Foundation will support Nunavut-based organizations and Inuit-led solutions for healthy and thriving communities
Iqaluit, NU – Annauma Community Foundation is celebrating its public launch as Nunavut’s first community foundation with the inspiring goal of delivering trust-based granting programs and strengthening the non-profit and charitable sector in Nunavut.
Rooted in Inuit values, skills, and worldviews, Annauma Community Foundation’s mission is to deliver funding and support to the non-profit and charitable sector across Nunavut to encourage learning, sharing, and collaborative community relationships.
“Community is everything in Nunavut. It is family and friends, colleagues and neighbours, children and Elders,” says Virginia Mearns, Board Member, Annauma Community Foundation. “We rely on and offer support to each other. Annauma will provide consistent structure and funding to invest in community-delivered opportunities for the good of everyone.”
Granting programs beginning in the summer of 2023 will focus on five priority areas: Inuit children and youth, community health and wellbeing, education and learning, arts and culture, and community-identified opportunities.
“Annauma has the potential to ensure Inuit in our territory have the resources and support they require to continue to prosper,” says Clarence Synard, Board Member, Annauma Community Foundation. “Volunteers are the heart of our communities and Annauma is positioned to be a leader in making a direct impact on the lives of Nunavummiut (the people of Nunavut).”
Annauma’s vision is for Inuit communities to be healthy and confident, and have what they need to thrive. The Foundation will work in partnership with community-based organizations and local community changemakers to support their solutions, programs, and innovations to make this vision a reality.
“In order to live well, our communities must be healthy and strong. Similarly, our relationship with the environment must be nurtured to ensure it remains healthy and strong,” says Gwen Healey Akearok, Board Member, Annauma Community Foundation. “Land-based programs, then, are a critical community activity that supports Inuit pathways to wellbeing in the holistic worldview.”
The launch of the Annauma Community Foundation will be marked today with a community event at Tukisigiarvik Centre in Iqaluit, to celebrate this important milestone and to share information about the critical work of elevating local solutions in a good way.
“I believe the work of the Annauma Community Foundation is important as it allows Inuit and communities to identify solutions that work for their unique needs,” says David Korgak, Board Member, Annauma Community Foundation.
In 2022 Annauma launched the Caring North Campaign, which aims to raise $10 million to support granting programs that will strengthen community-led activities in alignment with Inuit self-determination.
“The Caring North Campaign is the heart of a new approach to philanthropic innovation. We welcome donors as caring partners with Annauma Community Foundation in practicing community-directed philanthropy,” says Udlu Hanson, Caring North Campaign Chair and Board President, Annauma Community Foundation.
Fundraising has already succeeded in securing $4.6 million through contributions from inaugural major donors including The Gordon Foundation, the Mastercard Foundation, the Toronto Foundation, The Counselling Foundation of Canada, and the Government of Nunavut.
“Annauma Community Foundation is a robust fundraising, grantmaking, and sector development organization,” says Robyn Campbell, Interim Executive Director, Annauma Community Foundation. “We are establishing trust-based philanthropy for Nunavut and are recognized by our forward-thinking donors as a good investment. We welcome caring donors from the North and the South to join us in supporting our work.”
About Annauma Community Foundation
Annauma connects caring philanthropists, corporate partners, funders, and governments with opportunities to invest in inspired community-based action. Inuit communities know the best solutions to the issues they are experiencing. Annauma is short for Annaumakkaijiit which is an Inuktitut (Inuit language) word meaning “helping people to stay ahead”. Learn more at annauma.ca.
