A leading charitable foundation in Manitoba is coming to an end, but not before bestowing major gifts on community foundations across the province.
As the Thomas Sill Foundation shuts down, it is distributing funds among the 56 foundations province-wide. The Morden Area Foundation announced at its annual meeting last Wednesday that it is receiving $1,188,000.
“It’s absolutely huge for us … I can’t put it into words. It’s beyond words for me,” said Morden Area Foundation president Sue Nelson.
“It’s really a lot of fun to give away money,” noted Sam Andrew, who not only made the presentation on behalf of the Thomas Sill Foundation but was also one of the founding members of the Morden community foundation 30 years ago.
The gift of over $1 million will establish a Thomas Sill Fund, which the Morden foundation expects will translate into them being able to grant out an additional $50,000 annually.
“It is huge for us,” said Nelson. “It basically doubles what we can grant out … it will have a lasting impact.”
Andrew noted that the Thomas Sill Foundation started about 35 years ago with Sill having left an estate of about $18.5 million. He had the vision to help set up community foundations across the province by offering a fundraising matching challenge.
There were only four such foundations back then, Andrew said, but now there are 56 across the province with assets in excess of $200 million.
“Over the years, it has, I believe, distributed in excess of $40 million,” he said of the Thomas Sill Foundation. “At disbursement, it was in the vicinity of $38 million, so that money is now being turned over to various foundations.”
He reflected on coming full circle, having been a founding member of the Morden foundation.
“When I think back, it was seven of us on that original board, and it was a challenge. I mean, the thing that really started this was the challenge grants that the Thomas Sill Foundation set up for community foundations at that time. I think it was a two for one matching thing … we were the first foundation to do that with Sill Foundation back in 1993.
“To see it’s grown to $4.1 million is pretty amazing,” Andrew said. “It’s obviously a very great honour for me to be able to come back and do that and represent the Thomas Sill Foundation.”
Nelson also paid tribute to the founding members of the Morden Area Foundation.
“It’s just kudos to them for having the vision to have started it,” she said. “The Thomas Sill Foundation is known throughout Manitoba as being the cornerstone for supporting communities in their projects … this has enabled us to make a further step towards supporting more people and more groups in our community. So let’s get some great projects going for Morden and area.”
Nelson also reflected on the past year having been one of growth for the foundation after having felt some impact from the downturn in the market.
The net assets of the organization increased from $3,937,137 as of year0end 2022 to $4,210,940 as of year-end 2023.
The foundation included 38 different endowment funds, with the general endowment fund now at over $899,000.
Other significant funds include the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre museum sustainability ($1.5 million), the Morden Area Foundation support fund ($334,000), Power of the Purse fund ($134,000), recreation and sport fund ($131,000), Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame Fund ($109,000), William and Colleen Lyne scholarship ($108,625), Morden Area Foundation managed fund ($92,000), City of Morden Fund ($83,000), and CFDC heritage fund ($80,000)
Nelson noted with this being the 30th anniversary of the foundation, it is amazing to have now surpassed $4 million in overall endowment funds.
“We’re able to grant out more and more now every year,” she said. “We try to get a whole range of different areas of the community to grant money.”
They had received over a dozen requests for grants totalling more than $100,000, she added.
“We can’t give out that whole amount … it is a challenge, but it’s great to be able to offer that support year after year,” she said. “It can have a huge impact on the community. There’s lots of small charities that rely on the small grants that we can give out.”
