This week more than one hundred grant and bursary applicants received some welcome news that they will receive funding from the Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC).
“I am delighted to say that the Board of Directors of AFC has approved close to $650,000 in grants and bursaries to 110 applicants as part of its fall 2021 grant cycle,” says Dr. Scott Brubacher, Executive Director. “This brings the 2021 grant awards total to more than $835,000, one of the most generous years in AFC’s 64-year history.” Brubacher says an additional $125,000 or more in disbursements from some of AFC’s trusts may yet see the 2021 grants total hit the $1 million dollar milestone.
Pushing the grant program to new heights was an astonishing $468,000 in funding for the Say Yes! to Kids Request for Proposals (RFP): the largest one-time investment in youth-focused ministry the Canadian church has seen.
“AFC supporters embraced Say Yes! to Kids with a spirit of generosity last spring,” says Brubacher, “and applicants responded to that generosity with a spirit of innovation and creativity this fall. “For that initiative alone,” says Brubacher, “a total of 84 applicants applied for nearly $520,000. It was the largest, and most diverse funding request—in terms of regional spread and social impacts—we have ever seen.”
AFC’S spring peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, combined with two very generous leadership gifts—and an 11th hour rally from AFC supporters for a stretch campaign to close the funding gap—enabled the Board to approve 90% of the RFP funding request. Brubacher credits AFC’s generous family of donors as well as the exceptional volunteers who manage AFC’s investments, growing our capacity to fund for impact.
“We are closing in on two years since the onset of the pandemic,” says Archbishop Linda Nicholls, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada and Chair, AFC, “and we know our churches continue to face challenges. But the entire Board feels so energized by our capacity to fund these innovative, missional projects and to support Canadian Anglicans in their vision for an engaged, compassionate church. There are creative, visionary projects from across the country here and we are praying for all of them.”
“I am immensely grateful for this grant in support of our regional high school lunch program,” says Kevin Alkenbrack, Executive Director, Morningstar Relief Mission, in the Diocese of Ontario. Morningstar was one of nine RFP grant projects geared towards alleviating hunger and poverty. “Throughout the pandemic we have seen first-hand the food insecurity, loneliness, and mental health strain on individuals and families,” says Alkenbrack, “Schools are open, but cafeterias are closed, and this lunch program will help us bridge a significant gap and benefit those students who find themselves without the means or support to feel fed, nourished and valued.”
Grants awarded in the fall 2021 cycle range between $1,000 to $15,000 and fall within AFC’s key impact zones: Community Ministries, Diverse Infrastructure, Indigenous Ministries, Leadership and Education, and Music and Sacred Arts. Watch our fall 2021 grant awards slide presentation which provides a full list of all Say Yes! to Kids as well as regular grant award recipients.
