Legal education program is making Hamilton safer and more equitable for queer folks
Audrey Merwin knows who she is. Now she wants her ID to match.
With the help of her mom and the Queer Justice project at the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic (HCLC), the 16-year-old has filed her paperwork for a legal name and gender change. “It makes it easier than having to explain that I’m a trans female,” Audrey says. “It makes me feel recognized for who I am.”
“If we’d filled out the forms on our own, it may not have gone through,” says Audrey’s mother, Tammy. “Programs like this are so important. Trans people deserve all the rights that other people have.”
Interest in the trans ID clinic has increased recently, says Michael Blashko, staff lawyer and Queer Justice lead at HCLC. “People are unnerved by what’s happening in the U.S. and want to get their affairs in order,” he says. “The clinics have been reaching capacity.”
Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people, particularly those with low income, face significant barriers to accessing legal services. Discrimination, lack of resources and systemic inequities further marginalize these individuals. In addition to the trans ID clinics, the Queer Justice project provides clients with help navigating the legal system, direct legal assistance with housing and employment issues, and referrals. It also offers positive space training for organizations, is involved in community outreach, and works with the Greater Hamilton Health Network and Hamilton Trans Health Coalition.
“The big dream is inclusion,” says Clare Freeman, executive director of HCLC. “We want the larger community to know the rights of queer people and for queer people to be able to access those rights.”
Support from HCF will allow the project to expand its education and advocacy work. “We have plans but haven’t had the capacity until now,” Michael says.
Given that between 2020 and 2023 in Canada, police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation more than tripled and hate crimes targeting gender identity doubled, the project also focuses on broader efforts to combat hate. This includes sitting on Hamilton Police Services’ hate crime review team.
“Hate happens in Hamilton, too,” Clare says. “It’s a scary time for Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people and we’re really proud HCF has said this is an important community that can’t be forgotten.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Community curators help reimagine a national museum, one story at a time
When the long-standing displays of industrial labour were replaced in 2023 by blank walls, question prompts and sticky notes, Workers Arts and Heritage Centre (WAHC) became a museum in mid-sentence, pausing for visitors to talk back.
The response was enthusiastic.
This is where Work in Progress — a long-term reimagining of how working people’s stories are told, and who gets to tell them — began. Ultimately, visitors will experience 30 contemporary snapshots of work and activism, rolled out in phases starting in fall 2025.
The name of the project is apt. “People’s understanding of labour is always evolving,” says executive director Tara Bursey. “We needed exhibits that could evolve too.”
Ten community curators — workers, activists, artists and organizers from Hamilton and beyond — will be key to shaping the stories.
Emily Power, a housing advocate, is contributing a snapshot of the tenant-led transformation of her own building into a housing co-op. “So much of working-class history is left out of textbooks,” she says. “These are stories of resistance, of wins worth remembering. They help people see what’s possible.”
Layla Staats is a Mohawk land defender, musician, filmmaker and educator. As a Work in Progress community curator, she will show the power of the bridges that are being built between unions and Indigenous resistance. “Change will come from the ground up — the people — not by some guy at the top passing laws,” she says.
Tara says HCF’s grant is critical to making the curators’ work possible. “Without it, we couldn’t facilitate the kind of authentic relationships and shared authorship we’re aiming for.”
She’s confident that Work in Progress will spark connection — between past and present, curators and visitors. In fact, it already has. In the words of one Indigenous student, on hearing stories of work that reflected their own experiences in an early installation: “I feel less alone.”
“It’s in these public spaces that people feel empowered to think of themselves as part of a collective,” Tara says. “We aren’t telling people what work means, we’re asking.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Financial advisor a strong advocate for philanthropy
Georgia Corkins’ history with Hamilton Community Foundation goes way back.
It began shortly after she moved to Hamilton from Toronto, more than 30 years ago. She remembers a meeting of financial planners — of whom she is one — where HCF staff made a presentation about the role of philanthropy in estate planning. Now, with decades of experience under her belt at BMO Nesbitt Burns, she participates on those panels to present about HCF and encourage other financial advisors to help their clients incorporate philanthropy into their plans.
She understands Hamilton Community Foundation not only as an advisor, but also as a supporter. She has been a committed monthly donor to HCF’s Women 4 Change giving circle since 2015. “I love how they do it,” she says, citing the learning built into that program. “It is a doorway to charities that you may never have considered before but that are doing such important work. We learn about them and often have the chance, as a group, to visit with the organizations in person.”
Guiding clients to philanthropy is a win-win, she says. Often her clients can reap a significant tax benefit from giving, and — especially if they have no heirs or their families are well taken care of already — they can work with Hamilton Community Foundation or BMO Philanthropic Services (“whichever is the best fit,” she says) to impact causes they care about.
HCF is easy to work with, Georgia feels, and “their bench strength is impressive. The community foundation is so embedded in Hamilton, with such a strong legacy. They are great at walking my clients through how to structure their giving and meet community needs. I don’t have to be the expert on that.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
How a grant supporting stable housing is transforming young lives
For youth leaving the child welfare system, adulthood isn’t a short hop — it’s a leap into the unknown.
Without steady income, family support or even a safe place to sleep, many struggle to find their footing. In that moment of uncertainty, the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton (CCASH)’s Ready, Set, Go program helps them stick the landing.
Research shows that youth who age out of child protection are more likely to struggle with unstable housing, low academic achievement, incarceration, early parenthood, unemployment and mental health challenges. Just 44 percent graduate high school in Ontario, compared to 81 percent of their peers.
Last year, a grant from HCF helped eight young people aged 18 to 23 avoid homelessness by covering first and last month’s rent and offering emergency financial assistance to secure and stabilize housing. The funding is part of SCAFFOLD, HCF’s commitment to affordable housing that helps direct the best use of its philanthropic resources.
It is a grant that is changing lives. As Krystal Buxo of CCASH explains, “Without this funding, kids would be staying in a shelter. It’s the extra support that secures, even guarantees, their success.”
The impact is both measurable and deeply personal. Renee had been in a shelter for six months before being referred to Wesley Youth Services, one of CCASH’s community partners. “At first I was scared,” she says. “But the staff made me feel welcome, helped me find a home and connected me to community. Honestly, I don’t know if I would’ve survived by myself.”
Beyond financial support, the program offers life skills coaching, advocacy with landlords, help pursuing education and employment, and one-on-one guidance to manage living alone for the first time.
“We’re proud of how these young adults use the support to meet their goals,” says Krystal. “When someone isn’t in crisis, they can focus on what’s ahead — finishing high school, going on to post-secondary, work, being a good parent. Everything starts to shift.”
And that’s the power of secure footing: it turns stability into momentum.
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Non-profit housing provider planning to convert townhomes to affordable units
Sometimes the answers to our most pressing problems are in our own backyards.
That’s certainly the case for Stoney Creek Community Homes (SCCH), an independent non-profit housing corporation tackling the affordable housing crisis by replacing some of the aging townhomes on its property in upper Stoney Creek with a new building that will include around 50 affordable units. The project will include a comprehensive public consultation process.
“Intensification is an important tool in the affordable housing toolbox,” says Yulena Wan, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer at HCF. “Most of us think of building on new land, which tends to be more expensive and take longer.”
“Land is very scarce,” says Dave Hall, executive director of SCCH. “This is a five-acre site with good access to transit, close to a mall and two schools. Intensification makes sense here.”
The new, energy-efficient building will enhance life for tenants: cozy in winter, cool in summer, with lower utility bills, enhanced security and no outdoor maintenance. The mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units will enable aging in place, and some units will be fully accessible. The existing playground will be improved.
Displaced tenants will be provided with comparable accommodation during construction and given first pick of apartments when the new building opens.
An impact investment from HCF will finance some of the pre-construction costs. Co-ordination with the City of Hamilton’s Housing Secretariat is helping to reduce timelines and the cost of permits and by-law amendments. The building will include rent-geared-to-income, affordable market rent, and market rent units. Increasing the supply of different types of units is important to meet diverse housing needs and frees up affordable units for others as those needs change.
“An organization of our size couldn’t take on such a large endeavour without support,” says Jessie Vincent, director of operations for SCCH. “HCF’s loan gives us the courage to take the risk.”
“We have a dream to grow,” Dave says. “Grow the number of affordable units in the city, grow our own internal capacity, and grow the stock of high-quality homes for our tenants. It’s a win-win-win.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Knowing your options is always a good thing
Donors to Hamilton Community Foundation are offered a simple way to maximize their impact while supporting the issues they most care about: contribute to the Community Fund alongside their personal causes. And they are taking advantage of it.
Joan Heels, for example, established a donor-advised fund to support vocal awards and music. But she has specified additional support to the Community Fund because, she says, “I also want to be sure I am giving HCF the power to meet needs they identify through their research and community knowledge.”
Similarly, the Great Lakes Trust Fund incorporates support to the Community Fund alongside donor Loren King’s passion for “a forever fund by open water swimmers, to give back to our home waters.”
The Community Fund is the Foundation’s most flexible fund: the one that powers big picture, community-wide initiatives like ABACUS for education and SCAFFOLD’s leadership on affordable housing. It’s also the fund that is ready to respond when needed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Community Fund grants went out immediately so that local organizations could meet the city’s needs right away. In short, it allows the Foundation to think big and be nimble.
Donor-directed funds can support the Community Fund (CF) in three ways: build a percentage donation to the CF into their fund agreement, make a regular grant to the CF from their fund, and/or designate the CF as the final recipient of their fund when it winds up. Any of these options are easy to put in place with HCF staff.
