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Northern Neighbours makes over $100k in grants available

There is still time to apply for a Northern Neighbours Foundation grant. The community group is set to give away over $100,000 to worthy causes in Flin Flon, Creighton, Cranberry Portage and Snow Lake. The deadline for applications is Feb.
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There is still time to apply for a Northern Neighbours Foundation grant.

The community group is set to give away over $100,000 to worthy causes in Flin Flon, Creighton, Cranberry Portage and Snow Lake.

The deadline for applications is Feb. 15, with applications available on the group’s website.

Betty Kendall is the executive director of the Northern Neighbours Foundation and said the group is looking for projects that have a track record behind them.

“We want to know that your organization is sustainable,” she said.

“We want to know that you've been around, you service the community, you're not just starting out and you're only going to be there for a minute, so we know that the project will be completed.”

Northern Neighbours funds a wide variety of projects, but looks for a strong community use when deciding how to allocate funds.

“We would like a detailed reason why you think this project will benefit the people you're planning it for,” Kendall said.

“How is it benefiting the community? Is the project designed for a specific group? How is it going to benefit that group? Why do you think there is a need? Those are the kinds of things we want to know when you're giving us a description of your project that you want to do.”

Kendall said to apply for a Northern Neighbours grant, the project either needs to be by a charity or non-profit or partnered with one. She said a sporting group could partner with the City to get funding for a project.

“Our foundation cannot actually write a check to an organization that doesn't have a registered charity number,” Kendall said.

“That's why we partner. If we have an organization like a sporting group and they go in to the City, the check actually goes to the City and the City then will disperse it to that organization.”

The Northern Neighbours Foundation has funding from different sources. The Winnipeg-based Moffat Foundation provides over $90,000 in granting money to Northern Neighbours to allocate to “family, children and disadvantaged communities” and $30,000 in a “smart and caring fund.” New for 2020 is a Manitoba 150 fund. The Manitoba government has committed to match grants up to $10,000 for certain community projects.

“Projects for [Manitoba 150 matching grants] are amenities for the public spaces,” Kendall said.

“Park benches and bike racks and equipment for community spaces. Revitalization of something with some historical significance in our community.”

The group has also announced their awards gala will be special this year. They already have a date and spot picked out – June 13 at the Rotary Wheel. The group is over 25 years old and isn’t taking chances missing out on booking a location for the celebration.

“We're just gonna have a celebration at the Wheel,” Kendall said.

“We haven't got all the things planned out but we're going to have some kids activities in the afternoon and we’re hoping to have maybe a fish fry and supper and speeches and some thank yous. We've got a date decided.”

Applications for a Northern Neighbours Foundation grant can be found at their website, northernneighbours.com.

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