building relationships. building Profile

• A high-profile community event provided the perfect catalyst for a local community foundation and its BMO Nesbitt Burns counterpart to start building a new relationship. The Cedar Ridge Pops Festival is an annual sell-out event, now in its fifth year in Midland, Ontario, the home of the Huronia Communities Foundation. This year more than 500 people attended the event, which brings first class orchestral music to the shores of Lake Huron. “The event has really become a who’s who and the tickets sell out in three days,” says foundation Executive Director Garry Morehouse. This year the event raised more than $200,000 for seniors. The Festival has also established a $50,000 endowment fund at the Huronia Communities Foundation and Cedar Ridge residents are invited to contribute to it throughout the year.

  So when BMO Nesbitt Burns hired a new Investment Advisor for the area, the Cedar Ridge Pops seemed like a good opportunity to start building some bridges.

  Jill St. Amant took out an ad introducing herself and the services she provides, in the Cedar Ridge Festival programme. After that event, she and Morehouse met to discuss the Supporting Your Community program and how they could work more closely together. The foundation asked St. Amant to sit on its grants committee and her office sponsored the foundation’s AGM lunch and its annual report. In addition, St. Amant is also promoting the foundation’s visibility by giving donations to the foundation instead of wedding and memorial gifts.

  “We’re really working together on building a stronger relationship,” says Morehouse. “We know that it will not only benefit both of our organizations, but the community will be the big winner.”