$1,386,780 in funding available in Central Eastern Ontario to transform public spaces in response to COVID-19

February 12, 2021

Barrie Community Foundation takes part in new Healthy Communities Initiative

Barrie and Muskoka Community Foundations today announced they will work in the Central Eastern Ontario Region to provide $1,386,780 to transform public spaces in response to COVID-19.

This funding is part of the Government of Canada’s new $31 million Healthy Communities Initiative. This investment by the federal government will support community-led organizations in developing local, small-scale infrastructure projects that respond to the immediate needs arising from COVID-19, while building towards a more pandemic-resilient future.

Organizations are invited to apply for funding between $5,000 and $250,000 to lead projects that help create safe and vibrant public spaces, improve mobility options, and provide digital solutions to help their neighbourhoods or communities navigate the pandemic and look to build back better in the COVID-19 recovery. This could include projects that adapt crosswalks and access to public transport to allow for safe physical distancing, the creation of community gardens, and art installations, and free wifi in targeted public spaces. A variety of community-led organizations are eligible to apply, including local governments, charities, Indigenous communities, and registered non- profit organizations.

Barrie and Muskoka Community Foundations are working alongside Community Foundations of Canada, the Canadian Urban Institute and other partners to serve communities across Canada, including equity-seeking groups interested in applying.

“As we face increased and continued isolation due to COVID-19, the Healthy Communities Initiative will help our community to connect safely and will benefit the mental and physical well-being of our residents. Public spaces and connecting with others are the glue to our communities: these feelings of belonging and of social cohesion are a big part of what makes communities safe, vibrant and connected” said Marshall Green, Chair Barrie Community Foundation.

The application period for the first round of funding closes on March 9, 2021 at 5:00PM PST. A second application period for funding will take place starting in May 2021.

BCF Distributes Micro Grants To 21 Local Organizations Most In Need

January 8, 2021

Since April the Barrie Community Foundation has distributed Rapid Micro Grants of $1,000 to more than 20 Barrie charities. Granted through the Barrie Community Foundation’s Crisis Fund, these monies are helping to ease the strain of a pandemic.

“It has been a tremendous privilege for the Barrie Community Foundation to have been able to step forward and help the Barrie community by distributing the monies with which we were entrusted by the citizens of Barrie,” said Marshall Green, Barrie Community Foundation, Chair. “We have been able to provide 21 organizations and agencies who have been struggling to help the disadvantaged in our community during this unprecedented crisis.”

Throughout the pandemic, the Barrie Community Foundation has granted more than $500,000 to organizations – on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. These funds have come from different streams in the Barrie Community Foundation – our endowment fund grants, our local Community Crisis Fund, and the Federal Emergency Community Support Fund that we administered on a local level. These grants ranged from $1,000-$20,000.

“We are grateful to receive a $1,000 Rapid-Micro Grant through the Community Crisis Fund,” says Suzanna McCarthy, Executive Director, John Howard Society of Simcoe and Muskoka. “Now we will be able to replace a piece of aging technology which is no longer fully functional. This single improvement will have an incredible impact on our agency, allowing us to spend more time focusing on serving our community.”

The organizations receiving Rapid Micro Grants this year include:

Gilda’s Club

YouthReach

The Gilbert Centre

Christmas Cheer

Barrie Native Friendship Centre

Glowing Hearts Give and Get

The John Howard Society of Simcoe and Muskoka

Catholic Family Services

Redwood Park Communities

Elizabeth Fry Society

Hospice Simcoe

Theatre By The Bay

Women and Children’s Shelter of Barrie

The David Busby Centre

Youth Haven

Epilepsy (Ontario) Simcoe County

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Barrie and District

Camphill Communities Ontario

Season’s Centre for Grieving Children

Child Advocacy Centre

New Path Youth and Family Services

“We’re grateful to be the conduit to get these funds out, supporting safe shelter for those fleeing abuse, food and warm clothes for those in need, technological support for seniors in isolation so they can communicate better with family and friends, retraining for those who lost their jobs in the pandemic and so much more,” added Green.

Charitable donations to support Barrie’s Community Crisis Fund can be made online here: https://www.barriecommunityfoundation.org/endowment-funds/the-community-crisis-fund/

BCF awards over $127K in grants through the ECSF.

June 8, 2020

In June, the Barrie Community Foundation announced $127,249 in grants to 10 local charities. These grants were awarded to address Covid-19 response needs to shelter safely in stable housing; remotely deliver mental health support to children under the age of 14; provide emergency care packages for families with children in cancer care; purchase temperature sensor cameras for long-term care entry doors; and more.

Organizations supported were Gilda’s Club Simcoe Muskoka, Grove Park Home, Elizabeth Fry Society, Redwood Park Communities, Rainbows for All Children, Talk Is Free Theatre, Rotary Club of Barrie, Starlight Children’s FDN, Theatre By The Bay, Candlelighter’s Simcoe.

The ECSF is a $350 million fund that is being implemented with Community Foundations of Canada, the Canadian Red Cross, and United Way Centraide Canada, in partnership with local foundations across the country. Its goal is to provide support to charities and non-profit organizations serving vulnerable Canadians.

