Community Initiatives

The Saskatoon Community Foundation is committed to making Saskatoon the best community in which to live. Our primary means of achieving this mission is to help donors to build endowments to support the causes that matter most to them, and to make strategic grants to charities to improve the quality of life in our community. Beyond building endowments, the Saskatoon Community Foundation is committed to change and innovation. We seek creative partnerships that will allow us to work in new areas of the community. We promote giving, philanthropy and youth engagement to the greater community. We support the development of new leaders in the charitable sector. We promote partnerships between charity and business that benefit both. We offer innovative programming to assist the people of Saskatoon in supporting their community. When Saskatoon’s people come together to address issues facing our community, the Saskatoon Community Foundation is here to help facilitate bold solutions.

Leadership Saskatoon

Leadership Saskatoon is a not-for-profit educational program designed to promote leadership at the community level by exploring the realities, opportunities and challenges of our community.

It was established through the joint sponsorship of Saskatoon Community Foundation, the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce and the University of Saskatchewan. The McConnell Foundation, which also funds ArtsSmarts, provided start-up program funding and asked Saskatoon Community Foundation to act as a catalyst in the community. Saskatoon was one of only nine communities in Canada chosen to receive start-up funding.

Students enter into a dynamic, 9-month adult education curriculum centred around issue days and community projects, and involving mentorship, readings, self-assessments, site visits, interviews with current leaders, seminars with guest speakers and experts, group discussions and projects.

In 2003, Saskatoon Community Foundation established the Leadership Saskatoon Award, which provides $2,500 to an employee or volunteer with a registered charity to participate in this personal leadership development program.

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Youth Advisory Council

By forming youth advisory committees (YACs) within local community foundations, young people come together to raise money, build endowment funds and make grants to local youth projects. YACs are in their teens and twenties, with a lot of ideas and energy to bring to the table.

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Vital Signs

Vital Signs is an annual check-up conducted by community foundations to measure the vitality of communities across Canada. It gathers and publishes data on significant social and economic trends in areas critical to quality of life.

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Random Act of Kindness Day

Our community, and in fact, the world, would be a better place if there were more kindness and compassion in it. Saskatoon is already a wonderful, compassionate and kind city, but even the best of us can get so busy with our daily lives and duties that we can forget to show that kindness to others as much as we should.

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Just in Case

The Just in Case Binder and Seminars help to create an open dialogue about your wishes and work to educate people on the things that will need to be completed after you are gone.

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