Responding to an urgent challenge

As a result of the generosity of our Founding Pillar, Building Heritage and Save the Building donors and the City of Vancouver, we already have over $500,000 raised toward our $3 million Phase 1 goal.  However, to ensure we have a legacy of heritage buildings in Vancouver for future generations there is still much more to be done that requires significant funding to ensure that heritage conservation continues. The VHF is launching three initiatives to strengthen its capacity to continue and expand its programs to sustain and promote Vancouver’s rich heritage:

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS -$1 MILLION

For our Heritage Conservation Endowment Fund

Income from this endowment will be used to expand our lectures and workshops, develop new public tours, and undertake research and writing projects. Continuing to raise public awareness about the city’s history and to develop diverse education opportunities will change the public perception from thinking that old buildings are archaic liabilities to an appreciation of what they contribute to the city’s unique landscape.  This Heritage Conservation Endowment Fund will enable us to:

• Launch an annual public lecture series and expand hands-on workshops like the “Old School” program. Our very popular pre-tour lectures and building owner workshops have shown us that there is a great deal of interest in and demand for more information.   
  
  
• Publish new map guides on topics such as Art Deco Vancouver and  Modernist Residential Buildings targeted to both the local and tourist markets. The 2006 pilot project that produced a map guide for a downtown walking tour of Post WWII modernist buildings was received with great enthusiasm by the public and won a City of Vancouver Heritage Award.
  
  
• Publish, in partnership with local organizations and professionals, a series of books that offer the public the collection of information and resources developed by the VHF over the last six years. Subjects may include Original Colour Research on more than four dozen buildings, The Restoration of a Building - a Case Study, and The Burrard Street Bridge. 

For our Heritage Conservation Granting Endowment

The income from this endowment will be used to ensure that heritage houses, commercial buildings and sacred sites receive the special exterior restoration and repairs they require. 

The VHF currently awards $35,000 annually in grants to legally protected heritage homes for exterior projects like painting the home in original colours or roof, window, siding, and porch restoration.  Currently the grants are awarded from the operating funds of the Foundation. A grant fund of $50,000 from the investment income on this endowment would provide ensured funding in perpetuity for “Restore It” and “True Colours” grants for building restoration.

Residential neighbourhoods have been the focus of the early programs of the VHF because, unlike commercial buildings, they do not receive incentives and support from other sources such as the City of Vancouver the Federal Government.  Sacred Sites, because they are disqualified from most funding sources, are part of the VHF granting plans for the future. 

Over the coming decades Vancouver’s heritage buildings will continue to need maintenance and repair.  This legacy fund will ensure they receive the care & attention they need into the future.

RESCUE - $1 MILLION

For our "Save the Buildings Fund "

This self-sustaining, revolving fund is used to rescue heritage buildings threatened through demolition, redevelopment or neglect.  The VHF holds them for resale to a new owner who is committed to their preservation. The Save the Buildings Fund is a purchaser of last resort in order to buy time for creative solutions to be found.

Buildings purchased by the VHF receive legal protection. When the VHF sells the protected buildings the proceeds are returned to the fund.  The VHF does not hold the properties indefinitely or undertake their restoration or renovation. 

Every year a handful our city’s older buildings ‘fall through the cracks’.  Either they have been overlooked and not included on the city’s heritage register, the proposed redevelopment plans endanger the heritage integrity of the building, or their owners have let them lie dormant until demolition appears to be the only available option.  The Save the Buildings Fund will be a purchaser of last resort for such buildings. 

The fund is overseen by an advisory committee of five local business and development experts.  Each purchase is considered by the Advisory Committee who undertake a feasibility study for each project in order to manage financial risk and assess the worthiness of the project.

Throughout North America there are dozens of similar revolving funds established for the purpose of rescuing historic buildings.  Funds set up for acquisition and resale of heritage properties are well established in Savannah, Georgia, various cities in North Carolina; Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida, and in Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia.

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation is committed to ensuring there is a legacy of heritage buildings for the future through the establishment of this revolving emergency fund that will purchase threatened heritage buildings and sell them to owners who will undertake their conservation. 

Heritage Conservation: Your Contribution to Vancouver

The benefits of conservation are far reaching. Heritage buildings are a legacy of the city’s history, they serve as economic generators by attracting tourists, they add richness and colour to our city, and they are part of good environmental practice. With this three-pronged fundraising strategy, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation will possess a perpetual resource to enable it to fulfill its mission.

Call Gillian Holter, Development Director at 604.264.9642
to discuss a gift to the VHF