Fund Type: Charitable Organizations
Community: Prince George
Initiated in 1992 and developed over the following several years the Greenway, located in Prince George, protects and preserves a natural corridor while at the same time providing recreation opportunities. This corridor encompasses over 300 hectares of natural environment and contains over 25kms of multi-use trails for runners, walkers, cyclists, skiers and horseback riders. The Greenway was developed and is maintained by the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society, a non-profit organization.
Early in the development of the Cranbrook Hill Greenway it was recognized that there would be a requirement for ongoing maintenance funds. While it was recognized that the majority of future maintenance would be undertaken by volunteers there would always be the need for funds to purchase supplies and equipment. In 1996 the Greenway Society was given the opportunity to host the annual Best of Banff Mountain Film Festival. This festival presented on an annual basis provided a small but welcome revenue stream for the Greenway Society. With the revenue from the first Film Festival in 1996 the Greenway Society decided to establish a maintenance endowment and in all subsequent years to put any revenue from the annual Film Festival into this endowment. Initially, the Greenway Society was going to enter into an agreement with the Vancouver Foundation to manage the funds but fortunately, at the same time, the Prince George Community Foundation was being established so negotiations were started to invest in our local Foundation. In addition to revenue from the Film Festival the Greenway Society also established a fundraising program called Buy a Meter the proceeds of which would also be invested in the endowment. Negotiations with the Prince George Community Foundation were concluded with the signing of an agreement in the fall of 1999. At that time the initial investment in the endowment had reached over $10,000.
With the annual revenue from the Film Festival, the Buy a Meter program and other donations as of 2020 the capital in the Cranbrook Hill Greenway Endowment was close to $100,000.
In November of 2000, the first grant from the endowment in the amount of $1,274 was received. It was decided that at that time and for the foreseeable future any revenue from the endowment would be returned to the Community Foundation to be reinvested and increase the capital of the fund. In 2020 the Greenway Society decided to start receiving the annual grant and using the money for maintenance work. However, the endowment continues to grow with revenue from donations, Buy a Meter and the Film Festival.
