Funder Focus: Kelly Meighen and the T.R. Meighen Family
Foundation
February 6 , 2006
By Elisa Birnbaum
This month in our Funder Focus we feature the T.R. Meighen
Family Foundation, a private, charitable foundation
established in New Brunswick in 1969 by Mr. Theodore Roosevelt
Meighen. Over the years, the foundation has granted more than $9
million, with 70% of the funds distributed in New Brunswick. With the
move of its administrative office to Toronto in 1998, the foundation
now also focuses some of its grantmaking in Southern Ontario and the
Montreal area. CharityVillage spoke with foundation president
Kelly Meighen about the foundation's commitment to
innovation, the evolution of its mission, and its support of programs
that assist at-risk youth.
CharityVillage: What was the vision of Mr. Theodore
Roosevelt Meighen in establishing the foundation? What did he feel
he could bring to New Brunswick?
Kelly Meighen: He was a Montrealer who lived, on a
semi-permanent basis, in New Brunswick. He recognized that the province
of New Brunswick, and the Maritimes generally, could never expect to
benefit from individuals' charitable dollars and individual
philanthropy the way Montreal, the provinces of Quebec and Ontario,
and other regions of the country were able to.
There wasn't the kind of corporate or individual support in New
Brunswick in comparison to urban centres. He recognized that it was a
smaller population base with far less capacity in terms of social
service organizations and education systems - the markers of the
Canadian social safety net - and he wanted to help where he felt the
help was most needed. So he established the foundation with the
specific aim of supporting community-based organizations in the
province of New Brunswick and the Maritimes.
CV: The foundation supports organizations whose initiatives
address systemic change in innovative or non-traditional ways. Why is
innovation such an important element of your funding?
KM: Because we are not a government or public foundation, we
have a real opportunity to break some new ground and to experiment a
bit with organizations that demonstrate the kind of imagination and
innovation that perhaps their mainstream programming cannot, or does
not reflect.
CV: Has the foundation's vision remained constant
throughout its history, or did it evolve over the years?
KM: What really remains is our conviction to maintain
support in New Brunswick. But I think, like a lot of family
foundations, the way we operate has evolved to be more focused and to
be more proactive as opposed to reactive. When the foundation began,
while the assets were much smaller than they are now, they were able
to make a significant contribution to a great number of organizations
with small amounts of money.
Having operated that way for a period of 30 years, my husband and I
began to see that, rather than supporting innovation, cooperation,
and efficiency within many organizations, we were in fact doing the
opposite. We were becoming a line item on their annual budget and we
determined that's really not what the role of family foundations and
private foundations is. It's supposed to be other things - to be
there at the forefront, to be imaginative and innovative, and to see
projects that the government hasn't heard about yet.
CV: In 2004, with a new approach to funding, you turned
your focus to youth-at-risk initiatives. What prompted that decision
and how do you define these programs?
KM: Along the way we're trying to educate ourselves as to
how we define at-risk youth. I mean, obviously, it's a very different
profile in an urban centre than in a rural situation. There are a lot
of common issues that kids are challenged by, but there are also ones
that are very specific to rural areas, like the issue of
transportation and community-based programs, or lack thereof. I have
one staff person and we've got someone who is working in New
Brunswick trying to do some research and present the board with a
report on what sort of opportunities may be open to us there.
CV: And how do you approach youth-at-risk funding
opportunities in Toronto?
KM: Here in Ontario and Toronto, we know that the need is
obviously pretty significant. So, we made a conscious decision to
become involved with some very well established, big organizations,
the first one being the United Way. We knew, trusted, and had
confidence in United Way so we began by providing them with the
financial wherewithal to establish the programs that were made
possible by the "Community Use of Schools" initiative. [Opening up
schools after hours and on the weekends and turning them back to the
community for community use.] This was particularly critical in half
a dozen neighbourhoods in the inner suburbs of the city, like
Malvern, Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke. The schools were open
but they needed the money to support the programs, so our foundation
gave $250,000 to support the program costs through that academic year
of 2004-2005. In so doing, we get to learn about the agencies in the
local community that are delivering the programs.
CV: Are these organizations prevalent in New Brunswick as
well? And if not, how does that affect your general funding approach
in that province?
KM: Well, only the larger centres in New Brunswick have
United Ways, like in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton. And that's
the problem. But the community foundations are very active in the
province, in some measure because of a program that we supported.
We announced a $2.5 million program in New Brunswick to support and
grow the community foundations, called Community Advancement New
Brunswick (CANBE). There were four community foundations and there
are now five, and we funded the establishment of the fifth one. That
program helped make the community foundations, which at the time were
sort of languishing, more viable in the province. People were aware
that there were community foundations in these various cities but no
one was really supporting them. They were run by volunteers and there
was no profile, no professional staff, etc.
We were very proud of that program. The assets of the five community
foundations have risen dramatically since the beginning of the
program. We concentrated on such things as volunteer training and
marketing, and professional staff development, providing financial
resources to hire staff and to rent visible premises so that there
would be a presence within the community. We also hired a coordinator
who worked full-time for that three-year period.
CV: As a private foundation that receives so many
requests for funding, how do you determine where your money will go?
Do you find it difficult to make those decisions?
KM: We have a board that really helps us make decisions and
provides perspective. When you get close to it and are inundated with
many organizations that feel they deserve a piece of the pie, it is
very worthwhile having a board that allows you that distance. Because
you want to help, who wouldn't want to support most of the things
that come through the door? There's a huge number of innovative and
interesting programs out there and a ton of need, so it's hard to
say 'no' and to justify why one is chosen and another is not. But we
can't do it all. We've been very lucky and well served by the boards
we've had over the years.
CV: So are you presently accepting applications?
KM: I hesitate to say we aren't accepting; we are...for the
right program. But given our situation, the grantmaking at the
foundation is very competitive at the moment. For very, very special
programs that hit our criteria - absolutely between the eyes - then
sure, we're not closed for business.
CV: What are the future goals of the foundation, especially in
light of the recent change in vision and approach?
KM: We committed to five years on the youth-at-risk
initiative in 2004 and we're just getting underway with that. I think
the issue will always come down to how tied you are to the big
donations versus the small. I mean, there are a lot of innovations
taking place at big, established organizations too, for example, the
CIAR - the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research - a very
interesting and unique program that does a lot of work in human and
child development. When you support an organization like that, which
is doing very groundbreaking, innovative research, $25,000 isn't
going to do it. So, this is where we are constantly trying to
maintain a balance.
Kelly Meighen joined the foundation in 1994 and currently holds
the title of president, while her husband, Senator Michael Meighen,
Q.C., maintains the role of chair of the board. Though not
technically a full-time position, between her activities at the
foundation and other related volunteer positions, such as serving on
the Board of Stratford, Mrs. Meighen's days are full indeed. For
more information about the foundation, visit: www.meighen.ca.
Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance print and broadcast journalist
living in Toronto.
