Enderby & District Financial disburses inaugural grants

Four community organizations recently became the first recipients of grants totalling more than $18,000 paid out through the Enderby & District Financial Community Endowment.

Established in 2013 after E&DF became a division of First West Credit Union, the Enderby & District Financial Community Endowment is a $500,000 fund administered by the First West Foundation to generate ongoing community funding in Enderby and the surrounding region. Grants from this fund are made to community-based programs for youth, education and literacy, at-risk populations and seniors support services.

“These grants aren’t just about money,” says Seline Kutan, executive director of the First West Foundation, “they’re about changing lives for vulnerable people in our communities. Enderby & District Financial has been a strong community supporter for many, many years. Through the community endowment, we’re able to take that support to a new level and help even more people and organizations.”

In total, $18,746 has been distributed to four organizations this year including the Kingfisher Interpretive Centre Society, Nexus BC Community Resource Centre, Enderby & District Community Resource Centre Family Place and the Enderby Preschool Society.

In addition to these grants, 2014 also saw the establishment of the $354,000 Peter Bell Legacy Fund. Bell, a long-time resident of Enderby, passed away in 2010 without any heirs. Before his passing, he named the Vernon Hospice and the Enderby & District Community Resource Centre Society as equal beneficiaries of his estate.

Following Mr. Bell’s wishes to have the donation kept as a perpetual source of support for the community, the Enderby & District Community Resource Centre Society transferred the $354,000 donation to the First West Foundation. The Foundation will administer this fund as an agency endowment fund which will generate funding to support senior’s programming in Enderby. 

“This is a great opportunity for us to support the Enderby & District Community Resources Centre Society,” says Kutan. “We have the privilege of managing the investment of the Peter Bell Legacy Fund and the Society can concentrate on their meaningful community work.”

Agency endowment funds established with the First West Foundation have many benefits. The Foundation manages the investment of the donation while earnings are distributed back to the donor charity annually. Charities can name the fund as they see fit and they benefit from the annual donation while the Foundation looks after the administration and investment of the fund, freeing the charity to focus on their community work.