“What we are seeing and hearing is stark. Covid-19 has been a brutal hit to our most vulnerable and the organizations supporting them. With these grants, Barrie Community Foundation supports the work that tells our community that everyone belongs,” said Marshall Green, Vice Chair, Barrie Community Foundation Board of Directors.

In Barrie, eligible organizations can still apply for grants of up to $20,000 from the ECSF. Barrie Community Foundation is reviewing and awarding funding on a weekly basis to support projects that help ensure no one is left behind in COVID-19 recovery measures.

The Barrie Community Foundation exists to support other charities whose work helps make Barrie and area a better place to live.

BCF Granted $2,500.00 to a local charity!

November 17, 2018

At the Annual Spirit Catcher Gala on November 14th, the Barrie Community Foundation was proud to announce a grant of $2,500.00 to the Child Advocacy Centre Simcoe/Muskoka.

The money is going towards creating Youth Care Packs for those in need.

About Us

November 30, 2017

What is the Barrie Community Foundation?

The Barrie Community Foundation is a locally–run public foundation that builds and manages endowment funds to support charitable activities in the area. The funds that are raised in the community stay in the community.

The Barrie Community Foundation pools the charitable gifts of many donors to create permanent, income–earning endowment funds – a nest egg that will always be there to benefit the communities. A donation, large or small, will make a difference, now and forever.

The Barrie Community Foundation uses the income earned by invested funds to give grants to a wide range of community groups; the original investment is left to grow over time. Only the earnings are used for particular charitable programs that the donor is interested in supporting i.e. seniors, youth, low-income, recreation, health, environment, art, and music. Donors can choose to support their hometown broadly or designate a favourite cause.

About Community Foundations

The Community Foundations of Canada is an association of the 191 community foundations scattered across our magnificent country.

They have a few words to say about communities.

Inclusive. Forward-looking. Fair. Creative. Safe. Green. Fun.

There’s no end of words to describe what we want our communities and country to be.

But there’s one word that sums it all up.

Vital.

The vitality of our communities, or community vitality, is something community foundations care about a great deal.

Community vitality is the unique spirit that flourishes when people believe their community holds possibilities for everyone.

Vitality can be measured by how well people’s needs are being met: from our most basic needs—sustenance, shelter, health care, safety—to those that give quality to life, such as places and opportunities to play, learn and create.

Our Vision for Communities

All signs point to stronger communities. To us, the best sign for Canada’s communities—our vision for them—is that they are strong and getting stronger. What would this mean?

A vital community is one that:

Includes and offers opportunities to everyone
Has the knowledge and ability needed to help shape its own future for generations to come
Can meet its most important needs, challenges and opportunities, today and in the future
Is filled with people who are interested and engaged in finding ways to make their community a more vital place to live, work and play

In our vision, our communities are ready to address pressing problems like poverty, unemployment, hunger and housing. And all citizens are able to benefit from the best a community can offer: the arts, recreation, health care, education, safe and inclusive neighbourhoods and a healthy environment.

Your local community foundation is the Barrie Community Foundation.

We are vital. We believe that the people of Barrie fulfill all of the attributes of a “vital community.”

Surprised that there are 191 community foundations across Canada? Don’t be, because the list is growing. From big cities to very small towns and villages, community foundations fulfill an important place in the charitable giving web.

A Charity for Charities…. Building an enduring legacy of positive change

The Barrie Community Foundation exists to support other charities whose work helps make Barrie a better place to live … it is a charity for charities. The Foundation funds initiatives from a broad spectrum of interests including arts and culture, education, recreation, social services and the environment.

Areas Served

Barrie and area

Our Vision

To help create a better community for us all

Today ─ Tomorrow ─ Forever.

Mission

To enhance the quality of our lives by enabling all of us, individual and corporate citizens, to give back to our community by building permanent legacies

Our Goal

To generate in excess of four million in endowments over time that will enable us to make grants of more than $200,000 per year.

Our Role

Provide a vehicle for donors to make and direct their charitable donations in perpetuity
Match donors’ charitable interests with the needs of the community
Provide donors with a flexible range of giving and disbursement options
Build and manage permanent capital funds
Use the earnings of the capital funds to support a wide range of community needs.

What We Do

We provide a means of keeping charitable donations within the community
We are not in competition with other charitable organizations; we support them
We create an endowment fund from which only the earnings are disbursed every year
The endowments we manage for donors allow them to provide gifts forever.

Choice of Endowment Funds

Donors may create or contribute to any of the following funds.

General Community Fund

A donation to this fund gives the Foundation the greatest flexibility. The earnings on this fund enable our Board of Directors to respond to current community needs through the awarding of grants to charities throughout Barrie.

Field of Interest Fund

Donors identify an area of interest that they would like their donation to support. Examples include the arts, environment, health, seniors, children, recreation, relief of poverty, or education.

Designated Fund

This type of fund gives the donor the opportunity to specify, at the time the fund is established, which particular charity or charities they would like to support in perpetuity.

Donor-Advised Fund

The donor, donor’s family, or designates recommend annually to the Board of Directors which Barrie charitable organizations should receive the income.

Administrative Fund

A donor may choose to provide direct support. The administrative fund is used to offset operating costs.

For further information, please contact us