trust and ones from businesses or people who have a specific purpose in mind which we will distribute right away,” said Gibson.
As an example of the former, Gibson gave monies raised by a group some years ago who wanted to purchase a rubberized track at Skeena Middle School.
The money will gain interest over the years until it reaches the goal, Gibson added.
The foundation will help finance the purchase of assets but does not provide grants for salaries, travel, training and the like.
The five groups receiving money in the first distribution round were:
The Terrace Salmonoid Enhancement Society, $2,000 for plexiglass replacement and printing of promotional materials.
Kimmunity Angels Society, $1,500 for computer purchase to support the work of the society.
Terrace Peaks Gymnastics Club, $2,400 for floor mats.
Helping Hands, $2,500 to go toward purchase of a large storage container for recycling operation.
Terrace Downtown Improvement Area, $1,000 to support cost of Festival of Lights.
Information is available at TerraceCommunityFoundation.com.