The Thunder Bay Community Foundation (TBCF) plays a vital role in how people give back where our community needs it most. We connect people, families and companies with causes where they can nurture their passion, build our community and create a legacy. We combine resources, knowledge and expertise working with others for an even greater impact. We help donors realize their philanthropic goals by matching their interests with community needs. We provide community leadership and specialize in building endowed and other related funds to invest in people and charitable organizations that will have the most impact and improve the quality of life and well-being of the citizens in our community today and for the future. Being transparent and accountable enables us to build trust, which is the foundation to building relationships with donors and charitable organizations and allows us to make a positive impact.
Athena Kreiner, CEO
Athena grew up in the Northern Ontario town of Timmins. She graduated from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton with a Kinesiology degree and received one of the first three, TD Meloche Monnex Fellowships awarded in Canada to pursue a career in Alumni Relations. She worked at the Alumni Association at UNB for 4 years, building relationships with alumni and coordinating reunion events. She also coordinated student recruitment events in all the Maritime provinces and Ontario and engaged recent alumni with high school students to promote UNB.
In 2003 she moved to Thunder Bay and has called Thunder Bay home for the past 19 years! Within a month of moving to Thunder Bay, she began working at the Alumni Office at Lakehead University. She helped coordinate alumni events, organized administrative aspects for alumni and began to meet people from the community. She worked there for 4 years and in 2007, decided to focus her career on fundraising and got a job at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation.
She worked at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation for over 15 years. She started out as the Special Event, Sponsorship and Volunteer Coordinator and was responsible for organizing all of the Foundation’s many volunteers, community and signature events – the Bachelors for Hope Charity Auction and Save a Heart Ball, just to name a few. In 2008, she was part of the team when the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation integrated with the Northern Cancer Research Foundation and she became a Development Officer, while still being responsible for the Foundation’s special events and volunteer department, which had expanded with the integration. Athena wanted to further develop and enhance her fundraising skills and concentrate on the Annual Giving aspect of philanthropy. In 2009, she was promoted to Senior Development Officer of Annual Giving and became responsible for all of the Health Sciences Foundation’s annual giving programs, which included direct mail, grateful patients, monthly giving, employee giving, memorial giving, special occasion giving, and First Marks. In her new role, Athena still continued to oversee the expanding Special Event Department. Over the years Athena’s title changed to Manager of Annual Giving to her last title she held for many years, as the Director of Annual Giving. She has been involved with the Exceptional Cancer Care Campaign and the Our Hearts at Home Cardiovascular Surgery Campaign…two of the biggest capital campaigns that have impacted Northwestern Ontario. Athena has been responsible, with help from everyone on the Health Sciences Foundation team, for raising over $25 million for the Hospital through annual giving and special event programs over the past 15 years!
Amanda Campigotto, Operations & Communications Coordinator
Amanda was born and raised in Thunder Bay, ON. In 2019, she graduated from Lakehead University from the Honours Bachelor of Commerce program with a focus on Marketing. After working and volunteering with various non-profits in Thunder Bay, Amanda knows the importance of a strong community.
Amanda began at the Thunder Bay Community Foundation as the social media coordinator in 2020, but has since taken on the role of Operations and Communications Coordinator. She has a strong passion for helping people, animals, and organizations in Thunder Bay. Each year, she coordinates the annual student awards and granting processes to award deserving students and non-profits in the Thunder Bay and district areas. In addition, she also handles day-to-day operations, donation processing, and content creation for social media platforms.
