A Message from the Board of Trustees

In 1985 a group of community members in Toronto established an endowment fund intended as a continuous source of financial support for the future needs of the A.R.S. Kololian Elementary & Babayan Kindergarten day school.

Over the following ten years this determined and persistent group, through their generous individual contributions and a number of fund raising projects, succeeded in growing the fund capital to $225,000.

The Capital of this growing endowment fund was invested prudently and the investment income (approximately $20,000 annually), transferred to the ARS day school every year for the past 15 years to help cover the school's operating budget shortfall.

Encouraged by the results of this initiative and its track record of success, the Directors of the Armenian Community Center decided to expand the horizon of this effort and create a new endowment fund with a much broader mandate. This new fund in addition to the A.R.S. Day School, would also include other Armenian organizations on its list of beneficiaries. The structure of the fund would also allow donors to direct the proceeds of their donations to the organization of their choice or a favourite cause.

Thus the Armenian Endowment Fund was incorporated in Canada as a separate legal charitable entity in 1997 with $381,813 in capital assets. Additional donations over the years since have grown the total capital of funds to $6,003,148 as of December 31 2016 in endowments and special funds.

We continue to disburse stable and predictable investment returns to beneficiary charities with annual contributions exceeding $150,000 over the past few years.