Exciting news from Barrie Community Foundation – you heard it here first!

We are launching The Annual Vital Barrie Grants with $20,000! These grants are to support all the great work done by many types of charities in our region – health and human services, arts and culture, environment and education, animal support and welfare, safe-shelter and food security, etc.  We will be inviting applications from registered charities, who serve the residents of Simcoe County, to apply for a Vital Barrie Grant of up to $5,000.  The Vital Barrie Grants support a Barrie where we can all live, work, and thrive.Read More

Looking back, and forward.

2021 was a terribly challenging year. FULL STOP!

We all felt the impact of the pandemic, on our wallets, on our mental health, and on the relationships to the important people in our lives.  We are still missing out on time together, for an impromptu visit, cup of coffee, and mostly just the welcoming company of others.

What we have seen from our community is the absolute commitment to help.  Thank you to each and every person who raised their hand to help – whether it was with a gift to us, to another charity, a lunch dropped off to an isolated neighbour, a thank you to a front-line worker, or any of the myriad ways you’ve found to help out – THANK YOU!Read More

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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/

 

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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.

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