100 Million Reasons to Believe in Waterloo Region

Recently, we gathered with nearly 200 community members at our Do More Good Dialogue event, Shared Places: From Infrastructure to Interactions. It was one of those mornings where you leave feeling genuinely proud of this community, and legitimately optimistic about its future.

Each year, WRCF kicks off this event by presenting community awards recognizing individuals and organizations making a real difference in Waterloo Region. This year's recipients were four people and organizations who embody what it means to show up for this community. John Egoff received the Walter Bean WRCF Community Volunteer Award for decades of quiet and steadfast service, first through the Cambridge & North Dumfries Community Foundation and continuing with WRCF. Mandy Bujold received the Ken Murray WRCF Community Catalyst Award for her extraordinary ability to mobilize people, passion, and purpose, most visibly through Champions for Charity, which raised $1.5 million for MacKids and $77,000 for Waterloo Region Health Network in 2026 alone. Ammar's Market received the David Borges WRCF Organizational Goodness Award for more than 20 years of proving that good values and good business aren't in conflict, with deep ties to food equity and community giving. And The Community Edition received the WRCF Social Infrastructure Champion Award for its vital role as independent local media, helping our region understand itself, stay connected, and hold civic life together. Congratulations to all four.

We also use this annual event to bring new ideas and new voices to the fore. This year's keynote was delivered by Mouna Andraos, co-founder of Daily tous les jours, a Montréal-based interactive art and urban design studio. Mouna and her team have worked in more than 60 cities, including Cambridge and Waterloo. They start by asking people what connection, joy, and belonging could feel like, and then build experiences that bring those answers to life. For a community foundation focused on social infrastructure, there may be no more relevant voice in the world right now.

That might have been enough for one morning, but we also got to make the announcement I've been most looking forward to sharing publicly: this summer, WRCF will have made $100 million in cumulative grants since our founding in 1984, through CNDCF, KWCF, and WRCF together. That's 15,420 grants to 1,309 organizations across Waterloo Region. It took us 42 years to reach $100 million, and we're now projecting it will take fewer than 12 years to reach the next $100 million. That's the power of a community foundation model built on enduring partnerships and long-term thinking.

This milestone belongs to this community. And in that spirit, we want to hear from you. We're inviting everyone, not just the people in the room last week, to answer one question:

"What's one hope you have for how the next $100 million could transform Waterloo Region?"

I hope you'll use this link to share your answer. Or send me an email. Or give me a call. We'll be using what we hear to inform our planning for 2027 and beyond.

At the event, we also announced a few more things I'm particularly excited about.

First, we have released our 2025 Annual Impact Report, downloadable at wrcf.ca. It captures everything we accomplished together this past year, including stories from our partners and Fundholders and an update on our continued transition to a 100% mission-aligned investment portfolio. I think you'll find it a compelling read.

Second, building on the extraordinary community response to last fall's 2025 Vital Signs® Report, we're launching a new series of focused reports called Vital Ideas®. Each report through 2026 and 2027 will examine one big idea linked to social infrastructure through fresh research, voices, and perspectives. The first installment, digging into the transition of shared spaces into interactive places, is authored by Dr. Troy Glover of the University of Waterloo. It's available now at wrcf.ca/vital-signs.

Third, we're working toward launching an Indigenous Fund in 2026 as part of our deepening commitment to walking alongside Indigenous communities in Waterloo Region in a spirit of mutuality and reciprocity.

There is a lot happening, and all of it is possible because of the community that surrounds and sustains this work. The donors, Fundholders, partner organizations, volunteers, and community members who show up at events like last week's, and in countless quieter ways, are the reason WRCF is able to do what we do. Forty-two years in, and the momentum has never felt stronger.

Our community's momentum will grow as more people are part of it. And there are so many ways to be involved. It could mean opening or giving to a fund, co-investing with us on something that matters to you, sharing your big ideas for what Waterloo Region could become, or simply continuing to do good in the ways you already do. If you're not sure where to start, we can help figure that out together.

So I'll close by repeating that question: What's one hope you have for how the next $100 million could transform Waterloo Region?  I sincerely want to know. This community's next chapter will be shaped by the ideas and aspirations of the people who call it home, and I'd love your voice to be part of it. Share your answer, drop me an email, or find me in the community. I'm listening.

Eric Avner
WRCF President & CEO
eric@wrcf.ca