The White Edition 2011

the white edition

december 2011

philanthropy Legal roots Jessica Clogg uses dispute-resolution fund to extend West Coast Environmental Law’s reach and garner supporters Playing for possibilty Moira Gookstetter supplements grants by increasing membership to Gymnastics BC

Ship shape Simon Robinson starts new school programs to help Maritime Museum stay afloat Dream world Laura Grieco has people celebrating in the street for Public Dreams Society

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

health THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

Non-profits are not often thought of as businesses, but they are in the business of fundraising; and when it comes to strategic planning, innovation plays as much a part in a non-profit as it does in a Fortune 500 company. With this in mind, Business in Vancouver takes a look at fundraising in eight key sectors to see what creative solutions have been successful in raising awareness and money.

This paves the way for the BIV Non-Profit Innovation Awards to be launched in 2012. To hear more on the topic, join our White Breakfast speakers on Tuesday, December 6, at the SFU Segal School of Business, 500 Granville Street, Vancouver. Visit www.biv.com/colour.

– Baila Lazarus, news features editor, Business in Vancouver

Contents

Businesses and charities align for good Raising cancer awareness and benefiting people – “pink” or not

6 Developing strategies

You don’t have to be a major non-profit to be engaged in worldwide activities

8 Serving children

Kids’ charities turn to tech to simplify process for donors

10 Sinking feeling

Maritime Museum rethinks its strategy when faced with donor fatigue

12 Action plan

Public Dreams garners support by presenting community celebrations

14 Good connections

Environmental groups see collaboration as key to fundraising success

16 Sport check

Amateur athletes need to find other avenues of funds besides ticket sales

18 Street view

Homelessness seen as one of more complex problems in Vancouver

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Bo Gembarsky

The “wear pink” campaign to foster awareness of cancer, particularly breast cancer, has become a popular way of drawing attention to various efforts to raise funds for research. It has even coloured one of the most widely played video games ever made.

For the past two editions of the cornerstone Madden NFL franchise, Electronic Arts division EA Sports has featured a “pink” presentation option that replicates the real-life branding used by National Football League players and stadiums.

“We came up with the idea [of implementing ‘pink’ mode] on the development team,” said Madden NFL 12 creative director Mike Young. “We are very passionate about replicating everything that happens in the real NFL. We saw the fans’ and players’ excitement [for] the program the year before, and we thought it would be a good way for us as game developers to increase awareness for a great cause.”

Young said the idea was an easy sell to EA’s marketing department, as well as the league itself. “The NFL was thrilled and was a great partner, getting us all the materials we needed to replicate what they do.”

It wasn’t as easy as it appears. Hundreds of pink details had to be implemented including the gloves, cleats, captains’ patches, sideline hats, field art, commentary lines, broadcast graphics, and even the logo on the ball.

“It was surprisingly challenging,” Young said. “None of our uniform art was set up to dynamically change based on the event type. Our programmers and technical artists had to change all of our pipelines to accommodate this. In the end, it’s totally worth it.”

The video game giant also gave $100,000 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation in 2010, the latest in a long line of donations EA has made to the organization.

“EA has a long history of involvement with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and with the cause of finding a cure for breast cancer,” said Julie Wynn, U.S. manager of EA outreach and corporate giving. “EA has sponsored their annual walks to raise awareness Printed on a waterless digital offset press

Business in Vancouver December 2011

the White edition 3 sponsor’s message

THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

Giving Back Part of PacBlue Culture At PacBlue Printing giving back has always been part of our company culture.

We live our values and we do the right things for the right reasons.

We care about each other, our customers, the environment and our community.

To us and the PacBlue staff, philanthropy is about what is in your heart, not what is in your pocket.

As individuals, and as a company, we give gifts of the heart and spirit to support local causes and issues.

We feel a special connection to organizations promoting health and humanitarian aid, the arts, prevention of animal cruelty, and the environment.

Madden NFL 12 creative director Mike Young: “we thought it would be a good way for us as game developers to increase awareness for a great cause”

and funds for the past 10 years, and additionally has fielded teams of employees, their friends and family for each event.

“We will continue to field a team and raise money for the walks local to our offices.”

pacblueprinting.com/about us/community support

Jonathan and Carol Colley

Alternative views While the “pink” campaign has gained traction in the past few years (every NFL and NHL game viewed at some point in October featured it in some way) another co-operative effort is taking root in Canada to directly help cancer sufferers – without any colour scheme.

The Vancouver-based Thrive Alive Foundation, co-founded by naturopath oncologist Walter Lemmo and fundraiser Stephanie Klaus last April, will give people living with cancer in Canada access to life-saving, life-enhancing cancer treatments not normally covered by governments or health-care plans. They range from surgeries to chemotherapy, diagnostic treatments to non-traditional modalities such as acupuncture, massage and emotional counselling.

“We are very different from the whole ‘pink’ movement,” said Klaus, the foundation’s president. “We’re new, we’re grassoots, we’re not raising money for research: our benefit is directly helping people.”

