Quadra Foundation to administer $100,000

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Quadra Island Foundation will be distributing approximately $100,000 to Quadra Island organizations during the Spring of 2023. According to their press release, Grant amounts will range from $10,000 to $20,000.

This money is part of the government of Canada's National COVID Recovery Fund to support charities, non-profits and indigenous governing bodies.

Quadra Island Foundation Treasurer Mitch Hirano explained:

“This program is available through three national streams the Canadian Red Cross, the United Way and the Community Foundations of Canada. We're a member of the Community Foundations of a Canada, and our funding flows through that portal.”

“Community Foundations of Canada is investing in systems and processes. So we're looking at supporting charitable organizations, nonprofit and indigenous groups that will fund one time projects investing in the system and processes that are involved in creating the internal workings of an organization and strengthening the organization's overall structure.”

Funding can go towards wages and employment related costs.
They could hire contractors to provide professional services and advice,
build new inventory for materials and supplies,
or purchase equipment for a project,
These funds could be for travel expenses for professional development,
staff training,
or event coordination and funding.

“The application portal will open on our website January 6, 2023 and we will receive applications until February 21. We'll be making the selection and allocation of the funds to the organizations during the period from February 21 to May 1, 2023.”

“Quadra Island Foundation is a registered charity. We are only able to support other charities that are defined as charities by the Canada Revenue Agency. We're not able to give directly to those nonprofits in our community, but we can do that indirectly through the community foundations of Canada.”

“We will process the applications and recommend the approval for the amount of funding to grant to these organizations. The actual check will be written by the community foundations of Canada at the national level, because they're able to have a little more flexibility in how they distribute their funding.”

“The charities, nonprofits and indigenous organizations will have a full year from May 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, to expend their funds and complete their projects. At the end of that, we would have to wrap it up and provide a report on how the funds were distributed and what was accomplished.”

Cortes Currents: Is this the largest amount of money that the Quadra Island Foundation has administered?

Mich Hirano: “We've only been in operation for two years. The other major project that we supported was in partnership with Quadra ICAN to put up solar panels on the Quadra Island School. It was a little bit of a hands-on project for the kids to see how solar it works. The funds flowed through the Quadra Island Foundation. We cut the check to the school district and they provided that back to the Quadra Island Elementary School. That was one of the major accomplishments of the Quadra Island Foundation.”

“Quadra Island has a pretty vibrant and strong community services network. I think that this funding needed in the community and it will certainly strengthen the services that these organizations are providing to the residents of Quadra.”