The Edith H. Turner Foundation Fund supports evidence-based programs and services that help children/youth; families, adults and seniors in Hamilton who are experiencing marginalization, with a focus on stable homes and families, healthy bodies and minds and educational/learning support across ages. In 2022, HCF made 48 grants totalling $642,603 from this fund.
| Name | Project title | Project description | Grant* |
| ACORN Institute Canada | Hamilton Tenant Rights Project | Expands “Civic Connections,” a program for people with low income, to build their knowledge, skills and confidence in tenant rights and civic topics. | $25,000 |
| Adult Basic Education Association | Educational Planning Services | Builds on ongoing programming to assist adults to explore and provide supports for educational options and pathways appropriate to their goals. | $12,960 |
| Ancaster Community Services | Youth Engagement Program – The Net | The Net helps people aged 13-18 connect, learn, and be engaged in their community in a safe and supported manner through recreation, volunteering, social outings and more | $10,000 |
| Cancer Assistance Program | Drive Program – Drive & Ride and Drive 2 Deliver | CAP provides free practical services to cancer patients such as delivering home-safety equipment/personal care/food and drives to cancer-related appointments via volunteer drivers. | $10,000 |
| Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton | Youth Transition Success Program | Supports youth aged 18 to 23 to transition successfully from child welfare care to adulthood, by assisting to fill a funding gap. Grant will support three priority areas: housing, mental health, and education. | $16,000 |
| Circle of Friends for Newcomers (Hamilton) | Towards Closing the Technology Gap: Digital Literacy Coaching Project | Helps equip ESL newcomers with basic digital literacy skills to support access to services and opportunities that are increasingly online. | $9,515 |
| City Kidz Ministry | Youth Leadership Development | Supports youth aged 12 to 18 to gain important life skills such as resume writing, networking and interview are nurtured along with developing servant leadership through practical experiences. | $10,000 |
| CNIB | CNIB Mobile Hub in Hamilton | The CNIB Mobile Hub is a full-accessible pop-up that sets up in community spaces to deliver programs that teach new skills to prepare participants, who are affected by sight loss, for employment and improve their mental and physical health. | $10,000 |
| Culture for Kids | After School Arts Program | Expands performing arts experiential learning for children and youth, and supports equity, diversity and inclusion in program delivery. | $15,200 |
| Dundas Youth Chaplaincy | Evening Programming and Workshops | Complements existing drop-in services with new structured programming and workshops to support youth with a variety of social, emotional and mental health needs. | $15,000 |
| Elizabeth Fry Society Southern Ontario Region | STARS Program – Sex Trade Alternatives, Resources & Services | Supports a client-centred drop-in that provides access to a variety of services to women and gender-diverse people who identify involvement in the sex trade. | $13,618 |
| Elliott Heights Baptist Church | Larch After School Program | Provides academic and social support to help children living in low income, deal with everyday life issues and access equitable opportunities to participate in school life and excel in education. | $20,000 |
| Essential Aid and Family Services of Ontario Inc. | Infant & Toddler Food Bank | Supports the Infant & Toddler Food Bank service providing free access to emergency supply of formula, diapers and food for children 0-3 years. | $15,000 |
| Fit Active Beautiful Foundation | FAB Girls 5K Challenge Program | Supports the FAB Girls 5K Challenge program which helps young girls living in lower-income communities to develop the skills and confidence needed to live an empowered life through sport. | $7,500 |
| Flamborough Information & Community Services | Flamborough Youth Empowerment Program – Expansion Project | Expands program to connect and engage youth living in rural areas who have limited access to public transportation and fewer services | $15,000 |
| Frontier College | Free Literacy Programming for Hamilton Children and Youth | Supports students from under-served, low-income and newcomer communities to achieve more academic success through literacy and numeracy skills. | $10,000 |
| Grace Anglican Church | Graceful Abilities Day Program | Supports creation and operation of a day program to support adults with developmental disabilities in leading an active and fulfilling daily life through life-skill building activities and friendships. | $23,269 |
| Grenfell Ministries | Women’s Transitional Living Program | A partnership with Hamilton City Housing for a peer-based, peer-led transitional living shelter program at Vanier Towers, in which each participant has the supports they need to facilitate their housing journey. | $25,000 |
| Hamilton Conservation Foundation | Increasing Learning Opportunities for Disadvantaged Youth – Environmental Education and Westfield | Increases equitable access to Hamilton Conservation Authority’s environmental education and Westfield’s historical programming by reducing those financial aspects, such as transportation, that must be covered by parents. | $7,500 |
| Hamilton Food Share | Priority Food Purchasing Project – School Aged Children | Supports FoodShare’s priority food purchasing project which focuses on ensuring nutritious items for children are consistently available throughout the emergency food system, including school-safe foods for lunches. | $7,500 |
