TV partner helps Victoria Foundation spread the word about Vital Signs

By Stephanie Slater

On Sunday, Jan. 22, CHEK TV News aired a special feature story about the 1000 x 5 Children’s Book Recycling Project in Greater Victoria’s Saanich Peninsula.

The next morning, the phones started ringing at The Victoria Foundation, which had sponsored the story – the first in a weekly series called Vital People. 

1000 x 5 is a project supported by the foundation that aims to ensure every child in their region has a minimum of 1,000 books read to them by the time they are five years old. Callers wanted to donate books – and not just a few! Two callers each had collections of hundreds of books. Jim Munro, owner of Munro’s Books, asked for a meeting with the 1000 x 5 project leader. Other callers asked about replicating the program in their communities. One call came from an organization that works with people who have developmental disabilities. They arranged to bring some of their clients to the weekly sessions where the books are cleaned and sorted.

All this from one, three-minute television story! It was an immediate affirmation of the value of the project – a partnership between the foundation and CHEK TV. For a fraction of the regular cost of advertising, Vital People provides a weekly profile of people and organizations working on the vital issues outlined in Victoria’s Vital Signs® report.

“Vital People spreads the messages highlighted in the Vital Signs reports about needs and opportunities to make a difference in our communities,” said Sandra Richardson, CEO of The Victoria Foundation.

The series not only keeps Vital Signs alive throughout the year, it reinforces the community report card as a project of The Victoria Foundation, helping to boost awareness and understanding of the foundation’s breadth of work.

Vital People stories are posted on the foundation’s website and are also available to the organizations profiled for posting on their websites. These stories will also be featured as part of the soon-to-be-launched Community Knowledge Centre – the searchable database that will showcase registered charities that have received grants from the foundation. Stay tuned for more developments!

For another example of bringing the Vital Signs message forward, see the new Vital Signs checklist featured in the January edition of The Victoria Foundation’s Philanthropy page – a monthly newspaper feature sponsored in partnership with Black Press.

Stephanie Slater is Director of Communications with The Victoria Foundation

Foundations explore ways to unite community through True Sport

By Skana Gee

The Community Foundations of Canada True Sport initiative is picking up steam, moving from a successful pilot project into a new phase of development.

“It’s a unique opportunity to bring communities together with a wide range of partners to build community through sport,” says Cindy Lindsay, CFC’s Director of Member Services.

About 15 months ago, Community Foundations of Canada partnered with the True Sport Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport on a one-year pilot project to strengthen community through sport.

Four community foundations – in Kitchener-Waterloo, Burlington, Winnipeg and Abbotsford – participated in this innovative program, which relied on collaboration, consultation and an asset-based community development approach that connected sport and non-sport organizations to build social capital through sport.

Winnipeg youth play soccer during a tournament funded in part by the CFC True Sport initiative

By early February, Lindsay expects CFC to announce a new slate of potentially four or five community foundation participants.

“We are considering their readiness to embrace the philosophy of the initiative, the ability to nurture community consultation, and the potential to secure matching funds,” says Lindsay.

Indeed, while offering funding from CFC and the McConnell Foundation, the True Sport program also relies on contributions from participating community partners, who can look to the success of the pilot project.

In Winnipeg, for instance, 15 community-led projects received grants, resulting in a baseball festival – led by a coach and students from the University of Winnipeg – as well as a basketball league, a soccer tournament, and other initiatives in the city’s Central Park neighbourhood.

“Each project was unique and was matched by Central Park community resources of volunteer time, donated materials, professional services or cash,” Christina Parsons of True Sport Foundation wrote on The Winnipeg Foundation’s blog.

“By coming together, the community was able to identify its strengths, create connections and build on existing partnerships.”

Let the games begin!

Skana Gee is Communications Coordinator with Community Foundations of Canada

McLean Budden proud to be the Principal Sponsor of the CFC 2013 Conference: Winnipeg. June 6 – 8, 2013

We are pleased to continue our support of the important work of the Community Foundations of Canada. Our two organizations have enjoyed a long relationship and we’re excited to have this opportunity to tell you about some changes. We are pleased to announce that McLean Budden, one of Canada’s oldest and most respected investment managers, has become a subsidiary of MFS Investment Management®, one of the world’s oldest and most respected investment managers.  McLean Budden and MFS have long been a part of the Sun Life Financial family of companies, which proudly serves clients across Canada and around the world. Our new name is MFS McLean Budden, incorporating the proud legacy of McLean Budden in Canada alongside MFS. The organization gives clients access to MFS’ global research platform with its team of analysts and portfolio managers stationed in Boston, London, Mexico City, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and now Toronto, with the integrated MFS and McLean Budden teams.  This combination will increase the number of investment solutions available to all clients.

