Working behind the scenes, Community Foundation of Nova Scotia brings charitable causes to fruition
When it comes to charitable giving, the Community Foundation of Nova Scotia might just be this province’s best-kept secret.
“If you ask most Nova Scotians,” says CEO Daniel Holland, “and I’ve been here five years, very few have heard of us.
“But those who have are able to look at this model in other parts of the country and say, ‘Oh, this is a model that works. This is something I can understand. This allows me, as a donor, the freedom and flexibility, and that’s what makes the model unique in all of the charitable sector.’ ”
CFNS connects doers with donors, allowing people in all parts of the province to access necessary funds for a variety of causes. It also makes things easier for the benefactors, who generally get to decide how the money is allocated.
It’s been a particular blessing for vulnerable populations, such as the seniors who went hungry in Richmond, N.S., during the height of the COVID lockdowns and benefited from a community services recovery fund facilitated by CFNS.
Many needs
Food insecurity is just one focus. Others include mental and physical health, housing and homelessness, youth and student education, arts, culture and heritage as well as climate.
Within weeks of the Portapique tragedy, during which 22 people were killed in April 2020 by a lone gunman on a shooting spree, a group of volunteers raised more than $150,000 to deal with the aftermath — an initiative that blossomed through a fund CFNS opened. With the help of many other partners, they ultimately raised $1.5 million and inaugurated a much-needed community centre.
Similarly, volunteers on the ground started a community rebuilding fund through CFNS right after the devastating wildfires in Shelburne County. The $250,000 they raised has been “granted out” to organizations leading the rebuilding effort.
Sometimes, the foundation simply points people in the right direction. It’s usually much more hands-on, although Holland still considers the role to be more on the sidelines.
“We’re not on the stage,” he explains. “We provide the structure; we provide the fiduciary accounting and oversight reporting. But a community fund is a local group of people doing local fundraising, determining local priorities, and directing us to do local grants.”
There are also times when CFNS acts as an arm’s-length agent.
Since COVID’s onset, for example, it has worked with other organizations as funding intermediaries for a large pool of federal government money.
In 2023, CNFS granted about $3 million to organizations across Nova Scotia. About half came from federal granting programs and half from funds that people have entrusted them to manage.
Other times, the organization works with parties such as the United Way or Red Cross to help network or set up adjudication panels.
Helping turn the page
Connecting with CFNS allowed Eyelevel Gallery, an artist-run centre in Halifax, to overcome two major obstacles.
The first involved a backlog of “amazing” printed materials in their bookstore, with some creations dating back more than 50 years. Through the Investment Readiness Program (IRP), the gallery was able to hire someone to catalogue the entire inventory.
“It will be the first time that we have our entire collection available for people to browse and purchase and see online since the inception of Eyelevel’s bookstore,” says Sally Wolchyn-Raab, artistic co-director of the Maynard Street centre.
Many of these creations are handmade books, often hand-bound or limited editions. Some are artists’ books, while others are exhibition publications or retrospectives of senior artists along with “a lot of really cool DIY stuff” such as custom-printed matchbooks.
The IRP grant also enabled the centre to hire someone to develop a three-year fundraising strategy. The aim? To make the centre more marketable — its second major obstacle.
“We’re super thankful to be able to access these funds. They were really helpful in developing our organization to achieve some long-standing goals that we had,” Wolchyn-Raab says.
“It also allows us to have a much, much better platform for distributing all of these incredible works that we have from local artists and from artists all over North America.”
Biggest donation ever
In the summer of 2023, CFNS got an enormous boost from a staggering $8.5-million anonymous donation. The largest-ever gift in its entire history, this big chunk of change is bound to have major impacts.
This gift has established the CFNS VISIONS Fund, an endowment that will grant its earned interest in perpetuity, driving continuous and impactful support for the province – forever. The CFNS VISIONS Fund had its first granting cycle in 2024, supporting nine organizations.
Still, Holland says philanthropy does not always involve dollars. It could come in the form of time and effort, energy, skills or networking.
“There are all kinds of people who have the capacity to give to different causes. Our job is to make those connections as often as possible.”
For more information on how the Community Foundation of Nova
Scotia may be able to help your organization, call their office at(902) 490-9916 or email info@cfns.ca.
At a Glance
The Community Foundation of Nova Scotia has its roots in a charitable-giving model developed in Winnipeg back in 1921. It sprang up in this province in 2008 after a national conference, with funding left over from another entity. Founders wanted to make it easier for vulnerable citizens to get funding and support, with their brainchild acting as a conduit.
Today, CFNS maintains 150 donor-adviser funds. These serve communities across the province, with a roughly 70/30 rural-urban split. There are also 12 funds created and managed by communities, as well as a number of impact funds that target specific priorities. Considering CFNS is still a “teenager,” it’s punching well above its weight. By the end of December 2024, the organization recorded roughly $30 million in endowed assets. Canada is home to 207 community foundations, which serve about 90 per cent of this country’s population.
