Representatives from a veritable who’s who of charitable organizations gathered at St. Joseph’s at Fleming on Thursday afternoon (May 21) to express their gratitude to the Peterborough Foundation.
Ranging from arts and music to healthcare and social services to heritage and the environment, 28 organizations have received Foundation grants ranging from $500 to over $15,000 between December 2024 and December 2025, totalling over $250,000.
During Thursday’s recipient reception, representatives shared information about their respective organizations and how the funds they received from the Peterborough Foundation have supported the work they do in the community.
“Those of us who sit on the foundation’s board of directors love hearing from the organizations about the amazing work they’re doing each day,” said board secretary Pat Hooper. “It is very inspiring to hear such positive stories.”
The recipient charities featured at Thursday’s event included:
- Achieve Charity
- All Saints Anglican Church
- Art Gallery of Peterborough
- Art School of Peterborough
- Camp Kawartha
- Community Counselling and Resource Centre
- DeafBlind Ontario Foundation
- Geriatric Health/Alzheimer Society
- Heads Up for Inclusion
- Hospice Peterborough
- Kawartha Children’s Aid
- Kiwanis Music Festival
- Market Hall Performing Arts Centre
- New Canadians Centre
- Our Daughter’s Home
- Peterborough Action for Tiny Homes (PATH)
- PARD Therapeutic Riding
- Peterborough Folk Festival
- Peterborough Historical Society
- Peterborough Symphony
- Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation
- Showplace Performance Centre
- St. Joseph’s at Fleming
- Starlight Foundation
- Trent Valley Archives
- Trout Unlimited
- VON Peterborough
- Watersheds Canada
For over 70 years, the Peterborough Foundation has awarded grants to hundreds of not-for-profit charitable organizations in the city and county of Peterborough for capital projects.
Operated by a small but dedicated volunteer board of directors, the Peterborough Foundation was incorporated in 1953 from the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Magie. Louis Magie, an American engineer who worked for General Electric in the United States, moved to Peterborough in 1900 to take a position with company’s Canadian subsidiary, retiring 38 years later.
In 1950, he began to make arrangements for the disposition of the family estate and, with no immediate family members, decided to establish a foundation with the help of Dr. G.S. Cameron and accountant James H. Turner, who would later serve as two of its first directors. A modest man, Magie requested that the foundation not include his name.
After Magie passed away in 1956, the Peterborough Foundation began its work and has since distributed more than $2 million from an original capital base of just under $1 million.
Twice a year, each June and December, the Peterborough Foundation issues grants to charities that have submitted funding applications for capital projects. Applicants must be not-for-profit organizations with a charitable number carrying out operations within the city and county of Peterborough. Grants are awarded for capital purchases only, not operating costs or deficits.
Deadlines for each round of applications are May 1 and November 1. To learn more about about the Peterborough Foundation and to apply for a grant, visit www.peterboroughfoundation.org.
