Cortes Island Community Foundation is one of 191 other community foundations in Canada and over 700 in the U.S. Each of these community foundations helps to build and strengthen its own community by encouraging and supporting local philanthropy and by connecting people and organizations who want to make a difference.

Cortes Island grabs the hearts of visitors and residents alike. First home to the Klahoose, Tla’amin and Homalco peoples, the island now boasts a small but vibrant community of people from all over the globe. We live amongst the ancient cedars and surrounded by the Salish Sea. While the forests, wildlife and sunsets might be the first things to attract people to the island, we stay and fall in love with Cortes because of the community. Neighbours know and rely on one and other here. In fact, most of the social services that Canadian’s have come to depend upon: food banks, agricultural support, youth programs, and even a high school education are provided by volunteers and small social profit organizations. We are a community that takes care of each other.

Unfortunately, like many small isolated communities, we are a community struggling with inequities. While the average cost of a home on Cortes is near a million dollars, more than a third of the island’s renters are considered “vulnerable” to homelessness, and many struggle to find housing at all in the summer months. The median income for families on Cortes is about half that of the rest of BC, and a quarter of all children on Cortes live in poverty. Childcare and early childhood education are a challenge for families of young children, and the drop out numbers for high school age students are impacted by the fact that many families cannot afford to send their students to board in communities with a high school.

Cortes Islanders are lucky however, because we have a community of more than 30 grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and charities doing the work of helping support all islanders, human and nonhuman, and the place itself. And the Cortes Island Community Foundation exists to support these organizations and all islanders to thrive in respectful relationship with our natural home. We hope you will learn more about us, our community, and this place.