The Canada-wide “Thrive Support Program” begins January 1, 2012, granting up to on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper

Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Stephanie Klaus, co-founder and president of the ThriveAlive Foundation (c), with volunteers and “thrivers” Jenny Boreham (l) and Eden Macdonald, who attribute their health to the integrative program in which they participated

$1,000 to eligible recipients who apply at the organization’s website, www. thrivealive.ca. One of the first companies to get on board was Nature’s Way Canada, one of the country’s most widely distributed manufacturers of herbal medicinal products. It was also natural for the company to partner with ThriveAlive.

“Their vision and values are very similar to that of Nature’s Way,” said general manager Ben Morello. “We’re in this business to help people. It’s a great business to be in, but we’re also helping people get healthier, and ThriveAlive’s vision is the same. It’s funding medical protocols to help people get better through natural medicine, and that’s what we’re all about.”

The feeling is mutual for Klaus, and she believes it’s important for ThriveAlive to be philosophically aligned with their anchor sponsors. “Having that initial participation from a company in Vancouver was really important to Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

building our brand and our credibility.”

According to Morello, Nature’s Way Canada will initially commit approximately $5,000 to ThriveAlive along with supplies of the company’s hundreds of products. While that will surely increase the company’s brand recognition, Morello said there’s a deeper purpose.

“Anything that you do out in the community contributes to your brand awareness, but for us it’s more about

giving back to the community. I think that’s more important than anything else. Giving to those in need is more important than branding our product. The whole purpose of getting involved with ThriveAlive was not to brand our product, it was more to give back to the community.

“Branding will come with it; as with anything in life, I believe if you give, you get back.” •

“Anything that you do out in the community contributes to your brand awareness, but for us it’s more about giving back to the community. I think that’s more important than anything else” – Ben Morello, general manager, Nature’s Way Canada Printed on a waterless digital offset press

The Heart of the Business

PacBlue started out as a small family run business and quickly grew to a full service printing company. Many things changed over the years but one thing still runs deep - the spirit of family, community and helping others less fortunate.

We contribute to causes close to our hearts and the hearts of our team members, as well as offering special pricing to charitable organizations and non-profit associations.

At PacBlue, we truly care. pacblueprinting.com/about us/community support

You think it…we’ll print it.

200 - 380 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver

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604 714 3288

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Small nonprofits big on the ground in Third World

international Development

Vancouver-based NGOs find low-cost or no-cost ways to help make a difference in international development

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Shanti Uganda executive director Natalie Angell at Uganda construction groundbreaking, with members of the women’s income-generating group

Lorne Mallin

We’ve all heard about big global nongovernmental organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam. But smaller Vancouver-based nonprofits like the Shanti Uganda Society and CoDevelopment Canada are also making a difference in the developing world and punching far above their weight.

Measured by its Vancouver staff of only two part-time workers, Shanti Uganda is tiny. They put their annual budget of $150,000 to work on the ground, employing 15 in Uganda and inviting Canadians to volunteer in the East African nation.

In a village in central Uganda they built and now run a birth house with seven local midwives, guide an income-generating group of HIV-positive women, and offer holistic health workshops for dozens of teen girls, among many projects.

Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

How do they do it?

“It’s about engagement” through partnerships and volunteer networks, said Natalie Angell, executive director and founder. “I think this is a great component of non-profits, specifically smaller non-profits and it definitely supports the work that we’re doing.”

A prime example is Off the Mat and Into the World, a San Francisco-based non-profit that mobilizes yogis to support global service projects like Shanti Uganda, which was founded by yoga teachers. Women throughout Canada and the U.S. fundraised for the Vancouver non-profit.

“Off the Mat is the organization that provided the funds to build the birth house and has been working with us over the years to fund additional projects, such as our [Canadian] project coordinator’s salary in Uganda,” said Angell.

Another creative way Shanti Uganda attracts funding is through organizing a 10-day trip to Uganda in January with a safari, rafting and a few days’ service at the birth house. Each participant contributes $500 to the organization.

Shanti Uganda recruits volunteers it calls ambassadors, who hold home parties and sell colourful, fairly traded jewelry, handbags and yoga mat bags made by 21 women in the income-generating group in Uganda.

“Part of the income goes back in cash to the women to accomplish their own goals,” said Angell. “And the rest goes into the work we do in the community in Uganda.”

CoDevelopment Canada, known as CoDev, also uses fair-trade product sales to support its goals. It created Café Etico, a social enterprise that buys direct from Latin American farmer associations and gives 100% of its coffee, tea and chocolate profits to promote human rights.

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Business in Vancouver December 2011

CoDevelopment Canada executive director Barbara Wood: “we’re trying to use the social media as much as possible to reach out to people who may have never heard of us before”

Founded in 1985 by public-sector union activists, CoDev builds partnerships between like-minded organizations in Canada and Latin America to foster learning, social change and community empowerment.

Executive director Barbara Wood said the office of five full-time employees doesn’t use a hierarchical staff system.

“We’re a relatively small organization and we’ve found the best way to structure is a flat structure where each of our staff members is responsible for their own areas of work,” she said. “The body that is responsible for management is our board of directors. The board meets monthly and the staff and the board relate directly during those meetings.”

