Hello to the CFC 2011 Conference Participants!

You all played a central role in creating an innovative and forward thinking convening of community foundation leaders from Canada and around the world.

We hope you found the unique variety of plenary presentations, engaging concurrent sessions, interactive Community Learning Forums, and special receptions and events valuable, and we thank you for being such a special part as attendees, presenters, and supporters. A special thanks to the staff of the Vancouver Foundation for hosting our gathering in beautiful downtown Vancouver.

With the learning collected at the conference, we move forward with the challenge of strengthening our communities and making them more resilient. With new and traditional channels of connecting, we look forward to collaborating and partnering in efficient and creative ways to produce positive community impact as we take our work back home. The concurrent session presentations from our many insightful speakers are available on our conference website. We hope you will refer to them often.

Thank you for joining us in Vancouver and we hope to see you at the CFC 2013 Conference in Winnipeg!

Jane Humphries, Conference Director &  Rahul Bhardwaj, Conference Chair

By Taylor Barrie

When the Scotiabank Dance Centre broke ground in 1999, it was met with a collective sigh of relief. After a long struggle to find a location which would be approved by the government, and an expensive agreement to preserve the heritage façade of the historical building, the Dance Centre construction moved forward at a rapid pace and the Centre officially opened its doors in 2001.

A tour of the Scotiabank Dance Centre revealed that the 32,000 square foot Centre would not have been possible without the help of various funders, including over $300,000 in funding from the Vancouver Foundation. The company is proud to announce that they are both debt and mortgage free, although their sole revenue stream comes from rental fees. The Centre is home to both Ballet BC and the Vancouver Ballet Society, and its membership is comprised of over 30 professional companies and 200 artists.

Session participants were treated to a special sneak-preview of “_post”, the latest show by artist-in-residence James Gnam. The private viewing gave a glimpse into the challenge faced by many dancers: the battle between traditional and contemporary forms of dance.

Scotiabank Dance Centre provides dancers with fundamental amenities that make their jobs easier – from studios and showers, to specialized athletic therapists and video archiving. Thanks to the support of a cross-section of funders, the Scotiabank Dance Centre can make a significant contribution to the dance community.

Takeaways

1. Many organizations must rely on a variety of funders – from Foundations to the National Government.
2. Through collaborative efforts, the Dance Centre can open its doors to artists of all mediums.
3. Dance is one of the most underfunded arts in Canada.

Session Presenters Dorothy Bartoszewski and Meriko Kubota of Vancouver Foundation

By Jenette Martens
Session:  Vancouver Foundation’s Gen Green Experiment: Funding and Engaging Youth

Our world is changing. Technology is changing. Our economy is changing. Should our giving change too? Vancouver Foundation is experimenting with new ways to give through their Generation Green Awards where they fund individuals—specifically youth—instead of organizations.

They distribute awards between $1,250 and $12,500 to young people between the ages of 6 and 24 who have ideas for a greener neigbourhood. One project led by 10-year old Keegan will allow 15 neighbourhood families to work together to grow their own food. They’ll plant and care for approximately five fruit trees in their local park, and enjoy the fruit it produces. They’ll share what they learn with other park users.

Another project, organized by five students aged 18 to 24, offers greener courier alternatives for the thousands of small deliveries made in Vancouver’s downtown every day. They will use trikes with cargo bins to deliver packages in and around downtown to decrease pollution and educate others about sustainable transportation.

Learn more about the Generation Green Awards and the great projects being supported at http://www.vancouverfoundationawards.ca/.

 Takeaways

1. Social media is a great tool for communicating with youth.
2. Storytelling is a way to demonstrate the value of a project.
3. Directly investing in individuals creates a ripple effect that is hard to measure.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
www.vancouverfoundation.ca/awards

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Meriko Kubota and Dorothy Bartoszewski – Vancouver Foundation

By  Kerry Ryan
Session: Community Building Through Collaboration: Issues, Convening and Legacy

Collaboration: why now?
The time is right because there are gaps now that can’t be met by government, and because private, public and non-profit bottom lines are aligning (financial and social mission).

 What are the key ingredients?
Congruence of mission, formal agreement, communication protocol, continual learning, time/trust-building, committed leadership, resolve conflicts early, have courage (be prepared to fail).

 How do we work together?
Cross sector collaborations can be tricky. Engage a convenor that is independent, without entrenched interests (eg. an ideal role for a community foundation). Partners must be willing to set aside individual interests, and share their own connections and capacity, toward a larger end goal.

