Dr. John Hollins, past Chair CACOR Board of Directors, on 2019 February 28 stated:
The Ottawa Sustainability Fund (OSFund), an environmental charity, was founded in the spirit of think globally, act locally. Ian Johnson put it this way when he spoke to CACOR’s AGM in 2013.
We are all local citizens; we are all global citizens.
Ian Johnson,
Former Secretary General,
Club of Rome
History
Paul Koch, a member of CACOR, founded the OSFund in 2006. At the time, Mary Hegan, another member of CACOR, was Chair of the City of Ottawa’s Environment Committee. The City made a founding contribution. I have been a member of the OSFund’s Advisory Committee for more than a decade.
The Advisory Committee met around Paul Koch’s kitchen table for many years. In 2017, the EnviroCentre took over, with some of the same advisors. The Ottawa Community Foundation has administered the assets since the inception of the OSFund.
The OSFund has awarded 29 grants for a total of $135,000, a significant contribution to a cash-starved part of our community. Its current assets are $155,000.
Here’s an archived website of the OSFund that I ran until the EnviroCentre took over: http://osfund.ca. Here’s the current website: https://www.envirocentre.ca/initiatives/ottawa-sustainability-fund/
Ottawa Community Foundation
The Ottawa Community Foundation is an important part of this venture. It celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2017. It manages more than $150 million in assets. The OSFund is just one of the 718 charities that it supported in 2017, earning an investment return of 8.1% after fees, and receiving $21 million in donations on behalf of the charities, an average of $29,000 per charity.
Registered Charities
By the way, the OSFund and all the other funds managed by the Community Foundation are registered charities, so, depending on one’s tax return, something between 40% and 50% of a donation will be returned to the donor in April of the following year. That applies to CACOR as well, a registered charity.
Contact
If you would like to know more, participate on the Advisory Committee, raise funds, or make a donation, Paul Koch or I would be pleased to hear from you.
mailto:[email protected]; 613-824-8837
mailto:[email protected]; 613-526-0404
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