Close to $1.5 million has been granted over the past year to organisations working in the community, according to the Bermuda Community Foundation’s (BCF) second annual update.

The BCF was launched in February, 2014, with a mandate “to create an enduring source of funds forever dedicated to the good of Bermuda”.

A BCF press statement released today stated that “in 2015, it facilitated 81 grants to 16 different fields of nonprofit enterprise, including community development, education, the environment, human services and youth development.”

“Contributions to human services through BCF remained at levels similar to 2014 at about $200,000. Groups working in community development and capacity building saw a 20.7 per cent boost in support, to $123,000,” added the statement.

“In the area of education, up more than $270,000, over $384,000 in grants from donor funds were awarded to high-performing nonprofits operating adult, early childhood; elementary and secondary school programming. Groups working in the arts, civil rights, environment and employment such as job training continue to lack the level of support given in other fields.”

Managing Director Myra Virgil said that the sheer volume of calls and transactions through the community foundation reinforced the belief that it is becoming a vital part of the work to sustain the nonprofit sector.

“Bermuda depends on its nonprofit sector for human and community services, for the conservation of our lands and marine environment, and for the proliferation of our arts, culture and heritage”, she said.

Founding Chairman Peter Durhager further explained that, “the BCF was launched out of a need for an additional philanthropic resource to facilitate giving and to grow a permanent charitable endowment to help sustain the sector in the long term”.

The BCF enables grants in a number of different ways, including:

• Development and management of donor-directed funds

• Analysis and evaluation of grant applications for third party determination.

BCF now manages over 40 donor and community funds, some of which are endowed and some of which provide support for current programmes. Sponsored projects include:

• the launch of new tools including a first for Bermuda, a giving platform, GiveBermuda.org, to enable people to make online donations with access to information on nonprofits by field of interest or social issue.

• A moderated blog TalkWell.org — another first — aimed at promoting thoughtful, solution-led dialogue. It launches in February with support from a donor-directed fund.

Established by founders, The Atlantic Philanthropies, RenaissanceRe, the Buchanan Charitable Fund and Bloomberg Philanthropies, with a key contribution from the XL Foundation, the BCF is growing into the role for which it was needed. BCF has just successfully completed an unqualified audit.

BCF’s second annual report can be downloaded at www.bcf.bm.