 What are the risks?
Partners may be concerned about maintaining their identities. Momentum may drain over time; have a sustainability/exit plan. Build long-term funding and ownership into the process.

 How do we fund collaboration?
Collaboration is time consuming, but funders often don’t invest in that time. Community foundations love supporting new ideas, but what about the next phase when a project is still in its infancy? CFs aren’t project funders — is this an opportunity for funders to collaborate?

Resources are limited; as funders, community foundations like to see results. But, collaboration isn’t always tangible and measurable. Can community foundations view collaboration as a form of investment, where potential benefit outweighs the risk?

 What’s next?
The philanthropic and non-profit sector needs to find ways to reward collaboration and get out of the competitive mindset.

Takeaways

1. Collaboration is the new innovation.
2. How do we change our mindset from competition to collaboration?
3. Collaboration is the how, not the end result.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Toronto Community Foundation’s Toronto Dialogues: Convening creative minds to develop innovative solutions  

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Rosalyn Morrison and Rahul Bhardwaj, Toronto Community Foundation
Tim Broadhead, The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation
Robin Cardozo, Ontario Trillium Foundation
Faye Wightman, Vancouver Foundation

By Justine Lee
Session:  Philanthropy’s Role in a Changing World

Avila Kilmurray, Director of The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, and Patrick Johnston from BOREALIS Advisors, led “Philanthropy’s Role in a Changing World”.  Johnston summed up change in the world at the CFC 2011 Conference when he said that he wrote his speech previously but by the time he had to present at the session on Saturday, he found many elements of his speech irrelevant so was forced to write a new one.

We are faced with a world that is constantly evolving and changing.  Although technology has connected us to the rest of the world, there are many emerging trends of which we are not aware.  Community foundations are constantly on the receiving end of new information.  Their challenge is to identify and work with new trends and to rethink the way in which community foundations exercise their mandates.

Philanthropists and community foundations need to be excited to take risks and act as a test bed in search of development for alternative approaches.  Just as TakingITGlobal’s Mike Furdyk stated in his closing plenary that failure is crucial to learning, Kilmurray quoted someone from the last CFC conference who said “great failures define great foundations”.  If community foundations want to continue to be key players within the global community, they must act innovatively, whether through entrepreneurship or adopting business models.

Johnston encouraged community foundations to “engage and leverage [their] resources”, transcend borders, and work with the government, public, and private sectors.  Borders sometimes act as barriers, as community members become enchanted with safeguarding their own communities’ interests.  Johnston noted that there needs to be an “evolution in ways people think and associate themselves with communities” so that people can begin to view themselves as acting on behalf of their global community, versus the notion of engaging only in philanthropy in their own communities.

 Takeaways

1. Community foundations need to act bigger, adapt better, and use their imagination.
2. Community foundations need to rethink the way they exercise their mandates or else they run the risk of becoming irrelevant.
3.  There needs to be collaboration with the public, private, and government sectors.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
www.canadahelps.org
www.kiva.org
www.kickstart.ca

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Avila Kilmurray, The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland
Patrick Johnston, BOREALIS Advisors 

By:  Justine Lee
Session:  Next Generation Leaders in the Workplace

“Next Generation Leaders in the Workplace” was facilitated by  Lynne Toupin from the Human Resources Council for the Nonprofit Sector led the session; Justin Ho, Manager of Business and Membership Development for United Community Services Co-op, and Martin Garber-Conrad, CEO of the Edmonton Community Foundation, were the two panelists.

Approximately 34% of those working in the Nonprofit sector fall into the Baby Boomers category.  Interestingly enough, while Generation X should be the next generation of leaders, statistically they are one of the smallest cohort groups, sitting at 18%.  As Generation X has a leadership deficit, the Baby Boomers must turn towards Generation Y or the Millennials at 33% for succession planning.

As a member of the Generation Y group myself, it was interesting listening to the perspectives of session attendees who were mostly Baby Boomers and contrasting them with my own perspective.  I agree that the Generation Y group has a great need for instant gratification and therefore shies away from long-term commitment, making it a challenge to get young people interested in, and staying involved with, Nonprofits beyond episodic involvement.  Focus from Generation Y members can easily wane so continually adapting to youth needs identified by the youth themselves in innovative and exciting ways is the best way to engage youth.  A session attendee discussed how his non-profit in Ottawa is now run  like a business in an attempt to change the image of the non-profit sector to attract youth.

