Community Foundation to create sustainable funding pool for social needs in Castlegar
By Kyra Hoggan
City council heard, at its regular meeting Tuesday night, that Castlegar’s fledgling community foundation will be taking wing in a comparatively dramatic way, thanks to a $147,000 donation from Kootenay Savings Credit Union (KSCU).
“That donation is kind of what gave us the momentum to get started,” said foundation president Dan Salekin. “It means we’ll be able to have money flowing back into the community much more quickly – it’s so much easier to get volunteers and get energized when you can see that goal.”
Salekin explained that KSCU’s $147,000 will be part of an untouched principal that will grow through donations, while the interest and/or revenue the principal generates, “will be fed back into the social fabric of the community”.
“We won’t distribute the money directly into the community,” he added. “We’ll do that through other non-profit societies and charitable organizations that will apply for grants from the foundation.”
He said the foundation still has a long way to go before it is up-and-running – the six members of the current steering committee saw the foundation incorporated as a society in April, which gives them, by law, 15 months in which to hold their inaugural Annual General Meeting.
“Our next step is applying for our federal charitable status, which is a long process,” Salekin added.
He said, though, that the work-intensive start-up process is well worth the effort for Castlegar in the years, and generations, to come.
“It will carry on and be a sustainable and growing resource for the city’s social needs.”
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