Knowledge First Foundation
Our story
Providing every Canadian with the opportunity to pursue higher education is what a group of inspired people sought to enable when they founded the Knowledge First Foundation over 50 years ago.
The founders knew from their own experience what a significant role education can play in people’s lives. They also recognized that Canada’s economic and cultural prosperity is very much tied to the number of young Canadians who can access post-secondary education. Today, Knowledge First Foundation continues to be the sponsor and promoter of Knowledge First Financial and its family of products and services that empower and prepare Canadians for their scholastic journeys.
Reinvesting in students
The Knowledge First Foundation was incorporated federally in 1990 as a not-for-profit corporation with no shareholders. Since the Foundation has no shareholders, it is able to reinvest net revenues in initiatives that support students such as:
- Providing tools and resources to help students gain the knowledge, access, and financial ability to pursue higher education, enabling all forms of lifelong learning.
- Sponsoring the Knowledge First Student Awards, which provides 60 financial awards each year to students in post-secondary schools across Canada. To-date the foundation has awarded almost $2 million to students in recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions to the community.
- Canada Learning Bond: To help give low-income families a head start towards saving for their child’s education, the Foundation is funding an initiative for Knowledge First Financial to help 10,000 additional families receive CLB over the next three years with a flexible, no-cost, CLB-only plan.
The Foundation is committed to encouraging the pursuit of post-secondary education, and each year, the Foundation carefully considers factors such as investment returns, needs of students pursuing PSE and the strategic needs of the business, to determine how to use their discretionary funds to enable the Foundation to further deliver on its commitment to supporting students.