Working with a budget of $1.5 million, Wood said CoDev offers a unique model in providing expertise and knowledge as well as financial resources.

“When CoDev was founded, they thought it was important to involve Canadians not just as donors but to look for ways of understanding issues that are affecting global poverty and justice and to act on that,” she said.

For example, in March, CoDev organized a delegation of experts in occupational health and safety from B.C. to travel to Honduras at the request of a women’s organization there that tries to improve the working conditions of on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper

Dominic Schaefer

Vancity Community Foundation executive director Derek Gent: the foundation is a host for donors and helps match them with organizations seeking funding

women in clothing factories.

Wood says CoDev uses “low-cost or no-cost” ways of getting its work known. “We do have a website that we relaunched last year, that is brighter and more interesting, and we’re on Twitter and Facebook. We’re trying to use the social media as much as possible to reach out to people who may have never heard of us before.”

While CoDev gets most of its funding from public-sector unions and the federal government’s Canadian International Development Agency, the Vancity Community Foundation has been a major supporter.

Executive director Derek Gent said the foundation, which is the

philanthropic arm of Vancity Credit Union, has given CoDev close to $100,000 since they first became connected in the early 1990s. A recent community project grant was $10,000 for Café Etico’s new marketing plan.

“We love the work that they do,” Gent said. “A big tenet of our foundation is supporting development rather than aid and that’s very much part of the ethos at CoDev.” Gent said the foundation is a host for donors and helps match them with organizations. “Rather than a group setting up its own charitable foundation, we effectively provide the back office, do the receipting and help manage the funds,” he said. •

“A big tenet of our foundation is supporting development rather than aid and that’s very much part of the ethos at CoDev” - Derek Gent, executive director, Vancity Community Foundation Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

health

Michael Cuccione Foundation

No kidding!

Professional athletes, like former Vancouver Canucks player Trevor Linden, pictured here with students from Killarney Mini School, do much to raise the profile of a fundraising event

Children’s charities are turning to technology, pre-paid credit cards and other creative forms of giving to attract donors

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Noa Glouberman

Kids aren’t the only ones becoming tech savvy these days. Charities benefiting children, like Variety – the Children’s Charity of British Columbia, are using technology to boost their fundraising efforts.

“About a year and a half ago, we were looking at reaching a younger demographic – donors who might not send in a cheque or go online to donate,” said Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

Danielle Lucas, marketing and communications specialist for Burnabybased Variety. “Since most people use their cellphones as a primary form of communication these days, text donating seemed like a great option.”

The charity turned to Ontario firm ZipGive (a division of Zipstripe Corp.) to facilitate its text donating program, which lets donors text the word “KIDS”

to 45678 to contribute a preset amount of $10. The donation appears on their monthly bill.

“We are very excited to be using technology in a way that simplifies the donating process and increases the number of potential Variety donors,” said executive director Barbara Hislop in a release.

“Variety is always looking for new ways to fundraise and the opportunity to give Printed on a waterless digital offset press

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donors as many ways as possible to give.”

Text donations, Lucas adds, peak each time the program is promoted on Variety’s Show of Hearts Telethon and its six annual radio-thons because “people hear the message, grab their mobile and text their donation in. It’s instant giving.”

The campaign has raised $6,500 since its launch in 2010.

Donors can also support Variety through prepaid Visa cards that contain an embedded charitable gift of 20% (the other 80% can be used by the cardholder anywhere Visa is accepted). Vancouver’s Rare Disease Foundation also uses “Give & Go” prepaid Visa cards to raise funds because, explains board member Roberta Pak, “it’s a competitive market out there [and] we are a small organization that needs to be really creative when it comes to giving.”

Not only does the program raise money for the foundation, which works to find solutions for children affected by rare diseases, Pak said it “gets our name out there because it’s printed on every card. Hopefully, out of that, someone will click on our website and that will multiply into more support in the long run. As a young organization, it’s an innovative way to reach out to people.”

Activities boost interest The Rare Disease Foundation’s also had success with events that ask for donor participation – not just financial contributions. “Our Diamond Race is a fun activity that sees teams of two running around downtown Vancouver, competing with other teams for a prize diamond,” she explained. Like the reality show The Amazing Race, teams are given clues that lead them to different destinations or direct them to perform a task.

“There are a lot of innovative charitable events going on out there. You just have to find what works for you,” said Pak. Besides hosting its own “Amazing Journey” fundraiser, Ronald McDonald House (RMH) BC – where out-of-town families with seriously ill children can stay while their kids receive medical treatment at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver – is big on “active” events that get bodies moving.

“Activity helps engage participants in on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper

Dominic Schaefer

Business in Vancouver December 2011

Roberta Pak, board member, and Dr. Millan Patel, research director and co-founder, Rare Disease Foundation: parents of children with rare diseases, such as Pak, work with clinician scientists, such as Patel, to raise funds for research

who we are and what we do,” said CEO Richard Pass. “As opposed to just coming to an event and giving a donation, they’re able to golf, ski or do some other fun activity that connects them with our families.”

