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The Smart & Caring Communities Fund the smartest way to ensure funding is getting to the areas that need it most within your community. Our Smart & Caring Community Fund is a flexible granting model. This means that a collection of our community-minded volunteers can create grants to aid the areas that need it most without having to worry about limitations or specific parameters.
The Red Deer & District Community Foundation has been focused on innovative and community-minded initiatives to help agencies secure sustainable funding solutions for the future. As part of these efforts, we are proud to announce that the Community Foundation has contributed $30,000 to Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre in the form of an endowment. Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre also contributed $30,000 to the endowment, giving Aspire an initial $60,000 endowment that will generate yearly disbursements, providing consistency and sustainability.
Aspire’s Fee Assistance Endowment was created to support Aspire’s desire to have a long-term solution to meet the ongoing needs of the children and families they serve. Aspire’s Fee Assistance Program ensures that Aspire can provide barrier-free access to their programs and services for all children and families, regardless of their financial situation.
“We have been seeing grant applications from Aspire since 2014,” said Erin Peden, RDDCF Executive Director. “And each and every time, the adjudication committee was left feeling like this is an absolutely essential program for central Alberta. So with an eye towards sustainability, we arranged a conversation with Aspire to see if we could work collaboratively to build an endowment fund.”
“We jumped on board right away with the Community Foundation,” said Aspire’s Executive Director, JoAnne Hayden. “This endowment will help us to develop consistency, allowing us to fulfill our goal of supporting families that need our services today, as well as the families who will need our services in the future.”
The Aspire Fee Assistance Endowment will begin generating investment income in 2023, and this will be used annually for families needing financial support. Aspire hopes to grow this fund through donations, with the ultimate goal of having the disbursement cover the full needs of families seeking access.
“As community members recognize that they want to make long term impact, they can contribute to this fund and then the investment income will also grow, which means more and more families will be able to access financial support,” said Peden.
With the creation of this endowment, Aspire and the Community Foundation are collaborating on a forward-thinking, sustainable funding solution.
“It was about knowing that we have a sense of security, not only for us but for our families,” said Hayden.
Donors interested in contributing to Aspire’s Fee Assistance Endowment Fund are encouraged to contact Melissa Vine at Aspire, or Erin Peden at the Red Deer & District Community Foundation.
This month, the Red Deer & District Community Foundation was approached by several local Indigenous agencies who shared a collective concern about imminent issues of food insecurity for the community members they serve. The RDDCF Board of Directors was able to respond with $10,000 in emergency funding to support over 200 households within Red Deer to supplement the distribution of annual Christmas Bannock Bags.
The Christmas Bannock Bags provide dried goods to make bannock, as well as other essentials, to over 200 individuals and families. The funding from RDDCF was used to purchase gift cards to be included in the Christmas Bannock Bags, to be used by recipients to purchase a protein, or any other necessities from Central Alberta Co-op, who also contributed by donating additional gift cards.
“This is such a great demonstration of community effort,” said Erin Peden, Executive Director of RDDCF. “Because of our relationship with these agencies, and our previous discussions regarding financial support, we were able to meet this request for emergency funding, knowing the value of the Christmas Bannock Bags.”
“We have incredible agencies here in Red Deer, and they are working tirelessly to provide support and programming for Indigenous families and individuals in our community,” said Peden. “We applaud their efforts to help the Indigenous community during what is a challenging time for so many. The Christmas Bannock Bags are such an important community initiative, and one that our Board of Directors immediately understood as vital.”
The Christmas Bannock Bags will be distributed to over 200 families and individuals in Red Deer in 2022.
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Red Deer & District Community Foundation collaborates with Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre on the creation of an endowment fund
The Red Deer & District Community Foundation has been focused on innovative and community-minded initiatives to help agencies secure sustainable funding solutions for the future. As part of these efforts, we are proud to announce that the Community Foundation has contributed $30,000 to Aspire Special Needs Resource Centre in the form of an endowment. Aspire […]
Red Deer & District Community Foundation supports Christmas Bannock Bags Community Initiative
This month, the Red Deer & District Community Foundation was approached by several local Indigenous agencies who shared a collective concern about imminent issues of food insecurity for the community members they serve. The RDDCF Board of Directors was able to respond with $10,000 in emergency funding to support over 200 households within Red Deer […]