Winnipeg Foundation

The Winnipeg Foundation was established in 1921, the first community foundation in Canada, with an initial donation of $100,000 from William Forbes Alloway. He saw the creation of the Foundation as a way to give back to his community. On his death in 1930, he left his entire estate to the Foundation along with that of his wife, providing a total endowment of some $2 million.

First Advisory Board of the Winnipeg Foundation (1921)

Robert Maxwell Dennistoun (1864-1952)

Peter Lowe (1887-1980) - Secretary

Hugh John Macdonald (1850-1929)

Thomas Graham Mathers (1859-1927) - Chairman

Robert B. McElheran (1877-1939)

Edward Parnell (1859-1922)

Charles P. Wilson (1859-1931) - Solicitor

First Advisory Board of the Winnipeg Foundation, 1921.
L-R: McElheran, Parnell, Wilson, Mathers, Dennistoun, Macdonald, Lowe.
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Dennistoun Diaries.

Executive Directors of the Winnipeg Foundation:

Period	Executive Director
1921-1957	Peter Lowe (1887-1980)
1957-1976	Hugh Avery Benham (1911-1997)
1976-1989	Alan Grant Howison (1932-2005)
1989-1999	Daniel H. Kraayeveld
1999-present	Richard Frost [now Chief Executive Officer]

More information:

All Western Dollars by Peter Lowe
MHS Transactions, Series 3, Season 1945-46

Sources:

Photograph of the first Advisory Board of the Winnipeg Foundation, Diaries of R. M. Dennistoun, Archives of Manitoba.

“Alloway wills all to local charities” Manitoba Free Press, 27 February 1930, page 10.

Page revised: 14 June 2009