In 2011, RMH BC hosted several successful golf tournaments, plus a two-day Whistler Ski Challenge that saw corporate team members race for the kids – and even test their skills against Olympic athletes like snowboarders Alexa Loo and Crispin Lipscomb, freestyle skiers Veronica Brenner and Deidra Dionne, and Paralympic alpine skier Lauren Woolstencraft.

“Having the opportunity to ski with an Olympian was certainly a highlight,” said Pak, who is busy planning the next Whistler Ski Challenge in April 2012.

“It takes a great event and makes it even more.”

Professional athletes figure largely in children’s charities’ fundraising activities.

Gloria Cuccione, mother of the late

Michael Cuccione and executive director of his Port Moody-headquartered foundation, says celebrity does much to raise the profile of a charitable event.

“We absolutely love it when the Vancouver Canucks or the Whitecaps partner with us to do fundraising for kids who are fighting cancer,” she said, pointing to the Michael Cuccione Foundation’s Skate for a Cure and Kick for a Cure events. “It helps get people to come out and participate … and it’s very touching to see these big, tough, burly guys tearing up when we show Michael’s video. It really becomes a family affair.”

Though Cuccione admits the foundation’s social media activities on, say, Twitter and Facebook, are limited, she said “it’s something we might look at more closely in the future.” For now, the charity is “blessed with media and other partnerships that help us get the awareness out there. We put a lot of faith in word of mouth – it’s worked for us so far.” •

“Variety is always looking for new ways to fundraise and the opportunity to give donors as many ways as possible to give” – Barbara Hislop, executive director, Variety – the Children’s Charity of British Columbia Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Culture

Follow your passion; the money will follow Dominic Schaefer

Speaking from the heart when asking for funding resonates with donors

Simon Robinson, Vancouver Maritime Museum executive director, in front of a model of the HMS Orion, a Napoleonic-era warship

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Corey Van’t Haaff

The Vancouver Maritime Museum (VMM) was in danger of sinking. There had been a years-long debate about relocating the museum, which exists to preserve, educate and inform locals and visitors of maritime activities, present and past.

Early in 2010, when the concept of building a National Maritime Centre in lower Lonsdale was abandoned, some thought VMM might close, and visitors would lose the chance to see such reminders of history as the RCMP Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

schooner the St. Roch, the original Newt Suit and the Arnold chronometer carried

by Captain Vancouver in 1792.

“The board of directors emphatically stated that Vanier Park would be the permanent home of the Vancouver Maritime Museum,” said Simon Robinson, executive director, adding that the on/off plans created a high degree of donor fatigue.

“They had become jaded,” he said.

“It wasn’t just a question of asking for money; we had to keep in touch and tell

them our news. We had to engage them as partners not funders.”

There were face-to-face meetings with donors who traditionally had a connection with VMM. Robinson hired a fundraiser, the museum’s first. He also introduced exciting school programs to bring people back and to fulfil the educational component of the VMM’s mandate. Revenue through school programs doubled because he doubled the number of ventures in that area, including the new inner-city school program that received Printed on a waterless digital offset press

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Business in Vancouver December 2011

Villagers in Kenya sort beans they have grown as a result of help from the Aga Khan Foundation and CIDA. Two hundred local women work at this processing facility. The initiative fed people in the village and beyond, and now packages and exports some of its crops

Karim Salemohamed, volunteer convener, World Partnership Walk. The walk started as an Ismaili fundraising initiative but now attracts 40% non-Ismaili participants

multi-year private funding.

“Programs are the easiest to raise funds for, as donors can see them. Asking for money for operating is not a compelling sales pitch,” he said.

In 2010, government grants made up 52.25% of VMM’s revenue. By September 2011, government grants only comprised 44.91% due to an increase in earned revenue.

Robinson also looked inward. He developed an operational plan with departmental objectives so staff knew what was expected and could follow through.

“There was a clear focus around what needed to happen. The old message was that we were failing,” Robinson says.

That’s changed now.

“We’ve become more productive.

People see the results and are inspired.

They see success, and we re-engaged with our partners and they see it. More people show up for exhibits. It sounds cliché but when you put in the energy and there’s a good vibe, it finds its way out into the broader world – and it’s attractive.”

“The money comes as a by-product,” he said of that good vibe. “You have to have a passion and believe deeply about what we do. People can smell a rat right off.”

times the AKF’s original contribution.

One project in Kenya wanted to eliminate hunger in a village. The AKF and CIDA provided knowledge, equipment and seeds to allow farmers to grow beans and peas. The project was successful; the village fed people beyond its own boundaries and now packages and exports some of its crops. AKF monitors progress but self-sufficiency means funding is no longer needed.

“When I talk to individuals and corporations,” said Salemohamed, “I tell them the exact amount they donate goes to the project and that if they provide $1 and CIDA gives $8, their donation allows $9 of work to happen. It makes them more eager to give as their dollar will be spent correctly and transparently.”

To reach a wider audience of potential donors, AKF employs the concept of ambassadors or champions.

