Powell River Board of Education has signed an agreement to work with Powell River Community Foundation to create a public endowment fund.
Ross Cooper, president of the foundation, as well as members from the foundation’s board of directors, attended the public school board meeting on April 21 for the informal ceremony.
Cooper said he was happy to see the partnership happen as it was something he envisioned being created over a decade ago.
The school district’s endowment will allow public donors to contribute to building a perpetual, permanent fund which will generate interest over time to be used for funding scholarships and the district’s special programs in years to come. Trustee Ashley Hull explained at the meeting that she first encountered the idea while putting together her election campaign last fall. Hull said she thought it might be a way to circumvent government cutbacks on funding for the programs that “we so proudly tout in our school district.”
That solution is something which Cooper said has kept him involved with the foundation for so many years. As the availability of government grants for non-profit organizations has shrunk over the years, communities have been pushed to find other means to keep these organizations functioning.
Cooper said that over the past 15 years community foundations have increasingly become the answer to this dilemma. He added that it would be costly and time-consuming for the school district to go out on its own to create its own foundation, so the local partnership makes sense. “And we get a whole pile of new advocates for supporting the community foundation,” Cooper added.
The foundation will oversee the managing of the school district’s fund separate from the larger community fund. The district itself will determine where the proceeds of the fund go. Cooper said in addition to keeping money local, the partnership also makes it much easier for Powell River residents to set up scholarships for Powell River students. The Toni Marciniak Memorial Scholarship will be one of the first created out of the agreement.
Community foundations take in money from donors and add it to a permanent fund. Interest generated from the money is then given out to non-profit organizations in the community which provide benefits to the community. The foundation’s board of directors review applications and award grants based on how much money is available. Cooper said that the Powell River fund has close to $800,000 from donations over the past 14 years since it was chartered. Rotary Club of Powell River was one of the foundation’s first donors with a $10,000 contribution and this year the foundation is paying out $10,000 in interest to non-profits. “We’re now giving grants at the original dollar level that was deposited,” Cooper said, adding that provided the rates of return remain the same at six per cent there will be the same amount of money or more available for grants next year. He said the same thing will happen for the school district as it builds its fund.
“This is a permanent and perpetual fund that will be used to benefit the community,” he said.