While listening to the panelists discuss next generation leaders, I couldn’t help but think how interesting and beneficial it would have been to have a Generation Y speaker.  My involvement with Vancouver Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council made me acutely aware of youth involvement, as we made a conscious effort to try to fund initiatives that were entirely youth-run and dedicated to youth.  If community foundations are looking for younger members to sit on their boards, staff, or to volunteer, young people need to be included in their discussions, as who better to provide an account on next generation leaders than these emerging leaders themselves?

 Takeaways

1. All generations have a role in replacement including as influencers and bridgers.
2. Young people need to build organizations into ones for which they want to work.
3. Including young people into CF’s needs to be accomplished alongside increasing foundation diversity.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector

By:  Aaron McRann
Session:  Bringing Business to the Table

Bringing business to the table is obviously of critical interest to community foundations because this session, hosted by Diane Solinger of Entrepreneurs Foundation, was absolutely jammed.  They brought in extra seats and I still had to stand!

Diane brings a wealth of experience in corporate philanthropy to the CFC Conference, having worked with more than 800 companies in the development of their philanthropic strategies.  Granted, her world is a bit different than mine and that of many other Canadian CF’s.  This is proven by that fact that she casually spoke of a “small” tech company they worked with that had only 7000 employees… almost one quarter of the population of my town.

However, the reality is that the issues facing business, particularly in relation to philanthropy, are pretty universal and we have a lot to learn from someone like Diane, who has a breadth of experience most of us will never match.

Her core message today was that there is a changing social contract between the social sector, corporations and government and community foundations will play a critical role in helping the most able of these three groups (corporations) to find the biggest bang for the buck.

The simple fact is that governments can no longer fulfill their long standing social obligations. Diane pointed out that 51 of the top 100 economies in the world are corporations.  Amazing!  And more than a little scary, if you ask me… But there is also an incredible opportunity here and the shared value model will be critical to helping companies and communities fill the needs of their citizens.

Shared value differs from CSR (or Corporate Social Responsibility) in that CSR is considered an obligation, something forced on the big, bad business by the demands of its customers or its employees.

Shared Value aims to find a business case for philanthropy within every business.  Shared Value is about understanding the unique talents of the business.  Once those talents are clearly articulated, it’s important to define the business objectives.  At that point the hunt is on for a philanthropic mission that aligns with both the talent and the objectives.

If this process is successful the outcome is powerful.  The community benefits from the generosity of its corporate citizens; the company’s profile is raised in the community; the employees are more engaged and proud of their employer.  Bottom line: giving becomes good business.

 Takeaways

1. Corporate Giving must move beyond preaching that companies have an obligation to give.
2. To use the ultimate business cliché: we need to find a win-win for everyone.
3. Effective Corporate Philanthropy must be driven by the leadership, but owned by the employees.

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Entrepreneurs Foundation
HP Global Social Innovation 

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Diane Solinger, Entrepreneurs Foundation

By:  Jenette Martens
Session:  Gimme Shelter: Addressing the Youth Homelessness Crisis

It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario in which I don’t have a house to return to tonight, I’m hungry but have no food, and I’m constantly on the lookout because I don’t feel safe. That scenario may be hard for me to imagine, but for many Canadian’s my age, it’s a reality.

In Vancouver Foundation’s session this afternoon, ‘Gimme Shelter: Addressing the Youth Homelessness Crisis’, I learned about a whole segment of young people who are falling through the cracks in society. The Foundation has been focusing on youth homelessness since 2008. It is focusing on collaborating with organizations and youth to give young people a voice and make them feel worthy to deserve more. Because of the Foundation’s efforts, fewer youth are living in the situation I described above.

In the session we performed an exercise where we were given a monthly budget of $1,100 and subtracted the costs of rent, food, heating, bus fare and diapers. We didn’t have enough money to make it through the month. Because of the high cost of living, many young people are driven to Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels that have no private bathrooms, no kitchens, and are often infested with bed bugs. One of the panelists summed it up emphatically: “An SRO is not a home”. She’s right, and I feel inspired to work toward a future where they don’t have to be anymore.

