The Weyburn Credit Union is making major changes to how their Community Fund is handled, and making changes to the branding for the fund as well.

Tana Torkelson, the vice-president of marketing with Weyburn Credit Union explained the biggest change is they will now be processing all the applications within a set window.

“We’re moving to a two month application period, rather than accepting applications all year long on an ad-hoc basis,” Torkelson explained. “It’ll really give us an opportunity to bring awareness to the fund, and decrease the resource time that it takes us to go through applications.”

The fund this year will also be growing. Over the past 10 years, Weyburn Credit Union has provided more than $300,000 in grants. This year, they will be upping the amount by near 20 percent, as they have allocated $62,674 to the fund, the most ever.

Organizations and community groups will be able to apply for a grant once the window opens on March 1st. To be eligible for funding, applications need to be on behalf of a not-for-profit organization for a project which will be self-sustaining and will provide benefit to the community.

The window for applications will open on March 1st, and applications will be accepted until April 30th. From there, applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications on June 15th, with the announcement of recipients of grants to be made at a WCU community event on June 21st.

The Community Fund is also receiving a new logo, which incorporates a portion of the Credit Union logo. The logo was unveiled to be complementary to the Weyburn Credit Union, but remain identifiable on its own.