November 28th is GivingTuesday, a global giving movement that inspires people to support and champion the causes they believe in and the communities in which they live. This GivingTuesday, we invite you to give in any way you can—whether it’s volunteering your time and skills, participating in acts of kindness, or supporting a cause that you care about.
Vancity Community Foundation is committed to using and leveraging social finance tools, providing innovative support to non-profit organizations, and advocating for policies that help make life more just and affordable. With your support, we can deepen the work of the foundation across our three key priorities.
Support affordable climate-ready community housing
The Vancity Affordable Community Housing Program and Accelerator Fund helps to grow the supply of community-owned affordable housing for people with low to moderate incomes. It does this by providing early-stage funding and capacity support for affordable housing projects being built by non-profits, co-operatives and Indigenous organizations. With the help of this program, projects like Soroptimist Apartment House, Rivermark, and Mount Douglas Manor can reach the finish line—providing permanent, sustainable, and affordable housing for our local communities.
- Donate to the Affordable Community Housing Fund. Your gift will be mobilized through the Vancity Affordable Community Housing Program and Accelerator Loan Fund to support organizations building affordable rental housing projects in BC.
Support social and economic innovation in the Downtown Eastside
A project of Vancity Community Foundation, 312 Main is a centre for social and economic innovation, located in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. 312 Main provides affordable space that brings together mission-driven social entrepreneurs and social enterprises, technological innovators, artists, not-for-profit organizations, organizers, and local residents to foster community economic development, social innovation, cultural creativity and inclusion.
- Donate to the DTES Community Reciprocity Fund. Your gift will be mobilized through strategic grants and/or directly through the programming of 312 Main with a focus on growing community connectedness, supporting organizational capacity development, fostering the creation of dignified work and employment opportunities, and developing the centre as climate resiliency hub for the DTES neighbourhood.
Support a just climate transition
Vancity Community Foundation aims to support a just transition by helping community organizations develop sustainable adaptation and mitigation strategies and to build the social cohesion and resilience necessary to withstand the growing impacts of the dual crises of climate and affordability.
- Donate to the Climate Justice and Community Resilience Fund. Your gift will help advance climate justice by building capacity with charities and not-for-profits serving Black, Indigenous, Downtown Eastside, and equity deserving groups. This support will help create climate resiliency programming and projects, while also supporting the creation of community connections and sharing of resources and knowledge, so that these organizations can co-create collective innovative solutions to our most pressing issues.
The Vancity Affordable Community Housing Program supported the Townley Place project through a pre-development fund loan of $200,000 in 2016, and a pre-construction loan of $250,000 in 2019.
This support helped Townley to replace their aging building and provided permanent homes for seniors, lower-income families, and people with diverse abilities through the construction of 64 affordable units. More information about this project is available here (Victora News).
“Beyond being an organization or a building, 312 Main is a community of people who are always ready to listen to our needs and collaborate on finding optimal solutions. It's more than just support; it's a partnership built on understanding and shared goals.” – La Boussole, 312 Main member since 2018
La Boussole, is the only organization in BC that helps Francophones in precarious situations. The organization plays a crucial role in facilitating support for both the DTES and the Francophone community including weekly food banks, pop-up health clinics, and other events that address fundamental needs such as food, health, and social connections. Recently, La Boussole launched a program at 312 Main to enable participants to develop healthy and budget-friendly meals by sharing strategies for preparing nutritious meals at low costs, as well as cooking with limited options such as single stove, microwave, or no appliances.
In the summer of 2023, VCF organized a build-it-yourself air filter workshop with Downtown Eastside community members at 312 Main. As increasing air pollution continues to impact people’s health, the workshop showed community members how to build their own cost-effective air filter. This skill equips them to better protect lung health, particularly for persons vulnerable to particulate matter and wildfire smoke.
Led by researchers at Simon Fraser University, more than 20 community members participated in the workshop, each who left with their own air filter that can remove smoke, particulate matter, allergens, dust, bacteria, and viruses from the air in their homes. After a successful trial, VCF will be partnering with Downtown Eastside not-for-profit organizations to host more climate resiliency workshops with community members.
Donate by cheque
Please make your cheque payable to Vancity Community Foundation and include a note with the name of the fund. Cheques may be addressed to:
409-312 Main Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V6A 2T2
Set up a Donor Advised Fund
Individuals and families who wish to make an enduring commitment to community by setting up a Donor Advised Fund are invited to contact Terran Bell at Terran_Bell@vancity.com
Together, more becomes possible.
Vancity Community Foundation was founded on the belief that if we work together, we will have the resources we need to build a thriving, vibrant community.