Submit your photos of Windsor and Essex County for an opportunity to appear in the 2015 Vital Signs® report!

Submit your photos of Windsor and Essex County for an opportunity to appear in the 2015 Vital Signs® report!

Guidelines to submit:

• Photos must be taken in the Windsor-Essex region
• The photos must correspond to at least one of the quality of life issue areas outlined in the 2015 Vital Signs® report (listed below)
• You may submit up to five photos per person
• Email your photos to info@wecf.ca with the subject line “Vital Signs Photo Submission.” Please include your full name, where you live in Windsor-Essex  when each photo was taken, where  each photo was taken, and then tell us which quality of life issue area each photo corresponds to

Vital Signs® 2015 Quality of Life Issue Areas:

Environment
Safety
Getting Around
Health, Wellness & Activity
Learning
Housing
Arts & Culture
Belonging & Leadership
Work
Getting Started
Food Security

Pictures will be selected based on their originality, quality, and relevancy to the quality of life issue areas. Those that are chosen will appear in the 2015 Vital Signs® report published by the Windsor Star on October 6, 2015.

*** By submitting your photos to the Foundation, you are consenting to the Foundation using your photos in the 2015 Vital Signs® report. The Foundation will not use your photos for any other purposes. You will be contacted by the Foundation if your photos have been chosen ***

Community Impact Grants Awarded at the WECF Annual General Meeting November 2014

On Monday, November 24^th the WindsorEssex Community Foundation held its Annual General Meeting. This night included the cheque presentation of the Community Impact Grants. Each year many different organizations apply to us for a Community Impact Grant, which provides funding up to $15,000.00. This year we received 50 applications overall. Unfortunately we’re not able to fund every project, so deciding which ones to select is never an easy task. We received a lot of truly great applications that involved very impressive and impactful projects for the Windsor and Essex County region, so we encourage all those who did not receive funding this year, to re-apply again in the next year. Applications for the Community Impact Grants will be available during July 2015.

On Monday, Glenn Stresman officially passed over the reigns to  Lisa Kolody as our new Executive Director. As well, Marty D. Solcz passed his chairmanship over to Fred Quenneville as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Marty will still remain on the Board of Directors to fulfill his duty as Past-Chairman, taking over Susan A. Easterbrook’s position as she officially retired from her place on the Board.

2014 Community Impact Grant Recipients:

FIREHORSE LEADERSHIP ORGANIZATION $15,000.00

MARYVALE CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH CENTRE $15,000.00

WINDSOR RESIDENCE FOR YOUNG MEN $15,000.00

ARTS COUNCIL WINDSOR & REGION $10,000.00

CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION $10,000.00

ALZHEIMER SOCIETY OF WINDSOR & ESSEX COUNTY $6,000.00

CANADIAN NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE BLIND (CNIB WINDSOR) $5,000.00

FORGOTTEN HARVEST CANADA $5,000.00

WINDSOR ESSEX COUNTY SPORTS HALL OF FAME $5,000.00

CONNECTIONS AN EARLY YEARS FAMILY CENTRE INC. $4,000.00

For more information on our grant programs, please visit: http://www.wecf.ca/grants.html

Also, please check out our article in the Windsor Star: http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/with-more-than-5-2-million-in-grants-foundation-keeps-on-giving

Featured in the picture above from left to right is Marty D. Solcz (Past-Chairman of the Board of Directors), Lisa Kolody (WECF Executive Director), Glenn Stresman (Past Executive Director), and Fred Quenneville (Chairman of the Board of Directors)

Special thanks to the Windsor Star for their article, and Snap’d Windsor for these photos.

Posted by Kyrsten

What’s in Store for Philanthropy in 2012?

What’s in Store for Philanthropy in 2012?

“Times they are a changing,” Bob Dylan.

This past year it seems that we have discovered philanthropy.  We always knew that people gave to causes they cared about.  We always knew that we could help others by donating our time and skills.  We always knew that there were organizations focused on charitable works.  But it seemed that the charitable sector was always the quiet one.

This past year, charitable giving has attracted much more attention.  I have seen articles covering a broad range of topics including: the future of volunteerism in Canada, the need to legislate salaries for executives in the not for profit world and, how to protect yourself from solicitations by unscrupulous charities.  As a measure of increased interest in the sector, The Globe and Mail published an excellent series of articles in October about the evolution of philanthropy.  The Globe now runs a regular column written by Craig and Marc Keilburger.

Where in times past we decided on which charities to give to based on our own experiences, we now trust organizations like Charity Intelligence Canada and GuideStar (US) to tell us which charities that ask us for donations are the most effective.

So why are times in the charitable sector changing?  I will put two reasons forward.  The first, I suggest, is that the need for the work of the charitable sector is more visible that it ever was before.  The effects of the economic troubles together with the reporting of the many natural disasters that have overtaken us in the past several years have put the need for charity vividly before us.

The second is that we now realize how big the charitable sector in Canada is.  Charity has become big business and continues to grow.  The upside to the growth is that there are more funds available for the sector to work with.  The downside to the growth is that the sector attracts more people preying on our good intentions.

So what is to become of the charitable sector?  For those of us who work in charities, we know that we need to be more efficient and more effective as we look to what we do.  Our donors expect us to be duly diligent.

However, I also see that we are still being driven by our sense of responsibility to contribute to the wellbeing of those around us.  Charities will continue to be the solid third pillar in our society.

So with deference to Bob Dylan, my final thought is this.  While times today continue to change, the core philanthropic values that have motivated us in the past remain in place.  We will continue to support the many good works the sector does.

Best wishes for 2012!

Sincerely,
Glenn

Glenn Stresman is the Executive Director of the WindsorEssex Community Foundation and has over 20 years experience in both writing and evaluating grant applications.