| Hamilton Music Collective | Musical Futures Summer Camp | Supports a barrier-free summer camp for underserved families, exposing youth to all aspects of the music industry. | $10,000 |
| Hamilton Naturalists’ Club | Revitalizing HNC’s GO (Get Outside) Explore Nature Education Program: Empowering students to enhance biodiversity | Teaches students about Hamilton’s natural features and why it’s important to protect and enhance biodiversity, through hands-on activities in neighbourhoods and HNC nature sanctuaries. | $9,900 |
| Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra | Accessible Music for Students and Seniors | Provides accessible, entertaining and educational musical appreciation for local students and seniors. | $12,500 |
| Interval House of Hamilton | Coaching Kids into Stars | Trains and supports local coaches to educate young players on gender-based violence, consent and bystander intervention. | $19,096 |
| Liberty For Youth | Bright Choices | Works toward helping youth stay in high school, improve their learning skills, knowledge of career paths and graduate. | $10,000 |
| Living Rock Ministries | Rock Resources: Life-Skill and Employment Readiness Program | Rock Resources supports and trains vulnerable youth through earn-while-you-learn models, helping them set goals to address challenges and dreams. | $25,000 |
| Mishka Social Services | The Sanad Program | Program provides culturally informed support, connecting underserved communities to shelter and social services, and tackling systemic barriers. | $25,000 |
| Muscular Dystrophy Canada | Equipment Program – Hamilton-Wentworth | Equipment program provides support for wheelchairs, home and vehicle adaptations and other aids to help people living with neuromuscular disorders improve access and enhance quality of life. | $5,000 |
| Neighbour-2-Neighbour Hamilton Community Food Centre | Education and Food Skills Programming: Healthy Bodies and Minds | Uses food as a tool for bringing people together to promote health and wellness and provide opportunities fore participants to connect and learn. | $15,000 |
| Neighbour-2-Neighbour Hamilton Community Food Centre | Middle East Outreach | Helps connect newcomer and households experiencing barriers to settlement connect with income and health services, through navigation, advocacy and education. | $25,000 |
| Rafiki Hamilton Fiscal sponsor: Hamilton Center for Civic Inclusion | Kusoma program | Provides math and literacy tutoring for students in French school or French immersion. | $10,000 |
| Scientists in School | Increasing Access to STEM Education for Marginalized Children in Hamilton | Provides STEM workshops for Hamilton children living in low-income communities. Workshops are offered in schools, and through after-school programming partners | $12,400 |
| Shakespearience Performing Arts | The Shakespearience In-Class Experience | Helps students develop confidence and language skills through the works of Shakespeare. | $5,000 |
| Shalem Mental Health Foundation | Post Pandemic Response to Heightened Mental Health Needs | Grant subsidizes affordable and accessible mental health counselling for approximately 100 families/individuals living with low income | $25,000 |
| Smilezone Foundation | Smilezone installation for McMaster Children’s Hospital | Smilezone transforms existing pediatric space for children facing surgery, into child-friendly, multi-sensory play areas to provide a more welcoming and calming environment. | $10,000 |
| St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation | Youth Empowerment Fund at St. Joe’s Youth Wellness Centre | This program provides financial support for youth to achieve recovery-related goals i.e., education, employment, artistic to remove financial barriers that hinder recover from mental health and addiction challenges. | $8,000 |
| Start2Finish Canada | Hamilton R&R Club+ | Reading and running program for children facing economic barriers, centres on physical, mental, academic and social emotional well-being to help them stay in school and graduate. | $10,000 |
| Student Open Circles | Community Volunteer Circles | Helps to increase the capacity of Hamilton social service agencies to deliver their programs by recruiting, training, and co-ordinating weekly teams of volunteers on behalf of the agencies. | $12,000 |
| Telling Tales | Everyone Gets a Front Seat: Telling Tales’ Livestreamed Author Visits to Local Schools and Daycare Providers | Grant will support 20 virtual author visits to local classrooms and early learning centres, introducing children and youth to Canadian authors and illustrators. | $11,700 |
| Tetra Society of North America | Tetra Hamilton Chapter – Devices Breaking Barriers | Project matches Hamiltonians living with a disability and volunteers who can build them a custom-built assistive device that reduces a barrier to daily living, school, work or recreational activity. | $6,445 |
| The Baby Depot | Supporting the Hamilton Community’s most vulnerable | Grant supports providing families with low-income with a year’s worth of clothing and essential baby items. | $7,500 |
| The Children’s Garden Project Canada Fiscal sponsor: The Conserver Society of Hamilton and District | The Little Planters Workshops Series | The Children’s Garden Project in Gage Park enables children to play, garden, connect with nature and learn about the natural world. It’s created, built, planted, maintained and harvested by children, their families, and local community. | $20,000 |
