The Winnipeg Foundation's Board of Directors approved a record $14.7 million in grants to more than 550 local charitable organizations in the 2004 fiscal year – up more than $1 million from the previous year. Also during this time, the Foundation's assets under management grew by approximately $40 million, to $347 million. These figures appear in the Foundation's 2004 Annual Report, released today. Titled Building Bridges, the report highlights The Winnipeg Foundation's recent grant-making and special projects, and profiles its donors.

"At The Winnipeg Foundation, we see ourselves as builders of bridges. We link gifts from the past to the challenges of today. Our grants provide support to a wide range of charitable organizations – all of which serve to strengthen our community," says Foundation Board Chair Chief Justice Richard Scott.

The 2004 Annual Report profiles grants made across a broad spectrum of areas, including: community service, education, health, environment, arts and culture, heritage and recreation. The report focuses on grants made through undesignated funds held at the Foundation.

"Undesignated funds enable the Foundation to grant income earned at its complete discretion. They allow us to address current community issues and respond quickly to the changing needs of our local charities," says Scott.

For example, a recent grant to the Manitoba Citizenship Council supported the creation of a CD to help new immigrants feel comfortable and flourish in Winnipeg. A grant to Dalnavert Museum helped create the state-of-the-art Visitors Centre which will open this spring and enable the Museum to expand its community programming. A grant to Project Peacemakers has funded the production of a peace education resource for use in schools.

The Report also profiles donors to the Foundation, as well as some of the organization's special projects, including the Youth in Philanthropy program (a grant-making initiative for students in 20 local high schools), the long-term project to revitalize the Centennial Neighbourhood, and the Literacy for Life Fund which makes small grants to grassroots family literacy programs.

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 holds more than 1,600 endowment funds and since 1921 has contributed approximately $150 million in grants to local charitable organizations.

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For more information, contact:
Richard Frost, CEO
The Winnipeg Foundation
944.9474