About

Annual Report 2023-24

President & CEO Terry Cooke, Board Chair Cheryl Jensen

We are pleased to present our 2023-24 annual report, A Foundation for the Future. It’s an especially apropos theme this year: as the Foundation turns 70 and transitions to the fifth leader in its history, it’s a time both to look back with gratitude and look forward with confidence.

The stories and highlights you’ll read here are just a small testament to seven decades of donor trust, hard-working community partners, boards with strategic foresight and courageous leadership to take on complex and entrenched challenges like poverty and educational equity, as well as to lead boldly on big opportunities like impact investing. They are also witness to generations of hard-working HCF staff — and in this edition, you will meet the full HCF team, learn what inspires them and how they keep things running with care and attention.

None of what HCF has accomplished would be possible without any one of these constituents. Together, they have established a sure and substantial footing that enables a careful and well-planned leadership transition and the Foundation’s ongoing impact. We are thrilled that our new CEO, Rudi Wallace, comes from within the Foundation and are excited to see him deepen and expand the many initiatives and relationships he has forged since arriving, supported by an experienced board and staff team, and driven by a passion for his adopted city.

Hamilton and its challenges and opportunities are different from what they were in 1954 and what they will be in 2054 or any of the years in between. While we can’t predict the future, we do build on the past, and what we know is that Hamilton Community Foundation will always remain ready and responsive as a powerful force for good, forever.


Rudi Wallace, President & CEO,

In August 2024, Board Chair Cheryl Jensen announced the appointment of Rudi Wallace as the Foundation’s new President & CEO. Rudi joined HCF as Vice-President of Grants & Community Initiatives in 2020, after five years with the Victoria Foundation, to spearhead its community leadership strategies, grant programs and partnerships.

“Hamilton Community Foundation has a long history of pushing beyond the status quo and making bold moves for community good,” says Rudi. “Undertaking the role of President & CEO is a humbling and incredible privilege and I look forward to building on its legacy as a catalyst for positive, equitable change.”


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