The Elizabeth Kelly Foundation

Where do our funds come from?

The Foundation's funding comes from two major sources - contributions from individuals or organizations. Funding comes in the form of donations, endowments, membership fees and other fund-raising opportunities in support of literacy and life-long learning, as well as interest returns of Foundation investments.

What does the Foundation fund?

The Foundation puts is financial resources directly into programs and initiatives for literacy, in all of its forms.

Our library network is a key facet of a much larger vibrant and literate community. People need to have the opportunity to develop their skills and expand their learning to take best advantage of today's education and learning tools - from books on shelves to reading rooms to e-books and e-learning.

The Foundation believes that all people, from young to elderly, need to have the confidence and skills to get the most from e-learning, e-media, e-health and enjoy the benefits society and technology offer today.

The Foundation supports programs from computer literacy to reading skills to digital literacy,  health literacy, financial literacy and civic literacy.

The Foundation's preference is to share or match funds for programs and initiatives. This shared or matching funding model brings many benefits including:
  • More funding for supported programs.
  • Engagement of partners with common interests and goals.
  • Encouragement of dialogue.
  • Network extended - moving forward together.
The Foundation will not fund:
  • Initiatives with no logical link to literacy.
  • Endowment funds.
  • Support of individuals for education or research.
  • Travels for individuals or groups.
  • Event sponsorship, without clear link to literacy and the Foundation's interests.
  • Team sponsorship.
  • Political activities and actions.
  • Requests for civic or commemorative advertising.
  • Social clubs, labour or fraternal organizations.
  • Festival participation.
  • Creation or maintenance of monuments or memorials.
  • Applications for programs/initiatives outside of the Foundation's giving interests.

How to apply for funding

STEP 1

Submit a Letter of Interest to the Board of the Foundation. You are to give a brief overview of the 'why', the 'what' and the expected outcome(s) of your request for the funds. The Board will review the letter and assess whether or not your request falls within the Foundation's focus and interest and warrants consideration of available funds.

If the request is of interest to the Foundation, you will be invited to complete STEP 2 of the funding process.


STEP 2
An application form will be forwarded to you for completion. The application form asks for more details and elaboration of your Letter of Interest including information on aims and goals of the project/initiative and expected outcome and impact of the Foundation's financial support specifically.

Only funding requests that follow the 2-step process will be considered for funding.

The successful candidate(s) will be contacted and the results will be posted on the Foundation website.

Applications may be submitted throughout the year but there are four reviews of applications annually - March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1.

Funding Makes a Difference

 The Elizabeth Kelly Foundation funding benefits a wide community -