Hebert speaks on Community Foundation at Chamber meeting
Pipestone Legacy Community Foundation launches in June
May 25, 2026, 9:12 am
Ashley Bochek Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Pipestone Legacy Community Foundation is set to launch this June. Its first project is to fundraise for a new rink.
The new rink will begin construction this summer on Park Avenue along the old Number 1 Highway.
Kristjan Hebert of Hebert Grain Ventures and the Community Builders Alliance (CBA) announced the launch of the community foundation and the operations of it at the Chamber of Commerce meeting last Tuesday.
Hebert explains the airport project inspired the Pipestone Legacy Community Foundation.
“I was part of the fundraising committee for the airport, we were able to raise $10 million there through a unique funding model that was 25 per cent provincial, 25 per cent local municipal, 25 per cent Nutrien—they matched the province—and 25 per cent local businesses and it worked well. We did it hand-in-hand with the CBA at the time.
“I’ve also thought about the new hospital and the amount of time, people, and money that we put into that, and how we raised $10 million toward the new hospital, $10 million toward the airport, so we have a hospital and an airport, and no money left, and we wish we could keep building things, even though we have two great assets. So I’ve thought, ‘How do we find a way to keep building these things and continue to move forward?’ So that led to us thinking and the idea is from American universities. Harvard has a $56 billion endowment fund, it’s how they run the whole university. They keep the $56 billion, they invest it, they take all the profits off, but keep reinvesting in the school.
“So, we’ve decided to create a community foundation where if we would have invested the $10 million from the hospital and the $10 million from the airport in the foundation, and just pay toward the hospital and the airport with the earnings, we would still have the hospital and the airport and money left over for other projects. That’s where the idea came from.”
Hebert says the CBA and committee is motivated to build a second rink for the community.
“We started talking about it through the CBA, had a number of conversations with the province and the federal government, and the new rink idea came out of this. Dan and Olga McCarthy, it was one of their dreams on how they can help speed up the second rink, and we got a group of entrepreneurs together, as well as Rec Director Mike Schwean and Mayor Murray Gray, are on the committee too.”
Donations accepted in June
Hebert explains the community foundation will be open for donations this June.
“In June, the Pipestone Legacy Community Foundation is going to launch. Any money you donate to that foundation will be a donation, but it won’t be spent. It’ll be invested and the earnings off the principle will be spent among community projects.
“For example, the airport, if we put that $10 million into a foundation, foundations typically makes seven to 14 per cent, but they usually only spend five, so it would be $500,000 a year the $10 million foundation could put out toward projects. Our goal is a little bit more lofty—over the next 36 months we plan to raise $30 million, $10 million locally, and then we’re going to try and get the province and the federal government to match that.”
Hebert explains the financial goal for the community foundation.
“There was a grant called the ICIP grant, it’s an infrastructure community program, that one was 70 plus percent from the province and the federal government, 27 per cent local, but we’re saying we’ll do 33 per cent, 33 per cent, and 33 per cent to do it once, that’s the whole goal. So, if we raise $30 million in our community foundation, it would generate $1.5 million to go into our community and region every year.
“The second piece is community bonds, so we fully understand that everybody in the community can’t just give money as a donation and not get it back. We understand that you might just want to do $20 a month into the foundation, and that’s great too. It’s in a not-for-profit foundation and it’s going to be managed by the Saskatchewan Community Foundation, so the principal can never be touched all through time. It doesn’t matter who’s in charge of the board at that time.
“With community bonds, if you want to get your money back, say you have $10,000 whether that’s in your RRSP or TFSA, or just to put into a bond, you put it into a bond, you get paid 3 per cent, and it’s a three, five, or 10-year term, and at the end of that term, you get your money back, but it creates a community bank at 3 per cent that the foundation can use to build a rink, a residential housing program, a field house, whatever the community votes is most important.”
Hebert says the foundation will provide future opportunities for the town and region well into the future.
“I think communities have to take their destiny into their own hands and can’t expect all levels of government to do it for them. It’s really hard as business owners, we love donating to things, but I wish I could donate as big of a cheque as I do to one project to all the projects, and we just can’t do that. So, that is where we are launching a community foundation, and it really is the gift that keeps on giving.
“As an entrepreneur say you donate $1 million to the foundation, really you just donated $50,000 a year to the community forever, not just while you’re alive, not just while your grandkids are alive, and not just while their great-grandkids are alive, forever.”
Hebert believes Moosomin has a lot of potential.
“There’s lots of talk on rural Canada, there’s lots of talk of community infrastructure, but at the same time, we have to prove why we’re different. So, you have to find reasons with big enough funds raised locally and that’s why we picked $10 million, we’re also lucky we have the support of Nutrien as an anchor business. It’s not going anywhere, ever. Then you have the entrepreneurial side of our town. We have a number of projects we can show for our community that the entrepreneurs have kicked off.”
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