As community leaders respond to emerging challenges in the wake of COVID-19, community foundations are using CFC’s Vital Signs program to identify local, urgent needs.
Community foundations are planning Vital Conversations, a community conversation typically used to collect insight from the community about priority issues, gather information about specific demographics within the community, and as a tool to spark connections and collaboration.
This year, Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd., CFC’s national Vital Signs sponsor, invested $10,000 to support community foundations with their Vital Conversations.
Community foundations have received grants to support either in-person or virtual Vital Conversations through November 2020 – December 2021 and include:
- Terrace Community Foundation, BC
- Whistler Community Foundation, BC
- Prince George Community Foundation, BC
- Community Foundation of the North Okanagan, BC
- West Vancouver Foundation, BC
- Selkirk & District Community Foundation, MB
- Brockville and Area Community Foundation, ON
- Campbellford/Seymour Community Foundation, ON
- Community Foundation of Mississauga, ON
- Fondation Communautaire de Lanaudière, QC
- Greater Saint John Community Foundation, NB
- Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia, NS
“We are very pleased to be able to support these Vital Conversations in 2020 and 2021, as supporting the communities in which we live and work is a core part of who we are as a firm. With the challenges of the pandemic, it has also never been more urgent for communities to come together,” said Leith Wheeler President & CEO Jim Gilliland.
“We had the privilege of participating in Whistler’s conversation in October, and look forward to learning about the pressing issues in the rest of these diverse communities across Canada in the months and years ahead.”
A second round of granting will be available in January 2021 for community foundations to apply to support their local Vital Conversations taking place through 2021.
The knowledge gained through Vital Conversations can be used by the community foundation to inform strategy, guide granting priorities, inform new donors about community needs, and/or to raise awareness for a community foundation.
