As part of the federal government’s Investment Readiness Program, the Saskatoon Community Foundation received $625,800 to invest in local organizations that require a boost.

Fourteen local organizations benefitted from the funding. Carm Michalenko, the CEO of the Saskatoon Community Foundation, says there is no other program like it when it comes to helping both for-profit, nonprofit, and charitable businesses.

Michalenko says it was a great move for the federal government to let the funding be dispersed on a local level rather than taking it upon themselves. She adds that only the communities know where the best places to invest are, and giving the power to a local foundation is very important.

The organizations are obligated to file national reports on how the money is being used, what the successes with the program were, and any challenges that they encountered.

Michalenko says, on a local level, she hopes to connect with those who receive the funds to determine if the program worked for them as they thought it might.

The funding wasn’t dispersed just in the Saskatoon area but province wide.  The organizations that were allocated the most funding include Buckets and Boarders Basketball Incorporated, Saskatoon Poverty Reduction, and Provincial association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan.