CFSEA hosting Community Impact Award Workshop

The Community Foundation of Southeastern Alberta (CFSEA) is not only getting ready to hand out a grant to a lucky charitable organization looking to make a large impact, they also want to teach them how to apply.

The Community Impact Award Workshop is taking place on April 5th, said Community Coordinator Sydney Ratzlaff, and aims to walk potential applicants for the award through the process and details regarding the $30,000 Community Impact Award.

“This grant itself, the Community Impact Award, has actually been going on since 2019. Before that, it was smaller grants, we called them vital impact grants, they were smaller scale ones,” said Ratzlaff. “So this will be the third year for this grant. We do a vital signs event every year. So this last year was our 2021 vital focus. So projects that address the priorities that we focused on in the vital focus are invited to apply.”

The three priorities this year were working economy, mental health, and vulnerable populations, with the latter further focused on food security, housing stability, and domestic violence.

“We want to see a new innovative project that shows creativity and leadership in our community,” said Ratzlaff. “At our workshop, we’re going to be going into detail about what, can and can’t be applied for, and the process, the timeline, all of that. Just so they understand and have a better idea and get a good start to their application. The deadline for this application is going to be May 16th, at noon. So after the workshop on April 5th, this grant will open and then it will close on May 16th.”

Previous grants have been given to Our Collective Journey in Medicine Hat to assist in addiction recovery, and Cypress View Foundation in partnership with Bike Medicine Hat and Cycling Without Age to purchase trishaw bikes to help seniors with mobility issues get around and enjoy the city.

The grant has since been increased from $25,000 to $30,000, said Ratzlaff, as part of their 30th anniversary event.

“The purpose behind it is to help agencies that might have an innovative project idea that shows creativity and leadership and really impact them in a larger way. Just as this is our largest grant,” said Ratzlaff.

CFSEA asks for registered nonprofits and charitable organizations, or those partners with a qualified donor, to RSVP to the workshop by email at admin@cfsea.ca.