Cortes Island Community Foundation board chair Mark Spevakov says the organization made great strides in 2022, raising and disbursing more than $200,000 to local non-profit social service groups on the rural island of 1,000 year-round residents.

He points to the launch of the Cortes Island Academy last year, in partnership with the local school district, as a highlight. The academy provides high school students with credits for attending a program on the island. Previously, students had to either be homeschooled or leave the island to attend high school.

Spevakow believes the Cortes Island Community Foundation may be the smallest of the 200 foundations across Canada that make up the Community Foundations of Canada. He says the concept for the foundation began in 2017, but when it received charitable status in 2021, it was able to apply for government grants and issue tax receipts to individual donors.

Spevakow is optimistic about how the foundation can assist the local community this year, heading into 2023.

Spevakow talks about the formation and future of the Cortes Island Community Foundation in the interview below with CKTZ News: