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
In 2015, Hamilton Community Foundation launched ABACUS, a commitment to increase the likelihood that young people facing multiple barriers will graduate high school and access post-secondary by focusing on the pivotal middle-school years and supporting the transition period into high school.
A decade later, we have learned a lot about what works to help students succeed and have committed to another 10 years of support. With this funding, HCF will reach a cohort of Hamilton students who were in kindergarten when the COVID pandemic began and see them through to graduation.
Last year, ABACUS program partners participated in an in-depth evaluation with external evaluators. Among its findings:
It also found that ABACUS programs were successful in meeting key objectives, including creating connection to a trusted adult, a sense of belonging and motivation to succeed academically. The next decade will build on the lessons learned to refine ABACUS.
“ABACUS has already changed students’ lives for the better,” says President & CEO Rudi Wallace. “With this continued commitment, we hope to make a generational impact.”
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
When the City of Hamilton recently announced $8.2 million in funding to local non-profits to build more than 800 affordable housing units, it was also a milestone for HCF who works with the City to provide a co-ordinated response to the housing crisis.
Affordable housing is a primary focus of HCF’s local impact investing, supporting housing providers to build and preserve affordable home ownership opportunities, affordable rental housing and supportive housing options. It has provided loans to a number of the projects announced by the City in January, representing 130 units of deeply affordable or supportive housing scheduled to welcome families and individuals by 2027.
These investments are all part of HCF’s SCAFFOLD strategy to support affordable housing efforts, a key part of our strategic plan. SCAFFOLD determines where our philanthropic resources will have the most impact and the best roles we can play in affordable housing. For instance, behind the scenes, HCF supports implementing the City’s Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap through multi-year funding for its Housing Secretariat. HCF’s President & CEO Rudi Wallace and Chief Operations Officer/Chief Financial Officer Yulena Wan are members of its advisory committee. We also work with Hamilton is Home, the alliance of community housing providers who share their experiences to make housing investments more effective.
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
While the generosity of donors over the decades supports all our work, the Community Fund — HCF’s original fund — is the fuel for responding to Hamilton’s most pressing needs and our leadership initiatives addressing pervasive issues.
Over the years, the Community Fund has helped the Foundation to reduce poverty and support civic inclusion and vibrant neighbourhoods. It funds ABACUS, a leadership initiative supporting students in the pivotal but underserved middle-school years. And today, while the fund continues to address “big picture” issues like better educational outcomes, affordable housing and increased capacity for organizations serving equity-deserving communities and Indigenous people, it is also ready to respond immediately as it did during the pandemic and its aftermath, first providing emergency funding and then recovery support to frontline charities.
Today, a number of issues are visible in ways that are without precedent in recent history — lack of affordable housing, the threat of increasing racism and marginalization and the impact economic threats will have on our city.
Social challenges — the known as well as what is unforeseen — will always demand attention and resources. By pooling their resources for Hamilton’s greater good, generations of Community Fund donors help the Foundation to face these challenges today and in the future. As long-time Community Fund donor Dr. Juliet Daniel said in HCF’s annual report, “Life and society are constantly changing. The Community Fund provides the capacity to respond to those changes and capitalize on emerging opportunities to help.”
From Legacy Spring 2025 newsletter
This is a story about honouring the past. And building for the future.
It starts in the 1950s, when there were so many Lutherans in Hamilton — many arriving in the city as immigrants and refugees following WWII, with growing families — that one church became four. Today, shrinking numbers mean the four congregations are again one, united under the name Trinity Lutheran. Trinity has properties it no longer needs. And a dream to share its good fortune with the city that gave its members so much.
One of the surplus churches, located on King Street East on a main bus route across from a grocery store, is an excellent candidate for affordable housing. “Our members see the tents. They understand the huge community need,” says Michael Schuster, chair of Trinity’s redevelopment committee. “Offering the property at a reduced rate to a community partner is a legacy for us.”
Trinity’s committee approached HCF to play matchmaker: to use the Foundation’s affordable housing networks and resources to facilitate the church’s goals. This included the potential for HCF to help an affordable housing development partner hold the property to keep it out of the private market.
“The road to affordable housing isn’t straight,” says Yulena Wan, Vice-President, Finance & Operations at HCF. “We explored many options and a couple of detours arose during the many months it took to find the right match.”
That match was local supportive housing provider, Indwell. They agreed to purchase the property, with HCF providing bridge financing until government funding becomes available, with the goal of building supportive housing units on the site.
HCF has been previously outbid by private developers when trying to secure property for affordable housing. “We’re so grateful to Trinity for not putting such a desirable property on the open market,” Yulena says. “Making projects a reality is complicated. Our role is to connect people, ideas and resources so housing is built.”
“I don’t think this could have happened without HCF coming forward with an innovative financial proposal,” Michael says. “We looked outside our congregation for examples of what to do with our property. Now maybe we can be an example to others.”
Excerpt from 2023-24 annual report
It’s one thing to have housing. It’s another thing to keep it.
For those who have been couch surfing, living in a shelter or who are re-integrating after spending time in a facility, the list of needs once they have housing can be long. Budgeting, credit recovery, job search help, food, financial aid, addiction supports, tenant rights, medical care — Hamilton Regional Indian Centre (HRIC) helps with all of these and more.
“Anyone can give you money to get your foot in the door,” says Sarah Cameron, housing and homelessness supports and services manager for HRIC. “To maintain housing requires in-depth, intense support. Everyone’s needs and timelines are different.”
Demand for HRIC’s housing programs is high, with waiting lists of between 100 and 300 people at any time. Thanks to a grant from Hamilton Community Foundation, a new housing stability worker will provide ongoing, culturally appropriate services and eviction prevention support to existing clients so staff can continue to support other community members who are still working through their housing journeys.
“I want to thank you all for giving my life back.”
Eviction-prevention grants are one way HCF’s SCAFFOLD initiative addresses the housing crisis. By supporting direct service delivery to vulnerable tenants with diverse needs, these grants enable early intervention to prevent homelessness.
HRIC’s clients can access all the centre’s resources and receive referrals to other supports. One senior suffering from advanced COPD received a rental supplement and weekly food delivery; another successfully applied for priority non-profit housing and received tax help, a housing supplement, furniture and funding for his electric scooter.
The thank you cards and emails are proof of the impact. “Everybody is only two paycheques away from losing everything,” wrote one woman. “I want to thank you all for giving my life back to me,” wrote another.
“A lot of the people we see aren’t connected to their culture,” says HRIC’s Chantel Johnson, who has been doing double duty as a housing intake and stability worker for the past two years. “Our cultural programming, teachings and traditional medicines help them figure out who they are and get in touch with what they lost. The message is they matter.”
This bridge to culture is critical to staying housed, Sarah says. “Once people have new meaning in their lives it creates change in their homes, their behaviour and their decisions. That’s when people start to really do better.”
Excerpt from 2023-24 annual report
The room is remarkably quiet, considering its four walls contain the energy of 45 Grade 1 to 10 students.
On paper, they’re refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Chad and Syria from low-income families in the lower city. In reality, they’re young people who spend Monday to Thursday after school at Stepping Stones — a program run by Munar Learning Centre — practising social skills, proudly showing their work to trusted adults, quietly listening to instructors and working one on-one with tutors.
“This is an investment in the future.”
Their reward — in addition to improved report cards and new friends — is Friday’s program, when they get to trade academics for soccer and other games.
It’s not just the children who learn at Stepping Stones. Next door are their moms, who drink coffee and chat. Before Stepping Stones, these women were strangers. Now they’re friends. The program helps them understand how school works in Canada. Workshops cover everything from parent rights and responsibilities to how to communicate with teachers; program volunteers offer help with letters, forms and in-the moment questions; a YWCA settlement worker provides newcomer resources; and program staff accompany parents to teacher meetings.
“These parents need someone to hold their hand,” says Madina Wasuge, chair of Munar. “This is a place where they feel their children are okay and they’re okay.”
Programming for the middle school students has been supported by HCF’s ABACUS initiative since 2022. Stepping Stones uses a whole-child approach — focusing on family, community and school — which HCF has learned is critical to increasing the likelihood that young people who face multiple barriers will graduate high school and access post-secondary education.
The moms, speaking through an interpreter, are vocal about their appreciation for the program. “Before my children were getting lower grades,” says one. “Now they’re getting Bs instead of Cs and As instead of Bs.” Another shared the importance of having an interpreter accompany her to teacher meetings. “At first I was discouraged. I felt like I just had to accept what they told me,” she says. “Now I have someone who speaks the language and I can share my opinion. That’s when things changed.” “I never have to tell my children to hurry up and get ready,” a third mom says. “Everyone has their backpack and shoes on and are saying ‘let’s go!’”
“Continuity is what makes the program a success,” Madina says. “Students come almost every day for three or four years and we see the improvement. Teachers are asking parents, ‘What are you doing with this kid? Where are you getting help from?’ Because they’ve seen the change.”
“This is an investment in the future,” she says. “If these students finish high school and go to higher education, we all benefit.”
Excerpt from 2023-24 annual report
Sisters continue their parents’ legacy of philanthropy
The late Mark Nimigan never lost his commitment to Hamilton’s north end. He was born and raised there, and throughout a long career in Hamilton’s legal arena as a court reporter and official examiner, and then on Hamilton’s police service board, he volunteered with organizations serving north-end youth. In 1999, he and his wife launched the Mark and Barbara Nimigan Fund. It has provided support to north-end organizations and other priority needs in Hamilton ever since.
Several years before his death in 2023, Mark started the process of passing the torch, bringing his two daughters into the fund’s administration. Margaret and Nancy sat in on discussions with HCF, as Mark was presented with granting possibilities and updates on community challenges.
“Our father was a passionate giver,” says Nancy. “He believed you didn’t have to be a millionaire to make a difference. You could give within your means and have an impact.”
“He believe you didn’t have to be a millionaire to make a difference.”
Hamilton Community Foundation has made the logistics of that giving easy, and the Nimigan daughters appreciate the care HCF staff showed Mark in his later years. “As he declined, they continued to visit and discuss his fund with him,” says Nancy. “It made a big difference.”
“Dad had such strong feelings about what he was supporting, and a good focus,” Margaret says. “We feel good about what he and our mother created, and we are happy to continue it.”
Excerpt from 2023-24 annual report
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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