Our Voyage Continues: 2023
The Terra Nova Fund Celebrates its 10th Anniversary!
I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again. ~William Penn
A NOTE FROM THE FOUNDERS:
Time passes so quickly! Its hard to believe that in 2023 the Terra Nova Fund and Endowment celebrates its 10th anniversary! For a decade now the Fund has been providing financial support that advances, nurtures and helps sustain a variety of programs and organizations throughout Prince Edward Island and beyond.
A decade back, when we approached the Community Foundation of Prince Edward Island (PEI) for their assistance in setting up our Charitable Fund, we envisioned being able to support a broad range of organizations. As we discovered though, our eyes were bigger than our pocket book! Out of necessity then, over the last decade, our areas of interest have become somewhat more focused. Consequently, we have now more effectively targeted our financial resources to maximize their impact on the programs and organizations that we feel most strongly about supporting.
Today, we continue to maintain a strong interest in advancing the performing arts and environmental protection on PEI. We also seek to support several social service and justice organizations as well as religious institutions that advance peace initiatives on the national and international stage. Our overarching goal is to champion these and at times other worthy causes that come to our attention in which our grant funding will produce a lasting impact on the quality of life for people who live and work here on PEI.
Going forward, we hope the support that the Fund and Endowment can provide — together with our own individual personal contributions to an even wider range of organizations – will help build a better sense of community both here and beyond.
Bruce and Patricia Craig
Philosophy Behind The Creation Of The Fund:
Initial funding for the Terra Nova Fund and Endowment was provided by its founding sponsors, Bruce and Patricia Craig, as part of their desire to strengthen charitable and non-profit organizations whose goals over the years have attracted their philanthropic interests.
While many worthwhile organizations exist throughout PEI and North America that are deserving of financial support, those selected to benefit from the Terra Nova Fund are ones that traditionally have not garnered the level of funding they deserve from their own charitable efforts, or from the United Way or similar fundraising drives. Hence, the Fund targets its support for these often smaller, underfunded special interest charities that both reflect community needs and focus upon improving the quality of life for Island residents.
To this end, the Terra Nova Fund each year awards grants and operating funds for a number of worthy, charitable causes. A sister organization — the Terra Nova Endowment — is a charitable legacy endowment established to continue support a variety of worthy causes upon the death of the founding sponsors. For example, in 2023 the Endowment will grant a $250,000 legacy gift to the ACCLERANDO Classical Music Performance Fund of the Confederation Centre of the Arts. Until the founder’s demise, all contributions are presently channeled through the Terra Nova Fund, in order to provide immediate assistance to supported causes.
ORGANIZATIONS RECENTLY SUPPORTED Over the last decade, the following charitable organizations (as well as a handful of organizations that do not have charitable status but instead have been supported through personal contributions of the Fund’s founders) have received financial support grants:
The ACCLERANDO Classical Music Performance Fund of the Confederation Centre of the Arts; the PEI Symphony Society (sponsors of the PEI Symphony Orchestra); Orchestras Canada; Singing Strings; the Community Foundation of PEI; The Island Nature Trust; the Atlantic Veterinary College (UPEI); The Cooper Institute; Film PEI, American public television stations WGBH and KCTS; as well as a variety of entities affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) including the New Brunswick Monthly Meeting, the Canadian Yearly Meeting, Canadian Friends Service Committee and Friends Journal. The founders are particularly proud of the Fund’s continuing support to a new organization whose charitable status is still pending – the Angels of PEI — which delivers desperately needed humanitarian relief directly to the people of war-torn Ukraine.
For a list and brief description of causes and organizations that may benefit from the Fund’s support this year, please visit the following section:
Nature & History
these groups seek to advance land conservation and to bring a deeper understanding of history, heritage, and historic preservation—especially by targeting students and the general public so that they may enjoy the diverse cultural assests within our Atlantic communities.
History, Heritage and Environment:
the organizations in this arena share a common goal of assuring the protection and management of our naturale and cultural heritage.
The Performing Arts
this category of beneficiaries deliver live performances of music on PEI and/or provide training and performance opportunities for a new generation of performance artists, such as classical musicians or actors/actresses.
Human Services
organizations that enable new immigrants to Atlantic Canada to adapt to their new homes and to become fully engaged citizens; other organizations in this category include groups that advance intercultural understanding, cooperation, and world peace.