2016 Capacity Canada Annual Report

STORIES OF

SOCIAL IMPACT

2016 ANNUAL REPORT

WE BUILD CONFIDENCE AT CAPACITY CANADA. AND HOPE. Every year, Capacity’s CreateAthon partnership produces proposals for logos, posters and website updates for charitable groups in Waterloo Region and Wellington County.

For Free.

Last year the partnership decided to help Fort McMurray, Alta., a city left dazed and broken after a devastating wildfire in May. CreateAthon Waterloo-Wellington became CreateAthon Waterloo-Wellington for Fort McMurray 2016.

It dreamed up branding and marketing concepts for 12 organizations in the community. Profile was one less thing these groups had to worry about as they threw themselves into the recovery.

This is what we do really well. We work behind the scenes so that groups can do great work up front.

Our Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp has been an annual event in Waterloo Region for almost eight years. In 2015, we took the program to Fort McMurray. Last year, we held governance boot camps with local partners in St. John’s, N.L., and Hamilton, Ont. Sound, well-informed decision-making gives groups the courage to manage change and take on new challenges.

Our CapacityGO app for online and mobile learning reinforces that training.

Capacity’s MatchBoard partnership with Manulife, which started in Waterloo Region in 2011 and expanded to Toronto in 2014, has worked with 212 Manulife executives to fill vacant volunteer positions on the boards of charitable not-for-profit agencies.

In 2016, MatchBoard grew again. Executives in the Kitchener offices of EY (formerly Ernst and Young) are now pairing up with local boards.

In Ontario’s Perth and Renfrew counties, Capacity Canada teamed up with local partners last year to host EvalU, Capacity’s boot camp on evaluation.

EvalU continued in new communities this spring. Evaluation needn’t be a chore; it’s the route to excellence.

Meanwhile, in hundreds of meetings by phone or over a coffee, the Capacity mentors both experienced leaders in the sector, and men and women who are just beginning to build new not-for-profit organizations.

Charitable not-for-profits are vital to a civil society. Boards of volunteers make countless decisions every month to feed people, comfort the dying, build sports leagues and fill a wide range of other needs.

As they put their shoulder to sustaining a compassionate, supportive country, we’ve got their back.

Joanna Lohrenz Board Chair, Capacity Canada Cathy Brothers Chief Executive Officer 2 • 2 0 1 6 A N N U A L R E P O R T • C A PAC I T Y C A N A DA

Joanna Lohrenz, Board Chair

Steve Farlow, Board Member

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CAPACITY CANADA CEO Cathy Brothers Jeanette Bancarz, Board Member

Director of Operations Andrew Wilding Accounting Kathi Dodson National Capacity Building Strategy Lynn Randall Communications Christian Aagaard Special Projects Megan Conway Marion Thomson Howell Lisa Pooley Matthew Reynolds Stephen Swatridge Dan Weber Government Relations David Drewe Governance: Boot Camp Faculty Ruth Cruikshank Steve Farlow Fred Galloway Don McCreesh Vivian Zochowski Karin Voisin

Governance: MatchBoard & Board Development Jo-Anne Gibson Violetta Ilkiw Bob King Don McDermott Moira Taylor Sandra Hanmer Digital Media & Technology Mark Hallman Shubhagata Sengupta

Joe Sehl, Board Member

Terry Reidel, Board Member

Evaluation Geetha Van den Daele Cathy Lang Katherine Scott Jennifer Vasic Julie Witmer Design Glen Lombard Matt Miller Rawbie Thring Development Lyn Royce C A PAC I T Y C A N A DA • 2 0 1 6 A N N U A L R E P O R T • 3

WE HELP BUILD SMART, CONFIDENT BOARDS. For almost 50 years, the Children’s International Learning Centre (CILC) has been working with families to build a strong sense of belonging in Hamilton, Ont. That didn’t mean there wasn’t room for improvement within the organization’s own circle – its board and administration.

After enrolling in the Cowan Board Governance Boot Camp in Hamilton in September, the CILC applied the lessons learned and graduated in December with top honours.

Capacity Canada hosted the boot camp with two partners: The Cowan Foundation and the United Way of Burlington and Greater Hamilton.

The CILC stepped up its recruitment and onboarding processes for new members, and made a number of smaller changes, such as training board members to use an online file-sharing service.

“There is a lot more positive energy and co-operation,” board president Olwyn Moxley says. “People are working toward fulfilling their potential, and wanting to develop their professional leadership qualities.”

Those improvements earned the CILC a place in Capacity Canada’s Governance Hall of Fame, and a $5,000 grant from The Cowan Foundation.

Capacity’s governance boot camps, including ones held in St. John’s, N.L. last May, and Fort McMurray, Alta., in November 2015, share a common root: the annual Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp in Waterloo Region.

Manulife has been Capacity’s boot camp partner in Waterloo Region from the beginning of the program in 2009. Last November, the Volunteer Action Centre of Kitchener Waterloo and Area earned the 2016 Manulife Governance Excellence Award, and a $5,000 grant.

BOOT CAMPS

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“I learned something new every time I logged on.”