“They are passionate about the cause,” said Salemohamed. “They speak to 10 people who then speak to another 10. It’s all done one-on-one. We relate by talking about the project and the work we’re doing. I have to get the right volunteer who believes in the cause so passionately and emotionally. They then go in and talk to a company and find someone to become a champion in that organization.” •

on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper

Walking the talk Passion for the cause is the raison-d’être at the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Canada, a non-denominational charity raising funds to find and share lasting solutions to the challenges of global poverty.

One of the key fundraising activities is its World Partnership Walk.

“Ismaili Muslims – five women – started this walk 27 years ago to raise money locally to make a difference globally,” said Karim Salemohamed, convener of the walk, which raised $7 million last year through individual and corporate donations. And, because the Aga Khan himself covers all administrative costs, every penny raised provides direct funding to the projects.

Salemohamed says that the ambitions of Canadian women and African women are the same: to put food on the table, have shelter, and provide their children with an education.

“In Canada, we take that for granted; in East Africa, they have to work for it. If we do something here it makes a difference there.”

The AKF often selects projects that qualify for matching grants from private groups or from government organizations like CIDA, which provides up to eight

Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Community

Nurturing community spirit Dominic Schaefer

Connecting people and raising awareness through active participation

Laura Grieco, managing director, Public Dreams Society: supporting the arts by getting people out to community celebrations

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Ingrid de Jong Joffe

Many charities find it challenging to get people to attend their community events.

For the Public Dreams Society, it was just the opposite problem. Their East Vancouver-based celebrations became so wellknown they overshadowed the society’s identity in the public consciousness.

Large crowds attended the annual Parade of Lost Souls for the past 18 years, but may not have realized it was hosted by a non-profit society that’s been around for more than 25 years. Public Dreams lost funding from the BC Gaming Direct Access in 2009 and the Halloween-themed Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

event was called off the same year due to difficulties in raising fundraising support.

Founded in 1985 by Dolly Hopkins, Paula Jardine and Lesley Fiddler, Public Dreams was created based on a shared vision to lift the spirit of community in Vancouver through cultural celebration.

“Public Dreams exists to strengthen communities, neighbourhoods and cities by inspiring creativity in everyday life,” said managing director Laura Grieco.

“In some cultures, if a person has a dream that affects the life of their community, they have to perform it in

public. We create modern rituals for a society that has become disconnected.”

Early on, the society developed a creative services arm to help businesses produce their own community events and support its mandate.

“From the beginning we knew that other than donations we received, we needed another way to fund our work,” said Grieco. “Long before many other charities considered social enterprise, we started a for-hire creative events business to offset the costs of putting on our large scale community events.”

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Business in Vancouver December 2011

“Many kids don’t know that food doesn’t come from a grocery store” – Krystal Vrba, founder, Footprints Conservation Society Public Dreams Society

Neighbourhood unity

Dave Tucknott Photography

A blue heron puppet takes flight in Stanley Park thanks to the creativity of Public Dreams and the support of the BC Arts Council and a former Cirque du Soleil designer

Krystal Vrba, founder, Footprints Conservation Society: sharing a message of environmental awareness and gardening among children in local schools

This year, the society has begun working to brand its community celebrations as Public Dreams events. It reinvented the Lost Souls parade into a smaller Secret Souls Walk by partnering with the Dusty Flowerpot Cabaret, an East Vancouver group of community artists.

Last year, the group applied for a $30,000 innovation grant from the BC Arts Council and created a Heron Walk in Stanley Park with the help of a former Cirque du Soleil designer, as well as puppeteers from the film industry and community centres. on 50% recycled, 25% post-consumer waste paper

The grant was a result of $7 million allocated to the Arts Council in 2010 by the British Columbia government, and was designated for programs “supporting innovation, commissioning, capacity building, sustainability and mentorship.”

“We created a large-scale innovative and artistic project to draw people in from different environments and help them work together,” said Grieco. “We chose the heron as an emblem as it’s an elegant creature that is still living in Stanley Park today after 125 years, despite drastic urbanization.”

Community support is vital to any non-profit, and Public Dreams was chosen as a charity of choice for Whole Foods Market’s 5% Day in February. The store’s four locations pooled 5% of their combined net profits and donated it to Public Dreams.

“We believe in giving back to the communities that support us,” said Christine Robertson, marketing and communications lead for Whole Foods Market Kitsilano.

“Public Dreams is a fantastic organization, and we share a customer base within our store. Many of our team members are artists and performers so we understand how underfunded the arts are.”

The four Metro Vancouver stores raised a total of $17,855.16 for the nonprofit. Performers visited each of the stores to tell Whole Foods shoppers about their events and programs.

Connecting with youth is another area non-profit groups are focusing on. The Footprints Conservation Society is a relative newcomer. Krystal Vrba founded the society three years ago with her brother after she became very ill due to environmentally related causes.

“I’d always been sensitive to my environment,” she said, adding that her health scare made her more aware of the environment we live in. “I wanted to educate people and especially children how to create a world we can live in for future generations.”

“There is a growing initiative in schools to help students discover where their food comes from. It’s amazing but many kids don’t know that food doesn’t come from a grocery store. It’s important for them to understand how to grow and cook their own food.”

