2025 ComPassion Project Grants: Over $60,000 to Local Partners
Every year, in deep winter, something quietly important happens.
The money we raised together — at the Ski Relay, at Banff Film Fest, through our in-store matching campaigns, events like the Middle Path running series and the Reggie Ramble, through direct donations — gets counted up, and then sent out to the organizations that need it. No fanfare, no big ceremony. Just funds landing where they're supposed to go.
In January, the Wild Rock ComPassion Project completed its 2025 granting cycle. Working through the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough — our essential partners who handle every dollar with full transparency and compliance — we distributed the funds raised between January 1 and December 31, 2025 to our six partner organizations.
This year, the ComPassion Project granted over $60,000 to six organizations doing vital work in Peterborough and the Kawarthas — work that we believe makes this a better place for all of us.
Those organizations are Kawartha Land Trust, YES Shelter for Youth and Families, One City Peterborough, Fourcast Addiction Services, Peterborough Trailbuilders Association, and Peterborough Bicycle Advisory Committee. You can learn more about each of them here.
One thing worth knowing about how these grants work: they're unrestricted. That's intentional. So much funding that non-profits receive comes with strings attached — it can only be used for this program, or that initiative. What we grant is flexible. It lets organizations respond to a crisis, solve a problem quickly, or simply do the work they know needs doing without having to justify it to anyone. We trust these organizations. That trust is part of the grant.
Where the money came from this year
2025 was a different kind of fundraising year for us. Beyond Banff and the Relay, we saw event organizers choose to raise for ComPassion on their own — the Middle Path running race series and the Reggie Ramble both directed participant donations our way, which meant a lot to us. Add in in-store giving, direct donations, and matching campaigns, and we engaged people in more ways than we ever have.
As Kieran put it: "From active days like the ComPassion Relay to film festivals like Banff or the Yeti Film Night, from Wild Again donations to matching campaigns — we engaged so many people in so many ways this year. That's the magic of the ComPassion Project."
The hard truth, and the good news
We're not going to pretend things are getting easier out there. Issues of homelessness, food security and addiction in Peterborough and across Canada are getting harder, not simpler. And the wild spaces we love — the trails, the wetlands, the lands that make this region what it is — are under more pressure than ever, from development, from weakening environmental protections, and from a changing climate that isn't waiting for anyone to get their act together. Government, at every level, isn't keeping pace with the need. That reality is part of why we keep doing this, and why we're grateful that this community keeps showing up.
But we don't want to leave you with the weight of that. Because here's the other truth: a bunch of people went skiing in January. A bunch of people went to the movies. A bunch of people rounded up their purchase at the till or ran a trail race or donated online. And because of all of that, six organizations doing genuinely important work in this city just got a little more room to breathe.
That's you. That's this community. And it's not nothing, it's a whole lot.
Thank you.
The Wild Rock ComPassion Project is an endowment fund founded by Kieran Andrews, operating in partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough. Each year, funds raised through community events, donations, and Wild Rock initiatives are granted to local organizations working to make Peterborough and the Kawarthas a better place for everyone.
