A Brief History of the CFFLA

Our Beginnings

More than thirty years ago, a group of community-minded leaders imagined what a community foundation could do for Lennox and Addington.

Mr. Hogarth’s Donation

The Napanee District Charitable Foundation (NDCF) came into being in December, 1987 with an establishing donation of $100,000 gifted from the estate of Edgar Creighton Hogarth.

Mr. Hogarth, a prominent local businessman and community leader, operated Hogarth’s Book and China shop in downtown Napanee until his passing on April 14, 1962.

No ordinary book or gift store, the business location at 16 Dundas Street East (where Ellena`s Café is located today) was, among other remarkable things, the textbook supply centre for all of Lennox and Addington`s primary and secondary schools.

In January 1987, the donation from the estate of Edgar Creighton Hogarth.was deposited in the Royal Bank of Canada by sons and estate executors, Murray and Don Hogarth to become a perpetual commemoration of their father and the Hogarth family.

A Step Forward for a Small Community

The Town of Napanee (with a population: about 5,000 at the time) became one of the very few small Ontario  towns to be home to its own community foundation.

On November 14, 2000, our Letters Patent were amended to change the word “Charitable” to “Community” in our name – and we became the Napanee District Community Foundation.

From then until 2013, we were an all-volunteer enterprise. The first paid Executive Director and Administrative Assistant were hired in the Spring of 2013. 

Reaching the Community of Lennox and Addington

By 2015, as a small, resource-limited and all-volunteer organization for 26 of its 30 years, our Foundation’s presence and activities – though highly prized among donors and beneficiaries, were still not well known of in the broader community . . . and particularly not as well known beyond the borders of Greater Napanee. This is what inspired the renaming of the foundation to the ‘Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington’ at our Annual General Meeting in 2017.

Today…

Today, we continue to advocate meaningful change, collaborate with donors and support charitable organizations for the community of Lennox and Addington.

So far, this year we have been able to award 125,738$ through 16 grants and 23 scholarships and bursaries!

To our fellow community members, we are here to support you… for good…and forever!