Footprints works closely with schools, teachers and parents to create workshops, field trips and community projects that get kids out of the classroom, into nature for fun, hands-on learning. In June 2010 Footprints promoted its first fundraising gala to plant trees at Panorama Park, and, as word spread, so did community support.

TD Canada Trust donated $4,000 to the project, and the City of Coquitlam pledged $15,000 to the project.

“We wanted to make sure the seedlings would survive, so we had the support of a nursery through the city that started growing the trees so they were more established when we planted them,” said Vrba, adding that some of the seedlings were taller than the children who were planting them.

Said Grieco: “We have become densely urban, diverse, and reliant on technology, and this seems to make people appreciate these [community] events all the more.

This means healthier, more vibrant neighbourhoods with a greater sense of unity.” • Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

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December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Environment

Green groups rooted in connections Dominic Schaefer

They network, collaborate and innovate to increase effectiveness beyond their limited financial resources

West Coast Environmental Law executive director Jessica Clogg: the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund “is an amazing tool for extending our reach”

N Bo Gembarsky

No environmental non-profit is an island. Keenly aware that everything is interconnected, they network, collaborate and innovate to make a greater impact than their staff numbers and budgets might allow.

“Pretty much everything we do is collaborative,” said Jessica Clogg, executive director and senior counsel of West Coast Environmental Law, a non-profit group of environmental law strategists and analysts with offices in Vancouver and Victoria.

Printing partner: PacBlue Printing

“Since 1974, we’ve had a hand in every significant piece of environmental legislation in B.C.,” said Clogg, who heads a staff of nine operating on a budget of $1.2 million.

“We’re five lawyers and we work darn hard,” she said, but it was West Coast’s creation of the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund that significantly increased its effectiveness.

“We have a network above and beyond our organization of about 80 lawyers around the province who offer reduced

rate services to citizens. Any group in a local area that has a concern can apply to us for funding to get a lawyer to help them achieve their goals. It’s an amazing tool for extending our reach.”

Clogg said that from the perspective of organizational development, the hundreds of people helped by the fund, which distributes $200,000 a year, often express their appreciation by becoming donors, supporters and advocates. That builds their base.

So does social media. West Coast used Printed on a waterless digital offset press

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Business in Vancouver December 2011

Be the Change Earth Alliance executive director Maureen JackLaCroix: training is a constant in the organization “so that we’re being the change ourselves”

Spirit of the West Adventures co-owner Breanne Quesnel: giving $5,000 to West Coast Environmental Law, which defends the environment “and in turn they’re protecting our business”

to publish a paper newsletter but have instead invested heavily in social media and online tools to stay connected. Their environmental law alert blog allows them to communicate in a more timely and nimble way about emerging issues.

“We’ve increased our audience by 20,000 people since we relaunched our website and introduced the blog,” said Clogg. “A lot of people have a Facebook site but we have a communications committee that every week is saying, ‘What is it about what we’re doing and the kind of change we’re trying to create that is of interest?’ and making sure it is on Facebook and on Twitter.”

West Coast works innovatively with indigenous peoples on land issues.

Clogg’s leadership was recognized in 2007 when she was named an Ashoka Fellow, a global network of social entrepreneurs, and cited for “introducing a new approach to land preservation that incorporates both the practical and spiritual knowledge of First Nations people and Western legal codes.”

The business achievements of Maureen Jack-LaCroix, executive director of Be the Change Earth Alliance, were recognized almost 20 years ago. In 1992, Business in Vancouver named her a Top Forty Under 40 Award winner.

That was the era when Jack-LaCroix was CEO of Jack of Hearts Productions and organized major events such as MusicWest and Slam City Jam. Later, earning a masters degree in Eco-Psychology and Creation Spirituality put her on the path to making a difference for the planet.

Jack-LaCroix founded Be the Change as a non-profit in 2005, basing the name on a saying by Mahatma Gandhi: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” This year to the end of October, it’s been operating on $156,524, with two full-time staff besides Jack-LaCroix, who has deferred her wages.

Their programs include interactive environmental workshops and presentations, small group dialogues, training and resource tools that have been integrated into schools, faith communities,

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workplaces and community centres in Canada and internationally.

“We’ve organized our structure almost like the rings of a tree, in concentric circles,” Jack-LaCroix said. “I work with our ‘leadership circle,’ which is our staff and working volunteers, on a weekly basis.” Then monthly, she meets with the “wisdom circle,” a larger brain trust that includes the current board, past board members and others. Quarterly, she meets with the board, which reviews policies and budgets. And then everyone comes together at the annual general meeting. Training is a constant.

“Really upgrading everybody in the organization on an ongoing basis is a core philosophy,” Jack-LaCroix said, “so that we’re being the change ourselves. We recognize that we have to do this great social change movement differently.”

One technological innovation is a Be the Change Facebook app that will help members of small community-based groups called “action circles” track their progress in meeting sustainability challenges, such as recycling. It’s being beta tested.

Organizations like West Coast Environmental Law and Be the Change depend on donors, large and small. Spirit of the West Adventures Ltd. is a kayaking vacation company based on Quadra Island with annual sales of about $500,000.

