The Victoria Foundation is stepping up to help keep local organizations on solid ground.

Eleven organizations will receive $280,000 of funding allocated by the Victoria Foundation to help solve pressing social, cultural and environmental challenges through Investment Readiness Program (IRP) Grants.

All of the organizations, which include charities, non-profits and for-profit businesses, have a social purpose to earn revenue while achieving positive social, cultural and environmental results through the sale of goods or services.

B次元官网网址淲e are proud to be part of this program and to help our community tackle some of its biggest challenges as we move into pandemic recovery,B次元官网网址� Victoria Foundation CEO Sandra Richardson said in a media release. B次元官网网址淭he successful recipients of these funds are shining examples of organizations moving forward towards investment readiness and building capacity for the sector.B次元官网网址�

Organizations were invited to apply for IRP grants at the beginning of the year to help launch, design, measure and scale their social enterprise and prepare to access investments in CanadaB次元官网网址檚 growing marketplace, including through the Government of CanadaB次元官网网址檚 Social Finance Fund. Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), which includes the Victoria Foundation, is one of the IRPB次元官网网址檚 national funding intermediaries and is collaborating with other community foundations across the country to award IRP funding.

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While funding requests came from a range of organizations at varying stages of investment readiness, all of the applicants focussed on making improvements to local issues of concern, including affordable and supportive housing, habitat protection, Indigenous entrepreneurship, waste reduction and recycling.

One of the recipients, Unbuilders, will use the funds to scale up their business, which deconstructs and salvages heritage lumber that would otherwise be headed for landfills.

B次元官网网址淯nbuilders are thrilled to be expanding our service to Vancouver Island, the epicentre of the B.C. logging industry,B次元官网网址� said Unbuilders founder Adam Corneil. B次元官网网址淲e want to ensure building owners on the Island a better way to remove an old building and divert the waste B次元官网网址� We donB次元官网网址檛 destroy an old building, we unbuild it.B次元官网网址�

Another organization will use the funding to gather crucial information to co-develop one or more social enterprises that will enable a First Nation to derive conservation-based revenue and to support the creation of an Indigenous Protected Area.

B次元官网网址淭he funding makes it possible for us to lay the groundwork for really meaningful enterprise that supports communities and the environment,B次元官网网址� said Katie Blake, executive director of the Habitat Acquisition Trust. B次元官网网址淚t enables us to do the necessary work to get it right for the long-term.B次元官网网址�

The Victoria Foundation is CandaB次元官网网址檚 second oldest community foundation and the sixth-largest of the nearly 200 nationwide. The foundation manages charitable gifts from donors whose generosity allows the creation of permanent, income-earning funds that are then distributed as grants for charitable or educational pursuits. The Victoria Foundation has invested more than $243 million in people, projects and non-profit organizations since its inception in 1936.

A full list of all 11 funded organizations can be found online at .

Applications for the second and final round of funding for the CFCB次元官网网址檚 IRP program will be accepted from Sept. 8 until Oct. 9. Visit for more information and eligibility.

rick.stiebel@goldstreamgazette.com

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