About Victoria Foundation

Purpose

As an independent nonprofit organization, the Victoria Foundation aims to strengthen the community through grantmaking, leadership, and stewardship. This means that we exercise leadership to support nonprofit organizations through both action and charitable giving, and we strive to maintain the prudent financial management of endowed assets so that our donors’ legacies are respected in perpetuity.

Endowment

By definition, an endowment is a fund “which is kept in perpetuity to provide interest and dividend earnings for the benefit of a charitable cause”. A permanent philanthropic capital that is of, by and for the community is a powerful tool and as your community foundation, the Victoria Foundation takes great pride in this responsibility. For 75 years we have nurtured a significant collection of endowments, many of which contribute to the on-going strengthening of our community’s capacity to make better decisions about - and act on - its future. The Foundation began actively granting in 1969. Since those early days, the Victoria Foundation has grown to over $180 million in total assets under management and distributes hundreds of grants to hundreds of charitable organizations every year in and around the Greater Victoria area.

History

Established through an Act of the BC Legislature in 1936, the Victoria Foundation is a public foundation and a registered Canadian charity. It received its very first gift of $20 in 1937 from Mrs. Fannie Gadsden, the mother of the visionary behind the organization, Burges Gadsden, who at the time operated the Sunshine Inn, the city’s only soup kitchen. Year after year, the Foundation’s work makes a difference in virtually every aspect of community life. Through a wide range of fields of interest the impact of our efforts are broad in scope, and thanks to the generosity and passion of our donors we’ve been fortunate to be able to respond for 75 years to community challenges and opportunities.