 Takeaways

1. Involve young people in the conversation about youth homelessness
2. Support programs that teach practical life skills
3. Build relationships to make youth feel worthy to deserve more

PRESENTATION CONTACT

Vancouver Foundation:  Catherine Hume, Vi Nguyen, and Puneet Grewal
Watari Youth, Family and Community Services:  Michelle Fortin

By:  Kerry Ryan

Session: On the Record: Why a city newspaper and a community foundation joined forces to fight poverty

On a day in 2005, the Hamilton Spectator ran a blank front page, honouring the untold stories of the 100,000 Hamilton citizens living in poverty and making a commitment to change. With a full-time poverty reporter and a promise to not just cover, but help reduce, poverty in the community, the paper entered a partnership with the Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF) to address the city’s most complex and intractable problem.

HCF had already decided to focus its granting on poverty reduction, recognizing that socio-economic health of the community was a pre-requisite if its broader grant-making were to be effective.

“The Poverty Project” focused on making geographic, empathetic and inspirational connections with Hamilton residents. The partnership included two main publications: Vital Signs and Code Red. Code Red, an investigative journalism initiative which mapped and explored the relationship between local poverty and health, uncovered huge gaps between Hamilton’s wealthiest and poorest neighbourhoods, including:

• a 21-year difference in life expectancy
• a high school drop-out rate ranging from 0 to 85%
• Hamilton neighbourhoods with higher rates of low birth weight babies than Sub-Saharan Africa

As a result of this spotlight, poverty is now front and centre on agendas throughout the community and was top of mind in the most recent provincial election campaign. The issue is embedded in the paper’s journalistic consciousness and galvanized the Spectator’s team to engage with an inner-city school and many other grassroots projects.

However, poverty in Hamilton today remains largely unchanged. There have been some tangible successes among seniors, and capacity-building in inner-city neighbourhoods, growth in school nutrition program and reduction of crime. However, both the Spectator and HCF recognize it will be a long-term process; much work lies ahead.

 Takeaways

1. This partnership “changed the political conversation forever” in Hamilton. In 2010 provincial election polls, 80% indicated need to address poverty as top issue.
2. Empathy is a great motivator in poverty reduction; creating empathy is a key role for community foundations.
3. Linking poverty to health outcomes put the issue into a context citizens can easily understand and “could not walk away from.”

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Hamilton Community Foundation
Hamilton Spectator
Code Red

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Terry Cooke, Hamilton Community Foundation
Dana Robbins, The Hamilton Spectator

By Kerry Ryan

Session:  Beyond Community Kitchens and Gardens: Moving from Silos to Systems in Food-related Grantmaking

Recipe #1  (From the kitchen of the Metcalf Foundation) Combine diverse perspectives to form Sustain Ontario, a multi-sectoral umbrella organization for groups working in food. (It started with 23 members two years ago; now has approx. 250. It brings together innovative projects and grassroots perspectives. The organization is bringing sustainable food conversations out of the margins and into the mainstream.)

Add: media and the convening power and flexibility of community foundations.  Meanwhile, prepare Food Solutions Papers: multi-sectoral recommendations to make food systems more effective and address issues of health, accessibility, food security and environmental sustainability.

Tips to the chef: test and taste!

Recipe #2 (From the kitchen of Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders)
Ingredients: Wide variety of donors and funders, fun and delicious opportunities, engaged participants (take stakeholders to the producer, show them where food comes from), patience, time, BOTH program and operational dollars (walk the talk: use local food for operations/meetings), willingness to take risks (remember: farmers are the biggest risk-takers ever!)

Yield: community revitalization

Recipe #3 (From the kitchen of Vancity Community Foundation) Blend together: people, donors, foundations, government.

Infuse: capital. (Not only operational and programming dollars, but invest in Community Shared Agriculture and the systems that underpin food production and food security. This is a huge, growing area of interest for donors.)

Yield: Long term, holistic change within communities – including social, health and environmental benefits.

Tips: don’t be afraid of building and reinforcing political capital – systemic and integrated support is necessary for change.

Takeaways

1. Food represents a remarkable way to work in different sectors: agriculture, health, economy.
2. Foundations are well-placed to facilitate conversations around food and bring issues up from the grassroots to government.
3. Food is an opportunity to address social change.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Metcalf Foundation
Sustainable Food Lab
Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation
Ag futures alliance 

PRESENTATION CONTACT
Virginia Clarke, Sustainable Agriculture and Food System Funders
Sandy Houston, Metcalf Foundation
Derek Gent, Vancity Community Foundation