MFS McLean Budden is proud to continue our association with the CFC which dates back to 2004. The Community Foundations of Canada has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, increasing its influence, its reach and furthering its mission to build stronger communities. Community and teamwork are key themes at MFS McLean Budden as such we look forward to our continued partnership and building stronger communities together.

Michael Bissonette, CFA, is Assistant Vice President at McLean Budden

We can’t wait to see you in Winnipeg: June 6 -8, 2013

Eva Friesen

By Jane Humphries

The birthplace of Canada’s community foundation movement is already getting ready to welcome us to their hometown. Since announcing in May that the CFC 2013 Conference will take place in Winnipeg, we’ve been working on nailing down some key details to make planning easy for you and your community foundation.

CFC’s next conference will take place June 6-8, 2013 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre in the heart of downtown Winnipeg. The Delta Winnipeg, which is linked to the Convention Centre, will serve as our main hotel.

Rick Frost

The CFC Board has also appointed our CFC 2013 Conference Chair and I’m delighted to announce that Eva Friesen, President and CEO of The Calgary Foundation, has accepted this important assignment. Winnipeg is Eva’s home town, and she’s excited about working with CFC and The Winnipeg Foundation in this key leadership role.

We are also thrilled to have Rick Frost – CEO of The Winnipeg Foundation – as our Conference Host. There’s no doubt he and his team will show us a great time! We’re grateful to have Leanne Hammond Komori, Executive Director of Central Okanagan Foundation, serving as CFC’s Board Conference Liaison.

We’re already working with Eva on building our CFC 2013 Conference Planning Committee, which will be announced shortly.

The evaluations of our last conference, which was held in Vancouver in May 2011, were a goldmine of information for us. Thank you for taking the time to fill them out. We plan to build on our successes, and add in everything we’ve learned to bring you an exciting, inspiring, and innovative learning opportunity.

We are off and running!

Jane Humphries is CFC’s Vice-President, Organization and Professional Development, and CFC 2013 Conference Director

Communities engage global citizenship to respond to disaster in Japan

As its citizens struggle in the aftermath of the horror of the earthquake, tsunami, and potential nuclear crisis, people from around the world are offering help, in the form of volunteers, supplies and, of course, financial contributions to organizations and agencies that can offer direct services.

There are a number of ways community foundations are developing responses to the crises, including setting up disaster relief and recovery funds, or making them available as options to donors.

Here are some examples of the work going on:

The Board of Governors and staff at Madison Community Foundation are extending the normal mid-month distribution deadline to the end of the business day on Monday, March 21, and will expedite distributions to the relief agency of donors’ choice.

The Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan will help donors make a gift from their funds to relief agencies, and the foundation will also assist those who want to make gifts related to the rescue effort but do not have a charitable fund at the Foundation.

The California Community Foundation has announced a new charitable fund to provide emergency aid and assistance to those affected by the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Japan on March 11. CCF is contributing $100,000, and invites individuals, families, organizations and companies throughout Southern California to make tax-deductible
contributions to The Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Fund.

We want to hear from you!

What ideas does your community foundation have to engage your community’s response to the crises in Japan?

Community foundations occupy unique niche, says Philanthropy Australia chairman

Community Foundations play a vital role in philanthropy, occupying a unique niche that should be cultivated, the Chairman of Philanthropy Australia recently told the 2010 Community Foundations Forum.

In his address, titled Community Foundations in the Australian Philanthropic Landscape, Bruce Bonyhady focuses on positioning community foundations within the broader philanthropic sector and talks about how his organization is helping the sector grow and have greater impact.

The more than 1,400 community foundations around the world represent grassroots philanthropy, Bonyhady says, and provide a structure through which people can start modestly and give regularly.

In pointing out that measuring impact is the number-one concern for Philanthropy Australia members, he speaks at length about Canada’s national Vital Signs program, calling it “a very useful and exciting development in the field of wellbeing measurement.”

Bonyhady talks up the program’s approach: the fact it relies on community involvement, its reports can be understood by a wide range of readers, can be collated to produce a national snapshot, provide valuable information to the media, and useful guidance in grantmaking.

He adds that the success of Vital Signs in Canada may very well pave the way for its introduction within Australia.

His remarks are worth a read. You can find Bruce Bonyhady’s speech here.

The Canadian Task Force on Social Finance releases a new report on Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good

By Betsy Martin

About 500 people flocked to the MaRS Discovery District last night for the launch of the report of the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance – no mean feat for the launch of a report on a rainy end-of-November Tuesday night in Toronto. A packed auditorium, a good panel discussion, video messages from Paul Martin, Sir Ronald Cohen, and others, dozens of questions, and a humming crowd that stayed and mingled – and stayed.

