FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7/03

Winnipeg—The Board of The Winnipeg Foundation approved a record-setting $12.7 million in community grants during 2002, according to its most recent annual report, released today. This level of grant making activity represents a significant increase (22%) beyond the $10.4 million in grants approved in 2001.

"The wide diversity of our grants reflects the breadth of our activity" says Richard Frost, the Foundation's CEO. Close to 500 different charitable organizations received financial support from the Foundation during the past fiscal year. The average grant is about $20,000 - and the level of support varies widely. Highlights of some of the larger grants in 2002 include; $150,000 to Fort Whyte Centre as part of continuing support for programming and capital improvements; $150,000 to the Children's Hospital for renovations to its playroom, and $75,000 to the Manitoba Historical Society for planned renovations at Dalnavert.

Support for post secondary education is also evident through out the report. Grants of approximately $7,500 each were awarded to 53 various faculties and departments at the Universities and Colleges in Winnipeg. This initiative, part of a two-year commitment totaling $750,000, is aimed at strengthening post-secondary programs. In 2002, The Winnipeg Foundation also paid out more than $370,000 in scholarships from 129 scholarship funds.

The Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy program generated 95 grants in 2002. "This is one of our most exciting grant-making initiatives" says Chief Justice Richard Scott, Chairman of the Board. "In the fall of 2002, there were more than 300 students from 18 participating High Schools in the program. Every year, our Board looks forward to receiving their recommendations about where our grants can be most effectively directed," he said. Each participating Youth in Philanthropy high school is allocated $5,000 to be distributed to Winnipeg charities, based upon student research.

"The creation of the donor-advised Moffat Family Fund at the Foundation, with the unprecedented $100,000,000 family gift in December 2001, has resulted in a greater percentage of our grants going to organizations that support children, families and the less advantaged. The generosity of this gift is already having impact," Frost says.

The Winnipeg Foundation, the first community foundation in Canada, was established in 1921 with an initial contribution of $100,000 from William Forbes Alloway. Gifts to the Foundation are used to create named endowment funds, which are pooled and invested with five per cent of their average market value being distributed each year as grants. Today, the Foundation has more than 1,400 endowment funds and since 1921 has contributed in excess of $110 million in grants to local charitable organizations.

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For more information, contact:
Richard Frost, CEO
The Winnipeg Foundation
204.944.9474
www.wpgfdn.org