January 23, 2003

Auditors’ Report -  

To the Board of Directors of  

The Greater Saint John Community Foundation 

We have audited the statement of financial position  of The Greater Saint John Community Foundation as at October 31, 2002 and the statement of revenue, expenditures and changes in fund balances for the year then ended. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Foundation’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.

Except as explained in the following paragraph, we conducted our audit in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform an audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation.

 In common with many charitable organizations, the Foundation derives revenue from donations and bequests, the completeness of which is not susceptible to satisfactory audit verification. Accordingly, our verification of these revenues was limited to the amounts recorded in the records of the Foundation and we were not able to determine whether any adjustments might be necessary to revenues, excess revenue for the year, assets and fund balances.

In our opinion, except for the effect of adjustments, if any, which we might have determined to be necessary had we been able to satisfy ourselves concerning the completeness of donations and bequests referred to in the preceding paragraph, these financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Foundation as at October 31, 2002 and the results of its operations for the year then ended in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles.

The comparative figures in these financial statements were reported on by other auditors.

Wilshaw and Associates Professional Corp.

Chartered Accountant

1 Nature of organization

The Greater Saint John Community Foundation was established in 1976 by an Act of the New Brunswick legislature to serve as a trustee of the investments, which are held for charitable, educational and cultural purposes.  The Greater Saint John Community Foundation is a registered charity under the Income Tax Act.

On December 20, 2000 the New Brunswick Legislature amended The Saint John Foundation Act to change the name of The Foundation to The Greater Saint John Community Foundation.

2  Accounting policies

Fund accounting

To observe limitations and restrictions placed on the use of resources, the accounts of The Greater Saint John Community Foundation are maintained in accordance with “fund accounting” principles.  Under this procedure, the revenue and resources and their related expenditures for specific uses are summarized in a separate group of accounts.  Accordingly, the financial statements are presented by fund category.

General fund

The general fund reports amounts, including donations and investment income, to be used to support charitable grants and administration.  The donor has placed no restrictions on the use of the funds.  The distribution of grants is determined by the Board of Directors.

Restricted fund

The restricted fund is comprised of the following funds:

      Old Ladies Home of Saint John

      Dr. Malcolm M. Somerville Bursary Fund

      Marie Murphy Walsh Clock Fund

      Jervis Bay – Ross Memorial Park Fund

     Jane and David Barry Administrative Fund   

Investments

Investments are pooled investment funds and are recorded at market value.  Changes in market values are recorded as unrealized gains and losses.

Investment income

Investment income is recorded net of investment management fees.

3 Grants received

 The Foundation was awarded grants during the year from the Community Advancement New Brunswick program, a program jointly sponsored by Community Foundations of Canada and the T. R. Meighen Foundation.  Flow through grants of $10,000 (2001 – $20,000), and operational grants of $25,000 (2001 – $25,000) have been shown as income in these financial statements.  In addition, the Foundation received $100,475 as endowment donation matches throughout 2002.