Cranbrook & District Community Foundation

History

In the fall of 2000, a Kimberley resident bequeathed more than $190,000 to the Cranbrook United Way on the condition that the funding worked in perpetuity to aid social causes within the Cranbrook Region.

In searching for a proper investment vehicle, an opportunity was identified to raise funds locally and to receive matching grants from both the Vancouver Foundation and the Columbia Basin Trust to supplement a two-year local fund raising drive to the amount of $100,000.

Over the ensuing two years members of a United Way committee worked within the community to develop interest and raise community awareness. The Cranbrook and District Community Foundation began to take root and initial board members came forward.

On March 1st, 2003, approximately 75 citizens of our community met at the Prestige Rocky Mountain Resort in Cranbrook with Barbara Oates of Community Foundation of Canada to discuss the formation of a foundation.

By 2004, the CDCF was incorporated, registered as a charity and was a member of the Community Foundations of Canada, having adopted their code of ethics, to ensure open, transparent governance and the professional management of funds.

The CDCF held it’s first Grants Gala and Community Kick Off event on September 25, 2004. It was attended by Foundation members, representatives from all levels of government, plus a number of other prominent citizens of Cranbrook, both within the private and public sectors. At the event, $5,000 in LEAD funding from the Vancouver Foundation was distributed to four community projects identified through the first CDCF public grants offering. A "Teen Space" for the public library Aid to the community kitchen managed by the Cranbrook Women's Resource Society The Children's Festival New sound and lighting equipment to allow the Cranbrook Community Theatre to mount more elaborate productions. The other highlight of the evening was the official signing of a $50,000 Deed of Gift with the F. W. Green Foundation. The revenue generated from these monies will go to support senior's projects in the community. The Board and members of the Cranbrook and District Community Foundation look forward to many years of community support. A prominent theme of Community Foundations is “ It takes a noble person to plant a tree under whose shade will sit people one may never meet”. Read the press release in advance of the Grand Opening, and the one following it.

Signing of the Deed of Gift with the F. W. Green Foundation

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Mail l us at: 

801B Baker Street, Cranbrook,
British Columbia,
     Canada        V1C 1A3
(250) 426-1119

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