TAHLTAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

The Tahltan Community Foundation is a separate organization that will be responsible for working with the Tahltan community to identify priorities for improving the Tahltan community’s well-being and for delivering programs and services to address those priorities. It will be supported by funds distributed from the Tahltan Heritage Trust and provided from other sources (e.g., donations from companies, governments or other sources). The Tahltan Community Foundation will most likely deliver most of its programs and services through service delivery arrangements with other organizations, similar to what is happening with the Tahltan Central Government and the Tahltan Education Fund.

FOUNDATION MODEL

During community engagement sessions, Tahltan members preferred a model that operates independently from the Tahltan Government and sees:

• The Foundation should be governed by a board with staff that specialize in program design and delivery.
• Programs and services are delivered by the Foundation itself or through outside delivery agents who specialize in specific areas (e.g. health, education, language, land management, etc.)
• Multi-year priorities are set in a strategic plan prepared through engagement with Tahltan membership
• Annual priorities are approved by the foundation board

FOUNDATION STATUS

The structure of the Community Foundation is currently being established. During community engagement sessions, Tahltan members have provided input into the shape and scope of what a Tahltan Community Foundation should look like. They prefer a model that operates independently from Tahltan governments. The final model must be shown to be acceptable to Tahltan members. An initial board of directors will need to be appointed by Tahltan Leadership. The initial Foundation board will then work with Tahltan membership and governments to finalize the structure, determine how to fill the remaining board positions, develop a strategic plan and establish interim programs and delivery partners.  The ongoing Foundation board will be responsible for ongoing engagement with Tahltan membership to develop and implement strategies to improve the Tahltan community’s well-being, and for updating the structure of the Foundation when required.