AN APP-RECIATION FOR CONTINUOUS LEARNING. Participants at Capacity Canada’s board governance boot camps never leave empty-handed. There’s always something new to try to make boards and administrations work better together.

CapacityGO is Capacity’s board-governance take-it-anywhere training app, built on an e-learning platform developed by Waterloo, Ont.-based Axonify. On their desktop computers, tablets or smartphones, users work through short quizzes that reinforce the lessons of governance taught by Capacity’s expert faculty at the boot camps.

Gamification and a little friendly competition keep participants engaged in the app. They retain information that is so often quickly forgotten after a conference.

“The sessions were great – wonderful presenters and the follow-up learning through (CapacityGO) was extremely helpful,” says Christine Hurst, manager of communications and engagement at Grand River Community Health Centre in Brantford, Ontario. Hurst was one of 115 people who used CapacityGo in 2016.

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CAPACITYGO

ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER. A bird’s-eye view of a train station would show tracks and switches and people moving from one platform to another to make connections.

Capacity Canada’s MatchBoard program is lot like that. It links executives who want to volunteer on boards of charitable not-for-profits with organizations that would welcome the help. Capacity executives-in-residence get people headed in the right direction.

Manulife is the founding partner of the program. Since it began in 2011, and spread from Waterloo Region to Toronto and Montreal, Matchboard has involved 212 Manulife executives and 213 organizations, and has made 106 matches.

It helped organizations such as H2O 4 All, an Oakville, Ont.-based not-for-profit that gets safe, sustainable water-supply systems to remote corners of developing countries. Through MatchBoard, H20 4 All met Manulife executive Betsy Brown. Brown took part in her first board meeting with the organization in January 2017.

“When Betsy came forward, we really needed support in the area of strategic planning, and monitoring and evaluation of that strategic plan. That’s the skill set she brings to the board,” says Susan Elliott, vice-chair of H2O 4 All. “It worked out beautifully.”

In 2016, MatchBoard expanded to include the Kitchener offices of EY (formerly Ernst and Young). EY executives involved in those first matches include Cody Buchenauer (photo, left) and Dylan Corey (right). Corey joined the board of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

Buchenauer is on the board of the Wilmot Family Resource Centre.

“It’s an awesome opportunity to get involved in the community, expand your network and continue to develop skills you might not develop in your work life, specifically around governance and oversight,” Buchenauer says.

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CREATEATHON

GETTING BETTER BY DESIGN. It happens every October.

Students from Conestoga College’s graphic-design program gather for a marathon creative blitz with professional designers. A day later, they surface with free marketing tools – logos, posters and ideas to refresh tired websites – for charitable groups in the area.

CreateAthons are held around the world. Capacity Canada partners with Conestoga College and Alchemy Systems to host CreateAthon Waterloo Wellington. The event occupies Alchemy’s entire team in Guelph, Ont., for two days.

It’s one of the busiest CreateAthons in North America.

Last year the program turned its attention to Fort McMurray, Alta., to help the charitable sector in that city recover from a wildfire in May. CreateAthon Waterloo-Wellington for Fort McMurray 2016 worked with 12 groups, including Fort McMurray Search and Rescue Society. Designers came up with a new logo for the organization and a graphic for a truck the organization had recently purchased.

Hosted by:

“I tell you, its smart – really, really nice, It looks fantastic.”

Yvette Carlin, President Fort McMurray Search and Rescue

2016 GRADUATES

St. John’s, N.L.

Fort McMurry, Alta.

BOARD OF GOVERNANCE BOOT CAMP Capacity Canada’s board governance boot camps attract large and small organizations committed to improving the way they make decisions and deliver programs. In 2016, we celebrated boot camp graduations in Fort McMurray, Alta., St. John’s, N.L. and Hamilton Ont..

Hamilton, Ont.

Waterloo Region

2016 AWARDS

Waterloo, Ont.

GOVERNANCE EXCELLENCE AWARD Good governance doesn’t go unrecognized at Capacity Canada. In Waterloo Region, the 2016 winner of the Governance Excellence Award, which is sponsored by Manulife, was the Volunteer Action Centre of Kitchener Waterloo and Area. The Cowan Foundation sponsored the Governance Excellence Award presented at the board governance boot camp Capacity held in Hamilton last fall. The award went to the Children’s International Learning Centre.

These awards acknowledge outstanding governance improvements made by organizations that have participated in the boot-camp program.

BOOT CAMP LOCATIONS

Hamilton, Ont.

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CAPACITY’S DIGITAL AMBASSADORS. From cooking classes to after-school clubs, the range of services offered by neighbourhood associations in Cambridge, Ont., covers a lot of ground. And generates a lot of ideas.

Shubhagata Sengupta and Mark Hallman have been helping the groups build a digital meeting house.

“It’s a portal where the associations – 10 of them in Cambridge – can share projects and files, and organize tasks between groups and committees,” Hallman says.

Mark runs Evergreen Digital Marketing; Shubhagata is co-founder of Vidhub, a collaboration tool for video makers. Together, they form Capacity Canada’s go-to team for promoting digital literacy among charitable not-for-profits.

They understand that workers in the sector are multi-taskers who can’t focus solely on the care and updating of their organizations’ websites and social-media channels. Digital literacy can certainly help organizations attract followers and stand out. But Mark and Shubhagata encourage a less-is-more approach.

Their advice? Think strategically and start small. Keep up the fresh content. And be realistic about expectations.

AMBASSADORS

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MENTORING

LET’S MEET, AND CHAT. It seems like such a casual, throw-away thing to do. But Capacity Canada takes these encounters very seriously.

An informal conversation can build a bridge, solve a problem or alter a perspective.

Capacity Canada’s staff and executives-in-residence hold hundreds of meetings by phone or over coffee with leaders in the charitable not-for-profit sector and people who want to address a need in the community by starting a not-for-profit of their own.

Cathy Brothers, Capacity’s chief executive officer, frequently visits the Family Centre Hub in Kitchener, Ont., an incubator for new groups and agencies. It’s an opportunity for leaders of these organizations to catch up on news, or share the strategies they want to try to deal with challenges that have come up. To those discussions, Cathy brings more than 40 years’ experience as an executive in the sector. Her insight makes a difference.

“Mentorship meetings with Cathy Brothers help Hub members think about the future, sustainability, growth and how to better serve clients,” says Fauzia Mazhar, Family Centre co-ordinator.

“Cathy is always responsive to the emerging needs of the organizations identified in the monthly meetings.”

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EVALU

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT NUMBERS. Big funders, small donors, interested supporters – they want to know whether the time or money they contribute to an organization actually makes a difference. Does it improve a program? Solve a problem? Will it make somebody’s life better?

Working with local partners and the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, Capacity Canada has been holding EvalU boot camps in the province to help not-for-profit organizations in the charitable sector understand evaluation.

More importantly, understand it without fear.

Boot-camp faculty Julie Witmer and Cathy Lang encourage participants to weave evaluation into the workplace culture. Evaluation shouldn’t be a reporting exercise; it’s a process of collecting stories and tracking numbers to keep organizations current and resilient.

Capacity held two EvalU boot camps in 2016 – one in Renfrew County and one in Perth County. Three more were held in spring 2017.

“ I went in there thinking this is going to be way over my head, but it was very user friendly, and it really struck home the value of collecting information.”

Alison Vandergragt, Program Director, Hope Reins Equine Assisted Therapy Programs, Vanderbrook Farm

FINANCIALS

CAPACITY CANADA: AUDITED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS. CHANGE IN NET ASSETS FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2016

INCOME

2016 2015

Donations

403,168 429,548

Fee for Service

213,569

Grants Interest income

148,669

648,452 390,227 5,497

3,495

1,270,686 971,939

EXPENSES Salaries and benefits

571,350

435,195

Contracted services

361,809

262,030

Administration

52,931 38,812

Meetings and conferences

123,730

63,706

Educational events

66,844

51,630

Technology

27,812 50,121

Marketing and promotion

21,460

21,154

Professional fees

15,608

16,215

Gifts to other charities

11,070

5,110

Amortization of property and equipment

9,628

4,565

1,262,242 948,538

EXCESS OF INCOME OVER EXPENSES

8,444 23,401

NET ASSETS - beginning of the year

130,307

106,906

NET ASSETS - end of the year

$138,751

$130,307

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THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS!

evergreen D i gi t a l

An agency of the Government of Ontario Un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario

TWIN CITY DWYER PRINTING CO. LTD. WWW.TCDPRINTING.COM

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Ma r k e t i n g

Christian Aagaard

IBM Canada

KE Lyn Royce

Accelerator Centre

David & Jan Jaworsky

Joe Sehl

AV Ontario

Bob King

Shubhagata Sengupta

Jeanette Bancarz

The Kitchener & Waterloo Community Foundation

Jason Shim

Jim Beingessner Cathy & John Brothers Alex & Trish Brown Communitech Conestoga College

Devon Krainer Beth Lautenslager Louise Leonard Libro Credit Union

Karen Spencer Suncor Energy Foundation Diane Stanley-Horn Stephen Swatridge Moira & Roger Taylor

Megan Conway & Cameron Scott

Joanna & Ray Lohrenz

TD Bank Group

Lyle S. Hallman Foundation

Tivoli Films

Cowan Foundation

Manulife

Jennifer Vasic

Deborah Currie

Microsoft

Karin Voisin

Ruth Cruikshank

David McCammon

Rose Vogt

Mary D’Alton

Matt & Anita Miller

University of Waterloo

Machelle & Tony Denison

MultiCultural Business Solutions Inc.

Wilfrid Laurier University

Mandy Dennison Teresa & Kevin Elop

Judy Nairn

Evergreen Digital Marketing

Gillian Nonay

Steve Farlow Fred Galloway

Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration & International Trade

David & Pat Graham

Ontario Trillium Foundation

Mark Hallman

Michael Plauntz

Chris & Lynn Howlett

Terry Reidel

Vivian Zochowski

OUR SUPPORTERS

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ACCELERATOR CENTRE 295 Hagey Boulevard, Waterloo, ON N2L 6R5 519.513.2606

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