The task force’s seven recommendations are a call to action to institutional investors, governments, regulators and financial institutions to do the things we need to do in Canada to attract more capital to our social and environmental challenges, recognizing that government and philanthropy can’t do it all. But it’s not just about meeting needs – investors around the world are making money investing in innovative solutions.

In the foundation world we really need to pay attention to this report, not least of all because the first recommendation is for us: “To maximize their impact in fulfilling their mission, Canada’s public and private foundations should invest at least 10% of their capital in mission-related investments (MRI) by 2020 and report annually to the public on their activity.”

Here are two ways to look at this recommendation:
If you’re the task force, and your goal is to increase private capital for public good, foundations make a lot of sense as a place to start. They exist for the public good and accordingly enjoy significant tax benefits, they are mission-based, and in Canada they represent about a $30 billion pool of capital. By virtue of their privileged place in Canada, they have an important leadership role to play in creating the environment and the infrastructure that will enable other investors – most of whom are not mission-based – to come to the table.

If you’re a foundation, and your goal is to help build a vital community or address a set of social and/or environmental challenges in Canada, mission-related investing is a tool you should be looking at. Foundations around the world and increasingly in Canada are making a bigger difference when they use some of their assets and not just their granting dollars. Investments in affordable housing, jobs, manufactured wetlands, and social enterprises of all kinds are just some of the ways foundations are putting their assets in support of their larger goals, earning a return, and being able to recycle the capital over and over again. And by showing that these kinds of investments can work, foundations can leverage a lot more money to the causes and communities they support than grantmaking alone can ever do.

There’s a lot that will need to happen over ten years to get to the Task Force’s goal of 10% of foundation assets in MRI, but much of that is already in motion. And the distance we’ve come since CFC began its responsible investing initiative a few years ago is impressive.

Just one last thing. The task force is a signature project of SIG – Social Innovation Generation – an initiative spearheaded by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation with other partners. The late, much-loved Katharine Pearson was the early architect of SIG and as I listened and looked around that full auditorium last night, I had a real sense of her presence and delight at what is blossoming from the seeds she helped to plant.

I’ll be blogging more about all of this in the days ahead.

National Philanthropy Day pays tribute to great contributors, lasting contributions

By Skana Gee

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

The quote is from an American – 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt – but it crosses all borders, real and imagined. And it’s worth consideration today, especially, as we mark National Philanthropy Day.

The idea is that on this day we recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy – and those active in the philanthropic community – have made to our lives, our communities, and our world.

Today is the 25th anniversary of National Philanthropy Day, spearheaded by the Association of Fundraising Professionals. It was officially declared in Canada just last year, by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.

I’ll be using some of my time today to think about the amazing work being done coast to coast my members of Community Foundations of Canada, and its thousands of affiliated programs, initiatives and projects.

While I’m quite new to the community foundation movement, my respect and admiration for all of its players is great – I feel I have been welcomed into a family of dedicated, enthusiastic and, most of all, compassionate Canadians who are “doing what they can, with what they have, where they are.”

That drive will be palpable as we gather May 12-14 in Vancouver for CFC Conference 2011, a much-needed opportunity to reflect, reconnect and recharge with colleagues from around the globe.

We’re eagerly anticipating the featured speaker – another U.S. President. Bill Clinton is sure to inspire with his philanthropic message, as are the other plenary speakers, including Naomi Tutu and Bill White, who leads the renowned Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

But mainly it’s a chance for all of us to learn how to be better philanthropists, through professional development, networking and Community Learning Forums, which will see conference-goers visiting venues and organizations funded by Vancouver Foundation.

I’ve become acquainted with such grantees across Canada – and the work they do: what they can, with what they have, where they are – via my communications work on Canada’s Vital Signs.

Some of these impressive efforts include hands-on environmental action by Hamilton Community Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council, a quick response by the Foundation of Greater Montreal to help newly arrived Haitian immigrants, and Vancouver Foundation’s role in establishing the new Immigrant Employment Council of British Columbia. Others are also documented in our Vital Signs Impact Stories.

With those in mind, I raise a toast to all of you. Happy National Philanthropy Day!

Skana Gee is Communications Coordinator with Community Foundations of Canada.

Death of long-form census robs funders of ability to gauge success of programs, efforts

By Ernie Ginsler

What’s all the fuss about cancelling the long-form census?

Just because it is “arguable” that a voluntary questionnaire sent to 30 per cent of the population will still give good results – as the federal government claims – does not mean it is true. (The mandatory long-form census went to 20 per cent of the population).

