The Campbell River Community Foundation will be hiring a new executive director thanks to the philanthropic support of the Mailman family.
Owners of Seymour Pacific Developments, Broadstreet Properties and the Campbell River Golf & Country Club, the Mailman family, through their foundation, have supported local projects, including a record donation to North Island College in 2020.
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The generosity of this local family — comprised of Kris and Cheryl Mailman, their daughter Amanda Raleigh and their son Kris D. Mailman — continues, as they have agreed to provide support to the Campbell River Community Foundation so it can hire a full-time executive director to lead its operations.
“Because the Campbell River Community Foundation acts as an umbrella for all of the nonprofits in Campbell River, it gives donors the opportunity to support more than one cause,” said Raleigh. “It gives a great opportunity to help all the organizations in need at a given moment.”
Since incorporating in 1996, the Campbell River Community Foundation has been able to grow its permanent endowment to around $2.5 million. Through this fund, the organization generates about $80,000 per year in interest, which it then invests in charities throughout the ‘greater Campbell River area,’ stretching from Oyster River to Sayward.
“In essence, we make Campbell River a better place to live,” said Doug Lang, Campbell River Community Foundation board chair.
The fund’s invested capital — meaning people’s donations — remains unspent. This model ensures continual support to local efforts, but also leaves the organization little room to pay for items such as staff salaries or office space, explained Dan Wickham, endowment chair.
“We never touch (endowment funds), so we’ve never really had a home and we’ve never really had any staff,” said Wickham. “It’s all been strictly volunteers.”
This has challenged the organization’s ability to grow and make a larger impact, he said.
“We need to have staff that can keep our message clear and get it out to the patrons of the community,” said Wickham. “We need to do a better job of selling ourselves so that we can help others.”
To bridge this gap, the organization approached the Mailmans to fund an executive director position for five years — and the family agreed.
“It’s the latest chapter in their support for the town that Amanda grew up in and in which her mother and father grew up in and started their very successful journey,” said Wickham. “So it’s a big deal for us, and we’re pretty happy about it.”
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sean.feagan@campbellrivermirror.com
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