Capital Campaign

Moving First Forward

Demand for our services has outgrown our space at 320 East Hastings. And the space itself is falling into disrepair. To respond to the direct and growing needs of our community, we need your help.

DONATE NOW

We’re redeveloping our site into an 11-storey building purpose-built to suit the needs and interests of the community. The first four floors, operated by FIRST, will provide safe and inclusive community amenities with three times more space for our low-barrier services and programming. The seven floors above will offer safe, secure homes for Indigenous peoples operated by the Lu’ma Native Housing Society. Regardless of circumstance, all people deserve the dignity and care that a safe, purpose-built space can provide.

Revitalizing the corner of Hastings and Gore is a community-informed neighbourhood rejuvenation that centres reconciliation and healing. We cannot do this important work without you.

Will you join us to move First Forward?

First Forward Campaign

GOAL

$37 million

Secured Funds: $27.5 million

Funds to Raise: $9.5 million

Secured Funds

Funds to Raise

Donate Cash

If you would like to make your gift by cheque, please make your cheque(s) payable to First United and write “First Forward” in the memo.

Mail cheques via Canada Post to:

FIRST UNITED
320 East Hastings Street,
Vancouver, BC, V6A 1P4

Mail cheques by courier (UPS, FedEX, etc.) to:

FIRST UNITED Administration
368 Powell Street
Vancouver, BC, V6A 1G4

Donate by E-Transfer

For gifts of $3,000 or less, you can e-transfer. Add FIRST UNITED as a recipient and send your e-transfer to:

[email protected]

Send us an email at [email protected] letting us know that you’ve made a donation by e-transfer and include your full name and address so we can issue your charitable tax receipt. For gifts of more than $3,000, please send a wire transfer.

Donate by Wire Transfer

Need to make a bank transfer for an amount larger than $3,000? No problem. You can make a wire transfer using the following information:

Our legal name: First United Church Community Ministry Society
Our address: 320 E Hastings St, Vancouver V6A 1P4
Institution number: 003
Transit number: 07120
Account number: 1009059

Swift Code (international): ROYCCAT2VIC
Routing/ABA (U.S.): 02100021

Then send us an email at [email protected] letting us know that you’ve made a donation by wire transfer and include your full name and address so we can issue your charitable tax receipt.

Donate by Phone

If you would like to make a donation by phone using a credit card, our campaign team is happy to help. Give us a call at 604.336.3047.

Donate Online

Donating online with a credit card or direct debit is easy! Go to our First Forward donation page to make a one-time gift or pledge.

Donate Securities

Complete our First Forward Securities Donation Form and then email it to [email protected]. Please note that securities must be received in our accounts by the last business day of the calendar year in order to be eligible for a charitable tax receipt for the same year.

Make a Planned Gift

Whether it’s a gift of charitable annuities or a future contribution through a bequest, our campaign team can help. Give us a call at 604.336.3047.

Donations are tax deductible, and we welcome one-time donations or pledged gifts over a period of several years, with pledge payments completing in 2027. Interested in making a pledge?

Download our gift agreement and pledge form.

For information about corporate giving opportunities or our recognition program for gifts over $10,000, please contact us.

Check out these campaign resources

Case for Support

Recognition Program

Ways to Give Form

Why We Give

When we found FIRST UNITED, it was an absolute blessing. Without their help, I don’t know if we’d still be here. If you can see it in your heart to give, you should know that your help could change someone’s life. I know it changed mine.”

—Angelo, FIRST UNITED Community Member

We’re so excited to contribute to this campaign, and move FIRST UNITED forward into a beautiful, purpose-built facility. Just because you’re going through a hard time doesn’t mean you have to put up with poor conditions. We believe this community deserves better.

—Rudy Kerklaan, Co-chair, First Forward Cabinet and Elizabeth Kerklaan, FIRST UNITED Board Member and Golf Committee Chair

Campaign Milestones

Enthusiastic support from both the public and private sectors has propelled First Forward. Check out some of our pivotal achievements.

Early

2020

FIRST receives pledge of a $10M leadership gift to kick-start the redevelopment project.

February

2021

The First Forward Cabinet is formed, and the fundraising campaign begins its quiet phase.

May

2021

United Church congregation St. Andrew’s-Wesley commits $1M to move First Forward.

June

2021

Wheaton Precious Metals makes a $1M corporate contribution to First Forward.

Reconciliation in Action

Safe, Secure Housing

We are excited to be partnering with Lu’ma Native Housing Society on this project to enable the development of over 100 below-market housing units for indigenous peoples in the DTES. Our facilities, meal program, and support services will be available and accessible to residents of the Lu’ma housing project as part of their tenancy.

A Welcoming Environment

To make the new FIRST safe and welcoming, and to honour the indigenous and spiritual roots of the land our building occupies, we’ve incorporated indigenous art and cultural elements into the design of the building in a respectful and appropriate way informed by direct consultation and input from Luugigyoo Dr. Patrick Stewart, Nisga’a architect, and Xalek/Sekyu Siyam Chief Ian Campbell. The building’s Sacred Space and outdoor gathering area will be interfaith spaces suitable for traditional indigenous ceremonies.