About 370 professional groups and government bodies agree that all we will get from a larger survey, which will under-represent low-income Canadians, immigrants, and other marginalized groups who tend to not respond to voluntary surveys, is a very expensive, unreliable survey.

So what will we lose if the long-form census is cancelled? Governments in Canada at all levels spend a lot of money – probably in excess of a hundred billion dollars each year – on services to improve the lives of Canadians. They help pay for adult literacy programs, immigrant settlement programs, subsidized child care, affordable housing, skills training, education from kindergarten to post-doctoral studies, health services for Aboriginal communities, and much, much more.

This funding will continue to be provided to some extent, but we will lose a significant amount of our capacity to evaluate whether it is producing positive outcomes. We won’t be able to tell whether immigrants are able to use the skills and education they brought to Canada, and we won’t know whether their earnings match their education and training. We won’t know whether the general population in our community has the education needed for the jobs that are being created. We won’t know where to build subsidized child-care centres because we won’t know where people with young children and low incomes are settling. We won’t know where to set up adult English-as-a-Second-Language programs because as new immigrants settle in new neighbourhoods, we won’t know which ones they are moving to.

The loss of the long-form census is of specific interest to community foundations across Canada because of the impact it could have on their annual Vital Signs reports.

I know, because for the past four years I have been the data consultant for Waterloo Region’s Vital Signs. I have also provided consulting to many community-based planning initiatives, including a recently completed 40-year plan to reduce violence in Waterloo Region. I have done research for federal, provincial and municipal levels of government.

All of these plans and reports were heavily dependent on data directly from or dependent on the long-form census. Producing such plans and reports at their current level of comprehensiveness – or anything approximating it – will be utterly impossible.

Governments, community and other foundations, United Ways, and individual donors base their funding on identified needs in their communities. They judge the success of their efforts by measuring positive changes in the lives of those in their communities.

“My gut tells me” or “I think” are not sufficient criteria for making decisions on where to direct money to improve the lives of Canadians. We need solid information and that can only come from having solid, reliable, valid socio-demographic statistics from which to work.

Ernie Ginsler has been actively involved in community-based research and nonprofit governance as a professional and as a university faculty member for almost 40 years. He has taught at York University, the University of Waterloo, and, currently, at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Tough economic times still ahead

By Lynne Slotek

As Canada’s Vital Signs 2010 reported, “the fallout from the global recession is far from over.”

Regrettably, history has taught us that – without extensive government stimulus – it will be many years before Canada returns to unemployment and poverty levels that existed before the recession. After the 1980s recession, for example, it took seven years for Canada’s unemployment rate to return to pre-recession levels, and even then poverty rates kept going up for another three years.

Recessions do not hit all Canadians equally. A report prepared last year for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW), The Economic Crisis through the Lens of Wellbeing by Jean-François Arsenault and Andrew Sharpe, showed that in each of the previous two recessions, lower and middle income families experienced much larger losses of income than higher income households.

In the 1982-83 recession, the market income of the bottom 20 per cent of households dropped by 38 per cent, while the top 20 per cent of households lost just 3 per cent. In the 1990-93 recession, the bottom 20 per cent lost 74 per cent of income compared to 5.1 per cent for the top 20 per cent.

The situation for the unemployed and Canadians living in poverty has been further complicated by the growing holes in our country’s social safety net. Cuts to EI combined with a weakening of welfare benefits have rendered the climb out of poverty more difficult than in the past.

The climb has been especially steep for historically disadvantaged groups such as recent immigrants, racialized groups, Aboriginal peoples and youth. A second report prepared for the CIW, How are Canadians Really doing? A Closer Look at Select Groups by Caryl Arundel and Associates noted that racialized groups are three times as likely to be poor than other Canadians.

History can be an important predictor of future patterns. But sometimes we need to remind ourselves that it’s there to teach us, not to bind us. History will only repeat itself if we allow it to. We Canadians are an adaptable people and we have the capacity to explore new solutions.

What does this mean in public policy terms? It means there must be two priorities for government action. First, since recessions and their aftermath primarily hit those who lose their jobs, it is vital that governments support such individuals by designing and implementing income supplement and retraining programs that meet their needs by opening up real access to real jobs.

Secondly, governments must offset as much as possible the shortfall in private-sector spending that prevents our economy from operating at full capacity. This is no time to become complacent and assume that just because GDP may be picking up a little, the market economy will take care of everything. It was that kind of thinking that got us into trouble in the first place.

In short, we still need ongoing government stimulus and support for both Canadians hit hardest by the recession and for the economy if we are to avoid the extended periods of high unemployment and even higher poverty rates that have followed previous recessions.

Lynne Slotek is the National Project Director of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. CIW Reports on the quality of life of Canadians are available at www.ciw.ca.