This past year has been amongst the most
fulfilling and yet most challenging in the 46
year history of the Shevchenko Foundation.
We have seen an unprecedented expansion
of the capital funds being managed by the
Foundation. The arrival of several funds,
the largest of which is the WW1 Internment
Endowment Fund, together with others,
place these funds under the administration
of the Shevchenko Foundation for the
benefit of the community. The WW1
Internment Endowment Fund came about
after several decades of hard work by
individuals like Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk and
others which culminated in the agreement
entered into between the Shevchenko
Foundation and the Federal Government
of Canada.
The past year has seen a tremendous
allocation of efforts to the maintenance
and professional stewardship of our
endowment funds through the worst
recession since the Great Depression of
the 1930’s. I cannot thank the members
of the Foundation’s Investment Committee
enough for their tireless efforts and
countless volunteer hours in providing
assistance through these turbulent financial times. Your Board of Directors has taken
prudent and conservative steps not to
dissipate the assets of the Foundation’s
capital funds and we believe that such
prudent management will pay dividends for
us over the course of the next many years.
I believe our donors will be very happy
to know that the maintenance of capital
and its stewardship for the long terms is of
paramount importance to the Shevchenko
Foundation. As a result of the events of
the past year, the Shevchenko Foundation
is taking additional steps to ensure the
long-term preservation of capital in our
various endowments to ensure the longterm
integrity and viability of our various
funds and ultimately to protect our future
funded activities. To do so has resulted in
cutting back our normal allotment of
grant applications and we thank the
Ukrainian community for its patience
while the Foundation took a cautious but
proactive approach in ensuring that the
activities of the Foundation and the goals
of its’ grant recipients are maintained in
the long run. With this effort, we believe
we are on solid footing to recommend the
Shevchenko Foundation’s normal processes
for granting in the foreseeable future.
We look forward to the enormous impact
that our capital funds will have on many
activities within the Ukrainian Canadian
Community. Even through a difficult
year, we maintained grant commitments
of $292,650 for 90 projects. Many of these
projects were high profile (such as the
Trypillian exhibit at the ROM and other
major projects). The Shevchenko Foundation
also maintained its commitment to its
bursaries and educational programs so
that students were unaffected by our
conservative management of funds. With
the upcoming year, we look forward to our
third presentation of the Kobzar Literary
Awards and the funding of several dozen
deserving grant applications.
The work of the Shevchenko Foundation
continues with enthusiasm and in support of
the vibrant cultural life of the Ukrainian
Canadian Community. We also hope and
pray that all of our donors will likewise
experience a very healthy and productive year.
Andriy J. Hladyshevsky, Q.C.
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