2008 Annual Report

Growing Opportunities in Our Community

We have had another eventful year at the Foundation, with great success on many fronts. Our funds have grown again this past year. We have had opportunities to provide support to new ventures, provide assistance through the City for those who were impacted by the flood this past winter, and deal with some transitions in our organization structure. All of this is expected in an organization like ours and it is gratifying that we are now able to assess and respond within our means to emerging community needs as we see them develop.

One of the unsettling events in the past few months has been the global financial situation. While our funds are invested in a conservative portfolio, we are not immune to the downturn. Our investment advisors are confident that there will be a turnaround and that we are well positioned to take advantage of the recovery. Nevertheless we expect there will be some reduction in the amount of earnings we will have to distribute in the current fiscal year.

The book value of our endowed funds at the end of our fiscal year August 31, 2008 is $3.3 million. We now have over 100 funds being held by the Foundation.

Work continues in the area of supporting the development of committees in other communities in the region to help them establish a foundation process and take advantage of the matching funds from the Northern Development Initiative Trust.

We also provided some assistance to the British Columbia New Hope Recovery Society that is establishing a treatment centre at Baldy Hughes for those who are working through serious addiction issues. It is an approach to addiction treatment that has not been practiced widely in BC although there are examples of great success in other parts of the world. Our role was largely administrative but we were able to respond in a timely fashion to assist them in getting their project started.

The Citizen of the Year event was once again well run, and the Board and the committee has been reviewing the programme to ensure that its reputation as the premier event of the city each year is maintained – one that celebrates the contribution of key leaders in our community and helps to raise the profile of the Foundation.

Our Executive Director Lorraine Grant decided this spring that it was time to retire. She very graciously agreed to help us through the summer. Our new Executive Director is Judy Neiser. Judy has lived her whole life in Prince George and has been active in the community through her work in both the forest industry and Northern Health. We welcome her to the Foundation.

While we wish Lorraine all the best in her reduced pace, I am pleased that she has agreed to be an Advisor to the Board and so will continue to work with us.

Our Organization Grant Programme and our Adjudicated Grant Programme was well run and successful this fiscal year. We returned $21,882 to the Community for our organization grants and $ 53,949 for our adjudicated grants. In total 38 organizations received funds from the Foundation this past year to help them make Prince George a better place.

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We continue to be prudent in terms of our operational management and we already have a great start to that goal this year. The well supported 2008 Annual Labour Day Farr­-WIC Golf Tournament provided close to $40,000 in proceeds. The Citizen of the Year Banquet, where Michael Kerr was named Citizen of the Year was also another successful fund raiser for the Prince George Community Foundation.

Without the continued support of each Board member, all the committees and our cadre of volunteers, we would not be where we are today. I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all who have dedicated their time, talent and resources in so many ways to build the Foundation.

Particular thanks goes to our Executive Director Lorraine Grant and our Treasurer Leonard Zirnhelt for the tremendous commitment of time and effort in continuing to streamline our accounting and financial tracking procedures so that we can present to each fund holder a statement of the status of their fund.

We also want to express sincere appreciation to Past President, Elizabeth MacRitchie, who will leave the Board this year. Elizabeth’s enthusiasm and commitment to the Foundation over the past several years has been a very significant piece of our development, and we are most grateful for her commitment.

We acknowledge with thanks the Directors who left the Board this year - Barbie McKinnon, Deborah Poff, and Deb Shannon and welcome to the Board this year, Andrew Adams, Bill Hellyer and Linda Wilson.

As I will be turning the reins of office over to Jim Imrich next month, I want to say how much I haveappreciated the opportunity to serve the community through the Foundation. It has been a wonderful experience.

Les Waldie, President