Co-owner Breanne Quesnel said that as a member of U.S.-based 1% for the Planet, which encourages businesses to donate 1% of sales (not profits) to environmental groups, Spirit of the West is giving West Coast about $5,000 this year.

“Our business is dependent on a healthy and intact ecosystem,” Quesnel said, “so West Coast Environmental Law helps protect and defend the environment in various ways, and in turn they’re protecting our business.” •

“We’ve organized our structure almost like the rings of a tree in concentric circles” – Maureen Jack-LaCroix, executive director and founder, Be the Change Earth Alliance

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16 the WhitE edition

December 2011 Business in Vancouver

Amateur hour

sports

dominic schaefer

Sports groups in B.C. get creative to boost membership, sponsorship and volunteerism

Gymnastics BC CEO Moira Gookstetter: trying to increase membership in the wake of a revenue hit when the provincial government mandated all-day kindergarten

O

Nelson Bennett

One of the challenges for most amateur sports is that, unlike professional sports teams, they can’t generate revenue through ticket sales.

Their financial survival therefore relies heavily on government grants, membership fees, fundraising and corporate sponsorships.

High profile sports, like downhill skiing, can command lucrative sponsorships deals, because sponsors get good exposure.

But even BC Alpine has struggled recently to keep sponsorship money coming in. While the organization had no probPrinting partner: PacBlue Printing

lem signing up sponsors in the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, it lost two big brands after the games were over.

“After the Olympics, quite frankly, the strategy of some of the sponsors was that ‘we’re going to get out of it now,’” said BC Alpine CEO Bruce Goldsmid. “My job now is to go out and find new sponsors.”

Fortunately, Goldsmid has some very valuable “properties” he can sell, like the provincial ski team and Nancy Green Ski League.

BC Alpine has 5,000 members and an annual budget of $1.8 million. Sponsorships

account for about $500,000 of the organization’s annual revenue. Rio Tinto Alcan and Teck Resources are BC Alpine’s two bigger sponsors. Their logos appear on skiers’ jackets and hats.

Sponsorship is a two-way street, Goldsmid said, and part of his job is to make sure that sponsors get good value for their money.

“I have to not only sell it, I have to service them to make sure they make a good return on investment,” Goldsmid said.

Non-Olympic sports like lacrosse and gymnastics have a tougher time attracting Printed on a waterless digital offset press

the White edition 17

Business in Vancouver December 2011

sponsor’s message

“Quite simply, we would not exist without volunteers” – Rochelle Winterton, executive director, BC Lacrosse Association

sponsors, so they rely more on membership fees and ingenuity to keep funding rolling in.

Less than 10% of the BC Lacrosse Association’s $1.7 million annual budget is covered by sponsorships, for example. Gymnastics BC, which has a $1.6 million annual budget, has no sponsorships at all, so it is even more reliant on membership fees, fundraising and government grants.

Gymnastics clubs throughout B.C. recently took a revenue hit when the provincial government mandated all-day kindergarten. Parents often enrolled their kindergarten-aged children in morning or afternoon gymnastics classes, instead putting them in daycare.

“The implementation of all-day kindergarten has seen a whole lot of empty gymnastics spaces,” said Gymnastics BC CEO Moira Gookstetter. “Our clubs have certainly seen a downturn in the five-year-old category.”

The organization has 40,000 members, 50% of whom are under the age of eight. Provincial government grants cover 18 to 20% of its budget. The rest comes mostly from membership fees.

In an attempt to boost membership, and help its existing members, the organization recently launched a new web portal (playgymnastics.com) and a marketing campaign called Play for Possibilities. Among other things, the new portal allows all the local gymnastics clubs in B.C. – some of which do not have their own websites – to list their club’s basic information the site.

The BC Lacrosse Association provides a similar

web portal that its member clubs can use. By using it to distribute things like the organization’s newsletter online, rather than by post, the association has reduced annual costs by $15,000 to $20,000.

BC Lacrosse Association executive director Rochelle Winterton said the organization’s most important resource is its 7,000 volunteers, which the organization has calculated provides $11 million worth of human resources.

“Quite simply, we would not exist without volunteers,” Winterton said.

To get the most out of their volunteers, the organization applied for and received funding – $90,000 over three years – through the BC Sport Participation Program to create programs that train volunteers how to do things like write job descriptions, update websites and write manuals.

The BC Lacrosse Association has 16,498 members, and is always working on ways to build its membership. One way of doing that has been to promote lacrosse in B.C.’s First Nations communities.

Ironically, despite the fact lacrosse was invented

by First Nations on the East Coast, the game has not been played extensively in Aboriginal communities in B.C. BC Lacrosse is trying to change that with its Aboriginal Lacrosse Development Program, which helps train First Nations coaches, who then help build the support in their own communities.

So far, 10 aboriginal communities have participated in the program to develop their own leagues. •

THE PRIMARY COLOURS OF BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

Efficiency comes standard Progress. It’s the ability to look forward while others look back. A conviction that the status quo is never good enough.

It’s the courage to have a vision, and the passion to see it to life. For over 100 years, our approach to progress has been summarized by our motto, Vorsprung durch Technik – or, loosely translated, advancement through technology.

