Exploring The Mount Community Centre

In this conversation with Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation, or CSI, we hear about the effect of COVID on their core social purpose coworking space and significant strategic changes happening at CSI.  We see the value of CSi (and other nonprofits) owning real estate, unpack SI Canada’s new role, learn about their leadership on an Impact Dashboard with a Common Approach, and a pilot social enterprise in Muskoka for healing, connection and learning for impact leaders…and much more.

Resources 

Tonya Surman : https://socialinnovation.org/team/tonya-surman/  

Centre for Social Innovation (CSI): https://socialinnovation.org/  

Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada): https://sicanada.org/  

CSI Community Living Room, Regent Park: https://socialinnovation.org/space/locations/community-living-room/  

TechSoup Canada : https://socialinnovation.org/about/techsoup-canada/  

Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN): https://theonn.ca/  

Vancity Community Investment Bank (VCIB): https://vancitycommunityinvestmentbank.ca/  

Climate Ventures : https://climateventures.org/  

Tapestry Community Capital: https://tapestrycapital.ca/  

Wasan Island: http://www.wasan-island.de/  

Breuninger Foundation: http://www.breuninger-stiftung.de/en/  

Community Foundations of Canada (CFC): https://communityfoundations.ca/  

McConnell Foundation: https://mcconnellfoundation.ca  

Common Approach: https://www.commonapproach.org/  

Adopting Common Measures with the Common Approach: https://socialinnovation.org/offering/adopting-common-measures/  

Impact Dashboard: https://impactdashboard.org/  

Resources 

Andrew Taylor:  https://taylornewberry.ca/our-team/andrew-taylor/  

Taylor Newberry Consulting: https://taylornewberry.ca  

TNC and Centre for Evaluation Innovation : https://taylornewberry.ca/what-it-takes-to-learn-during-crises-reflections/  

McMaster research – Nonprofit resilience in context of COVID-19: https://resilience.degroote.mcmaster.ca/home/non-profit-resilience-in-the-context-of-covid-19/ 

Laura Manning, Executive Director at the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation (LSHF) shares the journey and lessons learned from a bold Canadian pilot started in 2018, granting significant additional, unrestricted General Operating Support (GOS) to known grantees.  We hear about the time it takes to get boards comfortable with this approach and what’s behind that. We also hear how Laura and the Foundation see advocating for this approach as part of their work, to help shift the sector.  Now issuing more than 70% of the Foundation’s grants in unrestricted General Operating Support, LSHF provides insights and a framework in a Canadian context, and encouragement to Canadian funders to take a closer look at unrestricted giving as a way to enable impact.

Resources 

Lyle S. Hallman Foundation: http://www.lshallmanfdn.org  

General Operating Support pilot reports: http://www.lshallmanfdn.org/Pilot-Projects.htm  

Laura Manning on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-manning-3b052718/

Ford Foundation Unrestricted Giving: https://www.fordfoundation.org

In this episode, we talk to Paulina Cameron, a Globe and Mail ’22 Changemaker and CEO of The Forum, a Vancouver-based charity teaching, mentoring and supporting women entrepreneurs across Canada to take their businesses to the next level.  We hear about the challenges and opportunities the organization and women entrepreneurs faced through COVID.  We also hear about the systemic issues women entrepreneurs face, and work The Forum is doing in both supporting women to overcome these barriers, while at the same time providing training to banks to address systemic biases.  We’re encouraged to learn that more and more, younger generations of women entrepreneurs incorporate a social purpose in their business.   

Resources 

The Forum: https://www.theforum.ca/  

Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal

.

Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca

Resources 

Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund:  https://downiewenjack.ca/  

ReconciliACTIONS: https://downiewenjack.ca/our-work/reconciliactions/  

Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal

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Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca

Selina Young, Director of the City of Toronto’s first Indigenous Affairs Office speaks with us about Toronto’s Reconciliation Action Plan, recently unanimously approved by Council.  We hear about the process, informed by various Indigenous community leaders, which pushed Selina and her team to revise the plan, ensuring big, bold action towards reconciliation.  It’s also made clear that this plan is not for Indigenous folks to undertake, but rather actions for non-Indigenous folks to be taking, namely by the City and its some 38k people, leveraging its role as service provider, policy developer, partner, system navigator, convenor, negotiator and regulator.   

Resources 

City of Toronto Reconciliation Action Plan: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/long-term-vision-plans-and-strategies/reconciliation-action-plan/  

Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC); https://www.tassc.ca/  

CAMH reconciliation plan: https://www.camh.ca/en/camh-news-and-stories/camh-launches-truth-and-reconciliation-action-plan  

OPG reconciliation plan: https://www.opg.com/building-strong-and-safe-communities/indigenous-relations/reconciliation-action-plan/  

Yellowhead Institute: https://yellowheadinstitute.org/  

Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal

.

Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca

Veronika Berlicki, co-founder and leader of CityHive, shares how they are transforming the way young people engage in shaping their cities.  Based in Metro Vancouver, this 5-year old nonprofit has revisited its initial strategic plans, to assess the impact its been making and see what changes that might mean for the way forward.

They’ve engaged key stakeholders along the way and had some tough conversations as a team, looking at the change they want to be making and considering the trade-offs. They’ve developed a Theory of Change that is not only guiding their work but providing momentum, as they aim for youth facing systemic barriers to have an increased and lasting sense of civic agency. 

To really understand the youth they aim to serve and the solutions they might need to serve them, we hear about a 10-point continuum of civic agency they’ve created, from not really being interested in engaging around 1, to those working with their municipality to create change.

They’ve further dug in to understand what it might take to create that sense of civic agency, uncovering things like voting at the first possible election.   

All of this puts CityHive in a strong position to take action, assessing everything they take on against the impact they seek. 

Resources:

CityHive: https://cityhive.ca

Thank you for listening to Impact Conversations with Lynn Fergusson & Sally Fazal

.

Find out more about our work at Social Impact Advisors: https://socialimpactadvisors.ca

Bianca Caramento is the Manager of the Bay Area Climate Change Council, leading the collective impact initiative to advance and accelerate climate change action in the cities of Burlington and Hamilton.  She shares with us the structure behind this collective, with her “backbone” role housed in the Centre for Climate Change Management at Mohawk College, supporting a collective of 14 community organizations.  

We hear about their Theory of Change – the master plan for reducing green house gases in the community by 50% by 2030, towards becoming net zero cities by 2050, and how this work was informed by data and community consultation.  We see the power of this collective, supporting the work of the cities to address climate change while holding them to account.   

BACCC provides a model for catalyzing change that many seek to emulate in their own communities, be it for GHG reductions or for using a collective approach to address other local issues.