| The Eva Rothwell Centre | Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library | Grant will expand distribution coverage to for the Dolly Parton Imagination library which sends free books to Hamilton children up to age five. | $5,000 |
| Theatre Aquarius Inc. | TA Arts Days | Grant will support 500 children with free access to “TA Arts Day”, which includes workshops, lunch, a matinee performance of the mainstage production and a talkback with the cast. | $5,000 |
| Welcome Inn Community Centre | Learning and fun | The program supports children from two local elementary schools who would benefit from one-on-one mentoring; it includes mental health, emotional wellness and financial literacy components, a healthy snack and group fun. | $10,000 |
| Wellwood Resource Centre | Creating Connections for Newly Diagnosed Cancer Patients | Supports newly-diagnosed patients with personal connections and tools for self care. | $10,000 |
| YMCA of Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford | Beyond The Bell | An interactive after-school program emphasizing literacy, numeracy, recreation and nutrition. | $20,000 |
| YWCA Hamilton | Holistic Health Solutions: Multi-tiered health supports for women experiencing/recovering from homelessness | Addresses service gaps in mental and physical health supports for residents and clients of YWCA’s housing program to promote healthy bodies, minds and trauma recovery. | $20,000 |
*Grants in this round include support from the following HCF funds: Barbara and Bob Harwood Fund, Barbara Farnan Fund, Betty and Jack George Family Fund, Everard Hambro Fund, George and Shirley McBride Foundation Fund, Jane C. LeWarne Fund, John Dennis Holmes Fund, Kenneth Boothe Young and Marie Catherine Young Fund, Lillian & Marvin Goldblatt Family Fund, School Sisters of Notre Dame Legacy Fund and The Van Dusen Fund.
Donations to the Foundation are invested for the long term in public markets and in alternative investments. Investment income is then allocated annually to support granting, community leadership and operations. The summary and charts presented here provide both a financial snapshot and a history of recent activity that underlies the grants and community leadership activities represented in this annual report, made possible by remarkable donors.
Donations to the Foundation are from individuals, corporations and other charities. Donors may contribute to named endowment or flowthrough funds, to the Board-directed Community Fund, or to HCF’s community leadership projects.
The $35.1 million in donations this year is the second highest total in HCF’s history. Annual donations are influenced by the timing of the realization of donations in wills and significant one-time donations like the $27.7 million in donations of property and private equity. As illustrated in Chart 1, annual donations have ranged between $3.2 and $35.1 million over the past eight years. The five-year rolling average of donations ranges from $5.0 million to $13.3 million over the past eight years.
The five-year rolling average number of donations is 1,787 with 2019-20 at 1,853. The number of donations fluctuates based on “in memoriam” donations and the number and nature of events sponsored by donors to raise money for their funds.
Chart 1
Grants are made annually from both endowed and flowthrough funds. Because flowthrough fund balances are distributed in a shorter time period, granting from these funds can materially influence HCF’s total annual amount granted.
As illustrated in Chart 2, grants and community leadership project spending over the past eight years has ranged from $4.7 million to this year’s historic high of $11.5 million. Granting from endowment funds was reduced in 2013 as a result of the decline in investment returns in 2012 which a) lowered the asset base used for the granting calculation (currently four percent of the fund balances), and b) resulted in less income available to grant. Flowthrough granting and expenditures on community leadership projects has ranged from 22 to 56 percent of total granting in any given year and is dependent on the timing and nature of flowthrough and project activity. At 893, the number of grants for this year is 37 percent higher than the eight-year average.
Chart 2
Investments traded in active markets are reported at fair market value. Investments not actively traded are recorded at their cost less any impairment of their value.
To support our strategy of aligning our assets with our mission and to provide a more diverse and robust portfolio, HCF has committed to investing in alternative asset classes including loans to charities and not-for-profits, private debt, real estate, infrastructure and private equity. These alternatives are consistent with the Foundation’s long-term investment horizon and liquidity requirements. Since these investments are not actively traded, they are valued at cost in the investments. These alternatives total $25.8 million.
HCF invests according to policy guidelines established by the Board of Directors. Two committees of the Board oversee investments to ensure compliance with the policy:
As an endowment builder, HCF’s policy focuses on long-term investing and is supported by reserve accounts that are currently at their policy maximum.
The investment policy sets out a total portfolio target asset mix, as well as a range around these targets. The public market investment managers have mandates within this targeted asset mix and use their discretion to invest the portfolios within this range. Chart 3 reflects the current and target asset mix. Note: $25 million of private equity relates to a fund established by a donor and is not part of the asset mix or the consolidated portfolio results.
