Brant Community Foundation celebrated the impact of this year’s donors and grant recipients during a reception in Cainsville on Tuesday, May 5, 2026.
Brant Community Foundation (BCF) is a registered charitable public foundation that provides grants to support various community initiatives across the City of Brantford, the County of Brant, Six Nations of the Grand River and Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
Funds are raised through donations and the foundation manages close to $30 million in endowed assets. The foundation has also awarded more than $10 million in grants to vital programs and services since 2001.
Present at Tuesday’s reception were fundholders, donors, local charities, volunteers and community champions.
“I want to be clear about who the changemakers in the room actually are,” said Paula Thomlinson, BCF board member and grants committee chair. “They are all of you!
During the event, it was announced that the foundation awarded $1.5 million in financial support over the past year through 186 grants to 99 local charities.
“The impact of grants of this magnitude is extraordinary,” said Jayne Carman, Chair of the foundation’s board of directors. “Combined with the $10 million in grants we’ve awarded since our founding, the foundation’s influence is truly profound.”
Carman then introduced one of the BCFs funholder, Donald Wilkin. He and his wife Jo-Anne Wilkin, has created three funds of the last 15 years, ultimately supporting a wide range of causes that are meaningful to them.
Donald said he had been interested in philanthropy since he was young and that he always tries to ensure that Jo-Anne and their two sons are involved in the decision making process when it comes to making donations.
“There isn’t one donation we make that we don’t call our boys up and get their opinion,” he said. “That’s the secret to life, involve everybody.
Rita-Marie Hadley of the Lansdowne Children Centre and Heather Vanner of the Community Resource Centre, both representatives of two of the 99 organizations that benefited from last year’s grants, had the opportunity to speak about the impact the funding made.
“While the donations that come through funds that Lansdowne can access in grants might be supporting specific programs, they complement government supported rehabilitation, respite and recreation and what they translate to is a way of being included in full citizenship,” said Hadley. “The support that comes through the Brant Community Foundation to support Lansdowne’s infants, children and youth, is also building tomorrow’s leaders. …It’s your investment in young people that gives us that hope for the future leaders.”
Vanner said that the foundation helped during tough times and when the Brantford Food Bank needed it most.
“During a time when this community was in a deep recession, and I was losing sleep each night because the need was so high and financially, our organization just couldn’t keep up with each individual needing our services,” she said.
Vanner then asked those present to close their eyes and imagine what it would be like to not be able to feed yourself or your children.
“You feel defeated and alone, and you can’t believe that it’s come to this,” she said. “Imagine how hard that must be.”
Vanner went on to say that funding from the BCF has made sure that those who are struggling, can get help when they need it without feeling judged.
“That is what the Community Foundation provides,” she said. “It provides us as an organization, the opportunity to provide food and help to someone who’s going through a very tough time in their life, and doing it by offering help with choice and dignity.”
BCF Executive Director Anna Marie Peirce later reiterated the foundation’s ongoing commitment to show up where needed.
“From shelter and food security to arts, culture, heritage, mental health, recreation, reconciliation and the climate changes ahead–wherever this community hurts, and wherever it dreams, we will be there,” she said.
Peirce also gave her thanks to everyone in the room who has helped make the community a better place.
“To our donors, thank you for believing that generosity is not a moment but a movement. To our charity partners, thank you for being the hands and the heart of this work. We see you. We are in awe of you,” she said. “The future impact of the Brant Community Foundation will not be written by staff or by a board or by any one leader. It will be written by every change maker in this room and by the ones you will inspire to follow.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
