The Winnipeg Foundation says it has distributed the largest amount ever in its nearly 100-year history.

The foundation says it gave out $31.6 million in 2016 to more than 900 charities in Winnipeg — an increase of $3.9 million from last year.

"It's a record-breaking year for us and we're really excited about that," said Richard Frost, CEO of the Winnipeg Foundation.

"The longer you're here the more people hear about us, the more they hear about the kind of work that we do."

WRENCH's newcomer cycling program was funded in part by the Winnipeg Foundation in 2016. (Winnipeg Foundation)

The foundation received 5,716 donations last year, totalling $37.3 million, Frost said.

Created in 1921, the Winnipeg Foundation is not only Winnipeg's oldest community foundation, it is the oldest in Canada. Over its nearly 96 years of operation, the foundation has given more than $400 million to the Winnipeg community.

It supports a range of different groups, said Frost, from drop-in shelters to summer camps and seniors centres.

"We have a very broad reach," the CEO said. "We try to be a diversified community foundation serving all kinds of needs in the community."

Some of the other charities supported by the Winnipeg Foundation include Art City, the Winnipeg Repair Education and Cycling Hub (WRENCH), and St. Amant.

The supports range from just a few thousand dollars to buy a new dishwasher to nearly a million dollars to help build the new Inuit Art Centre in downtown Winnipeg.

On Thursday the foundation announced it is giving $600,000 toward building the new Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, 105,000-square-foot facility to be constructed at the Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

"We've done some large grants but most of our grants are $15,000 so they're much smaller than that and they're reaching a very broad spectrum of community organizations," Frost said.

Try out our interactive map on our granting page to see our most recent grants at a glance! <a href="https://t.co/Trp1mgno9y">https://t.co/Trp1mgno9y</a> <a href="https://t.co/KF887xC427">pic.twitter.com/KF887xC427</a> —@winnipegfdn

Approximately 21 per cent of grants are in the health sector, while 32 per cent went to community services, 15 per cent to education, 15 per cent to arts and the rest divided among areas like heritage, recreation and the environment.

"The Winnipeg Foundation is highly involved in the community and it's hard to highlight any one of them, they're all really important," said Frost.

The Winnipeg Foundation reported an 11.25 per cent return on investments made in 2016.

"The returns are strong, we've come through all those financial crises of 2008 and 2011 … and now I think the numbers are much more positive," said Frost.