The Loewen Foundation History

The C.P. Loewen Family Foundation was started by Cornie (C.P.) Loewen in 1973. He was the entrepreneurial founder of Loewen Windows, Canada’s largest manufacturer of wood frame windows, based in Steinbach, Manitoba. The Foundation’s purpose was to support education, religion, and other charitable causes. The same broad principles apply to the Loewen Foundation today although the current era is different and requires different approaches.The four shareholders of Loewen Windows, are also the four Directors of the Foundation. This includes John Loewen, Chair of the Foundation, Stuart Loewen, Clyde Loewen, and Charles Loewen. They have continued to develop the Foundation and its primary ares of concern now include education, faith, environment, tolerance and respect, alleviation of poverty, and community building in regions in which Loewen Windows employees live and work.

Despite its support of organizations and institutions in a broader concentric circle, the Foundation maintains a commitment to Steinbach and S.E. Manitoba, the headquarters of Loewen Windows and primary area in which Loewen Windows’ employees live and work. From 1973 until the late 1990′s the Foundation worked in almost complete anonymity. This was done out of a sense that the grants and their results were much more important than any possible recognition. The current Board of Directors continues to believe that the results achieved through strategic grant-making are what is most important. Requests for support continued to increase, placing increasing demands on the Foundation of Directors. They therefore decided in 1999 that to increase the effectiveness of their philanthropy they required an Executive Director to manage the Foundation.

In 2000 the Foundation published its first grant-making guidelines including the areas of concern in which it would consider making an investment. This was the beginning of a more strategic approach to grant-making. Although most of the grant applications were initiated by potential grantee organizations the Foundation began to take a more active role in encouraging the development of grant applications that matched the Foundation’s Areas of Concern and Mission. The Foundation now places more emphasis on developing and selecting grants that strategically meet the goals for each area of concern. This more recent approach, which the Foundation continues to refine, has not changed the Foundation’s basic tenets. The values of quality, patience, hard work are a part of each strategic investment.

Investment Rationale

In 1973 grant-making was a fairly simple business. Those in need of support applied; foundations responded with a grant. Grant-making was closer to a personal act of charity. Today the needs appear greater, the problems more complex, and the applicants more numerous for limited resources.

In order to effectively nurture meaningful improvements to the strength and vibracy of individuals, communities, societies, and the world in which we live the relatively simple approach used in the past is no longer sufficient. Grants are best viewed as investments, investments that will make a measurable impact towards a solution of the issues being addressed. Investment returns will include the building of capacity within organizations and the adding of measurable value to people and the world in which they live.

The Foundation has moved from a passive role as grant-giver to a role of using investments to be a catalyst for change. It encourages organizations with similar goals to work together, it shares knowledge gained through research or experience, and encourages not-for-profit enterprises to be increasingly self-sustaining. It seeks to gain the best returns, not in profits, but in enduring, meaningful, and effective improvements to people and the world in which they live. This requires hard work, from the Foundation and from its not-for-profit partners.

Investments are not only about money. It is also about the most effective use of knowledge and passion to bring about these improvements. For example, the Foundation engaged a market research firm to conduct a telephone survey of 400 residents in S.E. Manitoba along with a focus group that included community leaders from the political, business, and not-for-profit sectors. The knowledge gained from this study will enable the Foundation to be more effective in its grant-making in this region.

Strategic Philanthropy

What makes a proposal or a new program or project a promising investment? A strategic investment has a well-defined goal that is larger than that of a single project. A cluster of grants is like a careful portfolio of many investments the impact of which adds up to more than the sum of its parts. Strategic grant-making should have a discernible impact on a problem although the impact may not be immediately obvious.

Strategic investments are partially a question of timing and co-investors – a Foundation is much stronger with willing and capable partners. While the Foundation is a lead investor in some projects it is never the sole investor in any project. Strategic investments are not only about money but utilize core competencies in the Loewen Foundation’s Board, staff, and experience and knowledge base.

Evaluation

How did we do and how do we know? What was the public, societal, and environmental impact? The Foundation now monitors and evaluates grant performance much more than in the past allowing it to identify positive and negative results. Mistakes and failures are opportunities to learn and provide opportunities for the Foundation to be clear about its direction and its expectations. Finally, it is recognized that strategic investments do not happen overnight. Time is a finite resource to be invested wisely and an attempt is made to balance patience with a desire to achieve beneficial returns on a timely basis.
Pursuing the Foundation’s mission with the benefit of the knowledge and experience of the Foundation Board, staff, and many of the Foundation’s not-for-profit partners helps it to make the sometimes difficult, informed choices needed to achieve the Foundation’s mission.

The Foundation will continue to change as it refines its investment goals and as the needs and strengths of people, society, and the world in which we live continues to change. While it may look and act somewhat differently than in 1973 it is still all about making an effort to help improve the lives of people in our world.