But a better future doesn’t rely solely on better t e c h n o l o g y. T h a t ’s w h y at Audi, we believe in the importance of charitable giving. We’ve partnered with Best Buddies International, a charity that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

This spirit of philanthropy lives in every dealership and with every employee at Audi. We encourage you to join us in this commitment to a better future by joining us in our approach.

After all, giving fuels the spirit that Audi embodies most: progress.

In an attempt to build membership, the BC Lacrosse Association promotes the sport in B.C.’s aboriginal communities

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18 the WhitE edition

December 2011 Business in Vancouver

homelessness

Partnering to end homelessness

F

Simone Rothe

For Dick Vollet, the problem of homelessness is one of the most complex problems in society.

“The solutions are very clear though,” he said. “We need to build housing. And we need to build it as quickly as we can.”

Vollet, fresh from working on the VANOC dream team at the Olympics, has been in his new job as CEO of the Streetohome Foundation for just over a year, and has already seen some improvement in the numbers of people who are “street homeless” in the Vancouver area.

According to the 2011 Metro Vancouver Homeless Count, since 2008, overall homelessness (sheltered and unsheltered) dropped by 1%, but literal street homelessness (unsheltered) has plummeted by 54%.

“We are making progress,” said Vollet.

“We’ve opened hundreds of units.”

The Streetohome Foundation has contributed $20 million in funding for eight of 14 supportive housing projects being built in Vancouver, which, by the end of 2011, will have added 570 units of housing for the homeless, or those at risk of homelessness. The foundation is also a partner in At Home/Chez Soi’s Bosman Hotel Community project on Howe Street, and helped fund emergency shelters in 2008.

The Streetohome Foundation was established in 2008 as a public-private partnership with the aim of eradicating homelessness in Vancouver by 2015.

“We have to stop managing the problem, and start solving it,” said Vollet. “So

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the first way to solve it is to deal with supportive housing. The other thing we focus a great deal of effort on is prevention.”

To that end, Streetohome most recently announced the establishment of a rent bank, whose initial funding of $750,000 was donated by mining magnate and Streetohome board member Frank Giustra.

“The rent bank allows some people who are one to two paychecks away from homelessness to remain in their current housing situation,” said Vollet.

“If you do business in this community and if you employ people in this community, it’s to your advantage to actually help support the efforts to solve homelessness,” said Vollet.

“From a business perspective, you could say it will reduce people sleeping in the street in front of their business every morning, or reduce the number of panhandlers that will be out in any given day.”

Karen Young, the director of resource development at Lookout Shelter in the Downtown Eastside, also says the number of homeless clients they served this year is down. “I think there’s progress being made,” said Young.

Still, “There are 10,000 people, give or take right now, just from what Lookout saw in the last year, that needed a hand up, more than a handout.”

Lookout, which just celebrated its 40th anniversary this fall at its signature fundraising gala, H’Arts for the Homeless,

Dominic Schaefer

Housing First model is driving change and generating results

Dick Vollet, CEO of the Streetohome Foundation, has already seen a decrease in the number of homeless in Vancouver

pioneered the model of a full-services |shelter in the Downtown Eastside.

Executive director Karen O’Shannacery, who started the shelter in the early ’70s, was also recognized this year with the Order of B.C, an accolade which has raised the profile of Lookout.

“Karen has been an absolute warrior when it comes to going to battle for the rights of homeless people,” said Young.

From its humble beginnings as a oneroom shelter on Vancouver’s Skid Row, Lookout now operates four shelters and seven housing projects all over Metro Vancouver, including more than 800 housing units.

Currently, Lookout is also partnering with BC Housing, the City of Vancouver and the Streetohome Foundation to build First Place, a 129-unit supportive housing project near the Village on False Creek that will open its doors in February, 2012.

“What we need to do is create neighbourhood affordable housing, to not warehouse people on the downtown eastside,” said Young. “To have a shelter and affordable housing in every community, that’s integrated so you’re not going to get some kind of slum situation.” • Printed on a waterless digital offset press

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vancouveraudidealers.com © 2011 Audi Canada.*Based on comparison between 2012 and 2011 A6 3.0 TFSI models. 2012 fuel consumptions of 11.3L city, 7.4L hwy/2011 fuel consumption 12L city, 8L hwy. Acceleration based on comparison between 2011 and 2012 A6 3.0 TFSI models. 2012 model: 0 –100km/h in 5.4 seconds. 2011 model: 0–100km/h in 5.9 seconds. †Base MSRP of a new and unregistered 2012 Audi A6 3.0 TFSI eight-speed quattro with Tiptronic transmission is $58,800. Selling price is $60,795 which includes $58,800 MSRP and $1,995 freight and PDI. License, insurance, registration, any dealer or other charges, options and applicable taxes are extra. Vehicle selection is subject to availability. Dealer order/trade may be necessary. See dealer for details. European models shown with optional equipment that may not be available at the time of purchase. “Audi”, “A6”, “Vorsprung durch Technik,” and the four rings emblem are registered trademarks of AUDI AG. To find out more about Audi, visit your Audi dealer, call 1- 800 - FOR - AUDI or visit us at www.audi.ca

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