The History of the Campbell River Community Foundation
In 1990, Mayor Robert Ostler and Council were notified of a meeting that was to take place in Ottawa to discuss the concept of Community Foundations in Canada. This meeting was hosted by the Ottawa Community Foundation and its visionary Executive Director, Mr. Al Gamble. The gathering was funded co-operatively by the Vancouver Foundation (largest in Canada), Winnipeg Foundation (first in Canada) and Toronto Foundation, as well as the Ottawa Foundation.
The concept of the Community Foundation as a “community umbrella” for charitable needs was developed in North America, by a librarian in Cleveland Ohio. She established a permanent endowment fund which provided enough interest when invested to make sure that the Library’s flag was always whole…never torn or tattered as it had been. From that beginning, community foundations grew in large and smaller towns, as a way to build permanent legacies for charitable needs.
Mayor Ostler and Council were very intrigued with the concept. Councilor Mary Ashley went to Ottawa as a guest of the Vancouver Foundation to learn more about the community foundation movement. She returned to express her great enthusiasm and to report on the national support for new foundations. Council agreed and set aside some seed funding for a new Campbell River Community Foundation.
In 1992, Mary was invited to Winnipeg for the initiation of the national project. Community Foundations of Canada was formed as a non-profit society to assist and support new, emerging and even dormant community foundations within Canada. Representatives from one end of the country to the other were present to sign the new entity into reality. Richard Mulcaster, CEO of the Vancouver Foundation was elected the first President of C.F.Canada. Councilor Ashley had the honour of being named to the founding Board as a representative of newly emerging community foundations in Canada.
Meanwhile, an initial group of community leaders was formed to begin the task of building our own foundation. Mayor Bob Ostler, Mrs. Irene Ross, Judge Tony Sarich, Dr. Bob Gordon, Councilor Mary Ashley and Mr. Bill Halstead participated in the early development which led to the formation of the non-profit society. The Society then applied for and obtained charitable status so that tax receipts could be issued to donors who helped to build the permanent fund.
One of the first funds to be established was a legacy from the Western Premiers’ Conference held in Campbell River in 1994. The interest from this legacy is devoted each year to the needs of children in our community.
More recently, the Board has grown in numbers and activity as the Community Foundation has become a strong presence within the greater Campbell River area. Two basic types of funds are established and growing…..one in which donors allow the Grants Committee of the Foundation to give grants based on a variety of needs, and another type of fund which is set aside specifically for community non-profit needs such as the Museum, The Centennial Park, the Hospital Foundation, and Trinity Presbyterian Church, for example.
The Board is composed of community leaders who are dedicated to the goal of building the Foundation, so that more and more charitable needs can be met. Families are now providing legacies as a permanent way of honouring their hometown and their place within it, whether it be one or many generations involved in the evolution of Campbell River as our heritage for the future.