In determining which projects to support, Foundation staff and Governors ask the following questions:

• Does it fit our legislated purposes?
• Is it in line with our mission statement?
• Does it focus on aligning resources and leading learning related to sustainable land use practices?
• Does it meet basic criteria?
  • Involve logical partners
  • Target real estate/land use practitioners and/or key public audiences
  • Encourage best management practices
  • Fill a previously unmet need
  • Increase the capacity of an organization, sector, or community to improve real estate and/or land use practices
  • Does it have realistic objectives and a reasonable budget?
• Does it meet our effectiveness criteria?
  • Innovation & leadership
  • Partnership & collaboration
  • Sustainability/longevity
  • Scalability/replicability

NOTE:
The Real Estate Foundation of BC relies primarily on the interest generated on real estate brokerage trust accounts for its revenue. In 2009 the Foundation received significantly less income than in previous years.

The Foundation is committed to continuing its grants program and would like prospective applicants to understand that less money will be available for disbursement in 2010, as it was in 2009. Although an application may meet the minimum requirements for a Real Estate Foundation grant, there will be many applications competing for a smaller pool of funds. This will result in fewer grant applications being approved, and those which are approved may receive less than requested. (Dec 16/09)

The Foundation gives priority to education programs and products that:

• present original research and/or education arising from new legislative requirements;
• serve more than one relevant audience/ engage a range of practitioners;
• aim to influence real estate and/or land use practice in specific ways after the project is complete.

The Foundation does not fund the regular business of land trusts and conservancies, including landowner contact programs and associated outreach campaigns. Support to build the capacity of the sector is provided through grants to the Land Trust Alliance of BC.

The Foundation may consider supporting workshop or conference programs where there is robust real estate and/or land use related educational content. Programs intended solely for an organization's membership (e.g. annual conferences) will not be given priority.

Current priorities include:

• Innovative non-profit housing/shelter construction and renovation projects that create new units or beds in response to an identified/researched need in the community.
• Housing projects which incorporate sustainable land use and green building practices.
• Housing projects in smaller communities, which often lack the resources and fundraising base of larger centres.

Please see "Exclusions," below, to help determine a project's basic eligibility. Note that, as a rule, the REF will not fund housing projects receiving funding under the Independent Living BC program.

As well as the general criteria and grants program goals described above, the Foundation considers the following when reviewing requests for support of education events.

• The program must be incremental to the usual activities/program of the applying organization (e.g., annual general meetings and conferences are not eligible for support);
• Eligible budget items may include travel expenses and honoraria for speakers, pre- and post-event information, and a portion of event administration costs;
• Presenters who are members of the applying organization are not eligible for speaker fee cost recovery from the Foundation's grant.

The Foundation will not entertain applications for:

• directed political, religious and other advocacy;
• activities that will primarily or exclusively provide benefits for individuals;
• facilities providing medical or medically related services and programs;
• facilities primarily providing "program space", such as day care centres, drop-in centres, community centres, community halls, or schools;
• development of sports fields, camps, and related or other recreational facilities;
• acquisition of lands for conservation, such as parkland, greenways, natural areas, wildlife habitat, etc.;
• research and education focused on the science of conservation;
• projects that deal with the concerns of a single resource sector, such as forestry, fisheries, or farming;
• retirement of debt;
• ongoing and regular operating expenses of established programs;
• activities that promote the earning capabilities of the real estate industry membership.