Chart 3
Two long-term portfolios are invested in the public markets with Jarislowsky Fraser, and Connor, Clark & Lunn. Chart 4 compares those portfolios against benchmarks as follows:
Benchmarks reflect the performance of each market index based on HCF’s specific target asset mix. Comparing actual results to the benchmark measures the value added by investment managers compared to the average market performance. HCF’s investment policy target is a long-term investment return in the 6.5 to 7.5 percent range.
Chart 4
The effect of the global pandemic has materially affected investment returns, resulting in a -8.4 percent public market return for the year. The seven-year annualized return at 6.8 percent is within the targeted investment policy range and is 1.2 percent higher than the 5.6 percent benchmark. As noted in the financial highlights, the current 10-year annualized return of 7.0 percent is in the target range and is higher than the benchmark by 1.2 percent.
Impact investments enable donations to endowed funds to drive positive change beyond granting, because they represent investments of capital that deliver financial returns coupled with positive social and/or environmental outcomes. In addition, these investments provide a pool uncorrelated to the public markets which, in turn, buffers the portfolio from the volatility currently experienced.
More than 15 percent of our long-term assets are in impact investments. Chart 5 illustrates HCF’s impact investing progress over the past five years, with $25 million currently placed or outstanding and another $15 million committed. This brings the total commitment to $40 million, up from $34 million last year. Impact investments cover areas including affordable housing, arts, environment and sustainable development.
Chart 5
Local loans since inception total $9.7 million with $7.1 million outstanding at year end. Chart 6 shows the impact areas our loans have supported. Since the loan program’s 2012 inception, $2.6 million in loan principal has been repaid and recycled as new loans. In addition, the interest from these loans supports HCF granting.
Chart 6
IRP is a Government of Canada program being delivered nationally by partners including Community Foundations of Canada. As the first phase in the government’s long-term investment in social finance, the IRP’s goal is to make social-purpose organizations “investment ready” so they can make a difference in new and innovative ways through their participation in the social finance market. HCF has partnered with community foundations in London and Niagara, and the McMaster Innovation Park to manage the program regionally on behalf of Community Foundations of Canada. The first request for proposals for funding in January created enormous interest nationally and garnered 65 submissions to our regional partnership. Approved funding is expected to be released in June 2020. As an additional benefit, the IRP brought a growing number of potential opportunities for local loans to HCF’s attention.
These investments include private equity, private debt and real estate investments. Many of these investments are long term in nature, are maintained at cost and do not have a regular income stream. As these investments are maintained at cost, their results include interest income and realized gains, but not unrealized gains. Results for these investments are closely monitored and are reported when realized. Chart 7 identifies the investment areas, with $18.0 million placed and a total commitment of $33 million across 21 investments.
Chart 7
Operating expenses for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 total $2.5 million and were 2.5 percent higher than last year. Staffing costs related to the Foundation’s 22 employees represent 70 percent of HCF operating costs.
In addition to breaking out cost by type, operating costs are allocated to each of the Foundation’s operating areas: grants administration, community and philanthropic leadership, community relations and knowledge dissemination, development activities, and administration and governance. Examples of community and philanthropic leadership include convening around the city’s critical issues and fostering the growth of philanthropy by sharing staff time and knowledge to support other charities. Charts 8 and 9 illustrate these costs by operating area and by expense type.
Charts 8 and 9
The Foundation’s annual development expenses are not necessarily attributable to the donations received in that year. The nature of donations to the Foundation can result in costs preceding the receipt of the donation by several years (for example, donations through wills). As a result, consistent with the community foundation sector, operating costs are evaluated by a ratio of total operating expenses to average total assets. Ratios fall within a range depending on the size and stage of the community foundation’s development.
Management considers the ratio of 1.26 percent (1.25 percent in 2019), as illustrated in Chart 10, to be within an acceptable range for a foundation of HCF’s size, stage and level of community leadership, compared against benchmarks established in the community foundation sector. We continue to monitor both the actual results and the benchmarks on an ongoing basis.
Chart 10
Hamilton Community Foundation’s total assets of $201 million at March 31, 2020 include balances of HCF funds and funds held on behalf of others at $1.7 million.
Hamilton Community Foundation’s fund balances, illustrated in Chart 11, represent accumulated donations plus the net investment earnings on these donations, minus granting and operating costs. Funds include both endowed and flowthrough funds. Endowed funds are held permanently and grant from investment earnings. Flowthrough funds are fully distributed as grants over a pre-determined term.
Chart 11
The fund balances have grown 55 percent to $198 million at the year ended March 31, 2020 from $128 million in 2013. Donations of $35.1 million included $4.4 million in flowthrough donations that were largely distributed as grants in the year and, as a result, do not remain in the fund balances at year end. This results in a modest total funds balance growth of 4.8 per cent for the year. The number of funds has grown 19 percent to 377 from 318 in 2013.
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