What You Can Expect From Us
Vancouver Foundation is committed to making a meaningful and lasting impact in communities. We achieve this mission by partnering with many individuals and organizations province-wide.
We believe in fair and transparent processes and being accountable for our actions. We want the service we provide to everyone – by every department and staff member – to be grounded in excellence, trust and open communication. Our actions should clearly align to our intention to be community-inspired and responsive to local needs.
When it comes to decision-making about discretionary granting, we want you to fully understand our processes, timelines, and deadlines, which can be found here in this section of our website.
As we explore new ways to shift and share power in our grantmaking, the methods and processes we use to arrive at granting decisions can change from year to year and between each program. Program guides for each grant type will clearly communicate how granting decisions are made.
Community advisors convene to discuss some of the submitted grant applications. You may find the name of our community advisors on our Board and Committees page.
All Advisory Committee meetings are chaired by a Vancouver Foundation board member, who in turn sits on the Grants & Community Initiative Committee, a committee of the Board.
Grant recommendations from Advisory Committees are approved as follows:
- Up to $20,000 – approved by the Vice President, Grants & Community Initiatives.
- $20,000 to $100,000 – approved by the President and CEO.
- $100,000 and above – approved by the Vancouver Foundation Board.
Should your project application not be successful, we will tell you why. There are no appeals of granting decisions. We recognize, however, that from time to time, there may be disagreement with the granting decision or process. In these cases, we encourage dialogue and feedback with our staff so we can learn about your concerns and continue to strengthen our relationships.
Should the issue still not be resolved following such dialogue, you may wish to consult our Complaints Policy.
Vancouver Foundation is committed to equity, inclusion and respect in all aspects of its granting and operations.
We will not fund organizations that discriminate or seek to limit the legal rights and activities of people. And we will rescind funds to grantees that engage in discriminatory practices as defined by British Columbian and Canadian law.