Growing and supporting Manitoba’s rich heritage

Manitoba Heritage Trust Program helps create stable support for museums and archives.

Museums and archives tell the stories of our province’s rich history and teach valuable lessons for our future. The Manitoba Heritage Trust Program (MHTP) is helping ensure sustainability for the more than 200 heritage institutions in our province, by creating endowment funds that provide annual revenue.

The program is initiated by the Province of Manitoba and administered by The Winnipeg Foundation with support from the Association of Manitoba Museums and the Association for Manitoba Archives.

MTHP will provide participating museum and heritage organizations with up to $5 million in stretch funding during the next three years. Every $2 donated to an organization’s MHTP endowment will be stretched with an additional $1 from MHTP. That means a $2 gift becomes $3. To qualify, museums, archives and their supporting organizations must partner with their local community foundations. Since the program began, more than 20 new MHTP funds have been created or are in development. To see a list of all the Manitoba Heritage Trust Program funds, visit EndowManitoba.ca/Heritage-Funds.

“Just as major attractions are important to our province, so are our smaller museums, archives and heritage organizations that carefully preserve our history and provide educational opportunities to visitors,” Municipal Relations Minister Jeff Wharton says.

Along with distributing the stretch funding, The Foundation provides organizations with administrative support, including producing tax receipts, and promotional resources to help them fundraise during the three-year program.

“Manitoba’s museums and archives tell fascinating stories about where we come from, and they teach us so much about where we can go,” says Rick Frost, CEO of The Winnipeg Foundation. “Manitoba is home to 55 community foundations – a quarter of all community foundations in the country. They are a valuable asset for our communities, and we are happy to be working in close collaboration with them, and with these important provincial heritage organizations, as we celebrate museums and archives through the Manitoba Heritage Trust Program.”

For more information about the MHTP, visit EndowManitoba.ca.