Sechelt council has unanimously approved recommendations by the Sunshine Coast Community Forests, allowing four organizations to receive $30,000 from the Legacy Fund.
Sunshine Coast Community Forest is one of approximately 60 forests in BC and conducts one per cent of the logging on the coast and is managed by community groups that benefit that specific area.
The organization has so far donated four million dollars to the District of Sechelt since they were created in 2014 and has provided 52 grants since they opened.
Board chair Kathleen Suddes presented to Sechelt council the recommendations where she outlined strict criteria organizations must follow before they can be considered for grant funding.
“Organizations must indicate how receiving the funds will benefit the whole coast and have a business plan in place before consideration is made,” Suddes says.
Executive Director Sarah Zieleman says the selection process is broken down into two steps which are quite easy but out of the five received only four were approved.
“The first part just requires a letter of intent from the applicant,” Zieleman says. “Once those have been reviewed, we ask for an application from a subset of them, four of which were recommended to council.”
According to Zieleman recommendations by the committee usually get endorsed by council and rarely ever get turned down because of how close-knit the selection process is and how they work in conjunction with the town.
“A member of council sits as a representative on the committee, so it is very rare an application gets turned down,” she says. “It has happened, because they are closely aligned with the town’s bylaws and the expectation for how the fund will be used.”
Organizations receiving $30,000 each for the Legacy Fund are the BC Conservation Foundation, Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society, Pender Harbour Community School, and Tetrahedron Outdoor Club.