HCF’s Vice-President, Philanthropic Services, Andrea Buttars sums up the strategy: “Donors can give to their favourite causes while also supporting broader community needs that are often underfunded. In this way, charitable giving is both meaningful personally and powerful collectively. We can’t overstate the impact of that commitment.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Inuit Elders and youth come to Hamilton for healing, sharing and closure
In 1963, Ida Atagoyuk was separated from her baby daughter and sent south for tuberculosis treatment. She never gave her consent. And she never had a chance to say goodbye.
Decades after her three-year sanatorium stay, her dream was to return — for a different kind of healing.
More than 1,200 Inuit were treated for tuberculosis in Hamilton in the 1950s and 60s. Ida’s dream inspired SeeChange, a health-focused charity working in the Arctic, to plan two trips to the city.
Ida was not able to attend the first visit in 2023. The second, in May 2025, was supported by HCF and saw Ida and 12 other Inuit participate in three days of meaningful activities, including a private viewing of carvings by former patients, a visit to sanatorium archives at McMaster University, and a solidarity circle at Six Nations of the Grand River. There, a box of tears collected at a healing circle was ceremonially burned. At an emotional trip to Woodland Cemetery, participants visited graves and saw a draft plaque honouring every patient, including Ida’s grandmother, who died in Hamilton.
The historic trip was documented by an Inuit-led media company so others back home and across Canada could learn from the experience.
Youth participation was very important. “Our youth don’t know the stories of the TB sanatoriums,” says Naomi Tatty, SeeChange’s intercultural health lead. “Many don’t understand that trauma is passed on.” Youth participant Christopher Idlout described the visit as eye-opening. “It makes me feel better to know the Elders are getting a little weight off their chest,” he says. “Not only did I learn what happened, but I see the impact it’s had on Inuit like me.”
“We really wanted to listen to the Elders, and we did,” says Carol Devine, SeeChange’s chief operating officer. “This journey wouldn’t have happened without HCF. We felt believed in.”
For HCF, involvement was about making reconciliation real. “We want to use this as an opportunity to acknowledge what happened in the past and understand our role in the healing you are doing,” President & CEO Rudi Wallace told visitors.
For the Elders, the shared healing in Hamilton has become a road home.
“There was always a sense of negativity lingering inside me, and it’s gone now,” says Pauyungi Aqpik. “I feel a sense of peace.”
Excerpt from 2024-25 annual report
Healthcare providers at Compass Community Health have been writing a different kind of prescription since 2022. A recent grant from HCF is helping the popular program expand to serve people on a growing waiting list.
FVRx — which stands for fruit and vegetable prescription — provides fresh, locally sourced produce, plus recipes and preparation tips, every other week for a year to low-income patients who have diabetes and other chronic diseases. Patients can pick up their produce or arrange for delivery. The program — the first of its kind in Hamilton — is run in partnership with Hamilton’s MRKTBOX, an online grocery store which sources the produce.
As food prices go up in Hamilton and across Canada, the program gives Compass Community Health a tool to mitigate food insecurity. HCF support will help fund 30 clients to receive a produce bag biweekly for a total of 780 bags.
In 2023, participant Vanessa Iker told CBC that she has “more energy and less pain” since filling her food prescription every other week. “When I open my fridge, it’s full,” she says.
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
The benefits of being out in nature are well documented — lower blood pressure, lower risk of heart disease and better mental health. As we age, these benefits become even more imperative. A recent HCF grant to Green Venture helps make sure older adults can enjoy this access.
The new outdoor program provides all-terrain wheelchairs for older adults with restricted mobility who often face risks of social isolation. The goal is to decrease barriers to accessing outdoor spaces and spending time in nature.
Giving seniors opportunities to socialize while spending time outside can improve their quality of life, promote physical and mental wellbeing, decrease their feelings of isolation and increase their engagement with their community. The program will be strengthened by partnerships with seniors’ residences and organizations that serve older adults.
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
Three things often prevent those experiencing intimate partner violence from transitioning to a better, safer life: logistics, costs and the prospect of losing belongings.
Enter Shelter Movers, a one-of-a-kind, volunteer-powered organization that provides free moving and storage services to those fleeing abuse.
“Our services help them clear these hurdles,” says chapter director, Courtney Waterfall.
Customized support may include private security or police presence, movers, storage units, vehicle rentals, language interpreters, pet fostering and more. An intake process helps determine the level of risk and scope of the move. Community partners provide referrals and in-kind donations of products and services.
The Southwestern Ontario chapter has helped almost 600 individuals and families since it was formed in 2020. Funding from HCF will increase the number of moves in Hamilton in 2025 — a much-needed expansion, given intimate partner violence in the city is at an all-time high.
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
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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