Naming Policy

All spaces in the building will be named after indigenous and spiritual roots of the land and indigenous leaders rather than after donors, who instead have the option of offering a dedication to these spaces—this is one of the most progressive naming policies undertaken in Vancouver that puts reconciliation front and centre in the fundraising and philanthropic space.

Campaign Video - Watch Now

Learn More about the redevelopment

Latest news

The Road to Redevelopment

Date 12 Jul, 2023

Category Blog, First Forward, Redevelopment

Timeline In 2017, community engagement, redevelopment and capital campaign feasibility studies set the stage for an incredibly ambitious project— the redevelopment of our site at 320 E Hastings. Five years later, site work got underway 2022 April– Street Use and Salvage & Abatement permits are received, clearing the way for preliminary work to begin on […]

Summer Newsletter: A Retrospective On Our Building

Date 11 Jul, 2023

Category Blog, First Forward, Redevelopment

Honouring the History of Our Old Building We’ve dedicated this summer edition of First Things First to our former building—to honour its history and legacy in the Downtown Eastside. Read just some of the significant events and milestones that took place in our old building. Featured photo by Walter E. Frost 1973 (City of Vancouver […]

Final Steps Through the Old FIRST

Date 6 Jun, 2023

Category Blog, First Forward, Redevelopment

The bricks of our building are starting to come down this week. Before officially saying goodbye, we made sure to do a final walk through what’s left of the building that’s meant so much to so many. If you haven’t already, you can also subscribe to our email list to ensure that you’re getting all […]

First Forward Capital Campaign Cabinet

We’re grateful for the dedication and support of our First Forward Cabinet members, who are as committed as we are to moving FIRST into its new home in 2025.

Rev. Cari Copeman-Haynes, Co-Chair

Rudy Kerklaan, Co-Chair

Mike Harcourt, Honorary Chair

Amanda Burrows, Executive Director and Campaign Director

Trista Baldwin, Campaign Manager

Dr. Heather Clarke

Don Evans

Jim Fletcher

Mark Paetkau

Randy Smallwood

Rev. Nancy Talbot

Nancy Trott

Community Endorsements

It is exactly 100 years since First Presbyterian Church in Vancouver received mission support from the national church. Its special ministry to low-income individuals and family has never wavered through the changing needs of the surrounding community required dramatic changes in program and service. We now have the opportunity to support the redevelopment paving the way for the next chapters in this amazing story.

—The Rev. Bob Burrows, former staff at FIRST UNITED

Congratulations to FIRST UNITED and Lu’ma Native Housing Society for successfully working together to bring new affordable and inclusive supportive housing to East Vancouver. I know the whole neighbourhood will benefit from this supportive space for people to live in community

—Niki Sharma, MLA Vancouver-Hastings, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits, B.C.

As a past volunteer and staff member at FIRST UNITED, I am excited about the potential for this new purpose-built space at 320 E Hastings, offering both services and housing for the neighbourhood. First United has been serving the Downtown Eastside since 1885 and consistently responds to the interests and needs of the community. I know this will continue to be a sanctuary in our city for those who access their services for years to come.

—Christine Boyle, Vancouver City Councillor and United Church Minister

FIRST UNITED’s hugely important new four-floor service centre, combined with Lu’ma’s seven storeys of housing, gets underway in Spring 2022 and is slated to open in early 2024. Once again FIRST continues to lead the way, as it has for over 100 years, in providing kind and dignified service to the vulnerable Downtown Eastside people. As a big supporter of FIRST, I congratulate Carmen Landsdowne and her splendid team!

—Mike Harcourt, Honourary Chair - First Forward and former Mayor of Vancouver, Premier of BC, and FIRST UNITED volunteer in Legal Advocacy in 1969

FIRST UNITED has been serving low-income folks in the DTES, regardless of their religion, for as long as I can remember (andI’m 78 so that is a long time), providing advocacy, shelter, and housing. FIRST was the birthplace of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association. I hope this campaign is successful and we can get this amazing project built as soon as possible.

—Jean Swanson, Vancouver City Councillor

—The Rev. Bob Burrows, former staff at FIRST UNITED

—Niki Sharma, MLA Vancouver-Hastings, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development and Non-Profits, B.C.

—Christine Boyle, Vancouver City Councillor and United Church Minister

—Mike Harcourt, Honourary Chair - First Forward and former Mayor of Vancouver, Premier of BC, and FIRST UNITED volunteer in Legal Advocacy in 1969

—Jean Swanson, Vancouver City Councillor

—The Rev. Bob Burrows, former staff at FIRST UNITED

Thank you for supporting First Forward!

Our corporate donors, media, and in-kind sponsors

Our Contributors

We’re grateful for the generous contributions of individuals, organizations, and foundations to this project. Thank you for helping us to move First Forward!

Join us to move First Forward.

You can’t put a price on dignity. But you can help us build a space that embodies it.

DONATE NOW