Winnipeg—The Board of The Winnipeg Foundation approved a record-setting $13.6 million in community grants during 2003, according to its most recent annual report, released today. This figure is almost $1 million higher than the previous year, in which $12.7 million in grants were approved.

"Our grantmaking and activities over the past year have had a strong focus on community partnerships," says Richard Frost, the Foundation's CEO. "The Winnipeg Foundation believes in collaboration. Our donors and community groups working together are the root of effective grantmaking."

The 2003 Annual Report, titled Working Together, highlights some of those collaborations, including the Foundation's new multi-faceted Centennial Neighbourhood project, the Literacy for Life endowment fund, and a new initiative to help support Manitoba's 30 community foundations.

More than 500 different charitable organizations received financial support from the Foundation during the past fiscal year. The Foundation's average grant is about $20,000, and the level of support varies widely. Highlights of the 2003 fiscal year include: a $1 million grant made through the Moffat Family Fund to the new Winnipeg Education Centre being constructed on Selkirk Avenue, a $100,000 grant to St. Amant Centre for research programs and a $125,000 grant to Ka Ni Kanichihk for the United Against Racism Project targeted at students.

The report also highlights the Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy initiative, a grantmaking program for high school students. In 2003 there were 300 participants in the program who were responsible for allocating more than $85,000 in grants to a wide range of organizations. Also included in the annual report are grants made under the final year of the Foundation's Post Secondary Grants program and the new Literacy for Life program.

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 1,500 endowment funds and since 1921 has contributed in excess of $125 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