Matching government funds for your donation
Matching Funds from the Government of Canada
The Government of Canada matched all donations received by eligible Canadian charities including CLWR by February 12, 2010. Under this program, CLWR reported just under $950,000 in donations. The total received by all eligible charities exceeded $150 million.
To access matching funds, organizations have to submit proposals to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). February 16 was the deadline for an initial call for proposals. CLWR, in conjunction with the other members of the Canadian Churches in Action (CCA), applied for $1.9 million. No decision on the application has been announced.
In the meantime, CCA has pledged $1.9 million of the $15 million its members have raised to the ACT Alliance. Specifically, these funds will be used to support the work of two members of ACT, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) who are on the ground in Haiti providing immediate assistance. CLWR will contribute $300,000 to this program.
If the application to CIDA is successful, the $1.9 million pledge to ACT will be covered by the government’s matching funds thereby freeing up funds raised by CLWR for longer term recovery programming. Such programming is most likely to focus on the construction of permanent housing that will be both hurricane and earthquake resistant. It is hoped that the government will also make matching funds available for such purposes.
Matching Funds from the Government of Manitoba
CCA has been successful in obtaining $89,000 from a matching fund set up by the Government of Manitoba. As with the application to CIDA, CLWR played a lead role in preparing this request. These funds will also be used to support the work of the LWF and CRWRC. The Manitoba Council for International Cooperation is administering the Government of Manitoba matching fund program.
(Updated March 11, 2010)
