Impact Conversations

Hear in this episode how COVID-19 has put hurdles in the path of front-line operations like Daily Bread Food Bank, and how they’ve knocked them down, one by one, becoming a stronger organization as a result.

Neil Hetherington, CEO of Daily Bread Food Bank, shares with us their unyielding focus on continuing to meet their food delivery commitments despite the operational challenges and spike in demand due to the pandemic.

We also hear about the improvements this means go forward for Daily Bread as they look to leverage what they’ve achieved during the pandemic. They’ve discovered operational improvements and partnerships, enabling them to serve many more people and with more food, to an extent not previously thought possible. It’s also clarified for them the need to pursue systemic change through their advocacy work, embracing a moment when so many Torontonians have now been touched by food insecurity and are supportive of change.

Unfortunately, Daily Bread’s own research indicates a bigger risk ahead for those living in poverty and with food insecurity – an eviction tsunami as people are unable to pay their rent is on the horizon. This too will require advocacy and Daily Bread see themselves with an important role.

This is clearly a case of a leader and an organization rising to the challenge, with lessons for all of us.

Resources

Daily Bread Food Bank: https://www.dailybread.ca

Neil Hetherington: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilhetherington

Who’s Hungry 2019? Daily Bread Food Bank’s Nov 2019 Report, including Race Data: https://www.dailybread.ca/research-and-advocacy/whos-hungry-report/

Hunger Lives Here: Risks and Challenges Faced by Food Bank Clients During COVID-19 – July 2020: https://www.dailybread.ca/research-and-advocacy/hungerliveshere/

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

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In this episode, we have a conversation with Leanne Burton, Director, Partnership Development at MakeWay, a public foundation that acts as an intermediary, working between funder and community partners to build healthy pathways towards social, environmental and economic justice.

It’s a time of year when people might be thinking more about giving, donating to causes that are important to them. We’ve taken an opportunity to chat with Leanne for her thoughts on what to think about as you plan your giving, now and throughout the year – whether as a funder or an individual.

Leanne highlights starting with the issue you care about and the change you want to see, and suggests ways of getting a deeper understanding of that issue and the players. We talk about trust philanthropy, and the importance of giving ”unrestricted” contributions without dictating what the money be spent on, and without onerous expectations for selecting a recipient or for them to report back. We also talk about ways to look at a nonprofit’s impact while they work within a complex, adaptive system.

All this and more, to get you thinking about how to be more intentional, and perhaps more collaborative, in your giving. Above all, we hope it encourages you to simply give! Have a listen.

Resources

MakeWay https://makeway.org/

Leanne Burton: https://makeway.org/about-us/team/

Carleton University’s Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership: https://carleton.ca/mpnl/

MakeWay Donor Advised Funds: https://makeway.org/solutions/donor-advised-funds/

Government of Canada/CRA List of Charities: https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en

The Narwhal: https://thenarwhal.ca/

CANADALAND: https://www.canadaland.com/

CANADALAND’s podcast series on WE Charity, The White Saviours: https://www.canadaland.com/shows/the-white-saviors/

Vancouver Foundation: https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/

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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

In this episode, Sally and Lynn discuss what impact is and why it's important in developing strategy. Social impact is the effect an organization's actions has on its community.

With examples, Sally and Lynn show that defining an intended impact makes it easier to develop a great strategy.

Learn more at www.socialimpactadvisors.ca

In this episode, Social Impact Advisors Partner Lynn Fergusson interviews representatives of the Toronto Child & Family Network.

Kelley Baldwin provides backbone support to the Toronto Child and Family Network, a network of about 100 organizations.

Tamara Augsten, who’s had a lead role in developing the Network’s Raising the Village initiative shares the value of this database.

This initiative has pulled together data from various partners’ sources, such as EQAO standardized testing, Toronto District School Board, and the census, and made 120 indicators easily accessible to anyone, in a way that allows for insights into the current state of Toronto and enables people and organizations to move to action.

We hear how this easily enables a snapshot or comparison of a neighbourhood, and also enables an easy way to apply an equity lens to a community by disaggregating the data.

Tamara shares how we often hear averages for Toronto. Great insights can be gained by segmenting the data by race, income or geography to identify and then move to address inequities.

COVID has highlighted many inequities in our community. Here’s a tool to get a handle on them and mobilize action.

This is particularly great information for organizations in Toronto serving children and families – principals, teachers, nonprofits, social workers, municipal councillors, parents and more - as you’ll hear how to easily access insights about your community.

Outside of Toronto, we hope listeners take note of this model and begin to rally the partners and resources to ensure that insightful data is easily accessible in your community, as a first step to uncovering inequities and taking action.

Resources

Raising the Village: https://raisingthevillage.ca

Toronto Child and Family Network: https://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledgebase/kb/docs/articles/childrens-services/service-system-planning-and-policy/toronto-child-and-family-network-formerly-torontos-best-start-network.html

Tamara Augsten: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-augsten-1962b068

Kelley Baldwin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelley-baldwin-54ba1698

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

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

The Black Social Services Sector, as Agapi describes it, isn’t getting the attention it needs. The CEE (Careers, Education, Empowerment) Centre for Young Black Professionals is taking that on. Hear how they are supporting 3B organizations – that’s Black-focused, Black-led (including Board representation), and Black-serving organizations, including many that are not registered charities.

In addition to supporting the sector, CEE provides direct programming, targeting particular industriesand creating demand-led workforce development solutions, with high retention rates. These programs provide not just training, but person-centred wrap-around supports, considering a trauma-informed approach to Anti-Black Racism and an approach culturally- relevant to Black Canadians. These programs are also being made available to other organizations to deliver in their local communities.

Finally, CEE is tackling policy change, at all levels of government, recognizing that change at the individual level is not enough.

This podcast will shed some light on how you or your organization could be supporting (or ignoring) the Black Community.

Resources

CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals: https://ceetoronto.org

Kitchen Masters and other CEE Programs : https://ceetoronto.org/programs/

DESTA: https://destabyn.org

Network for the Advancement of Black Communities (NABC): https://networkabc.ca

Black to the Future: https://blacktothefutureto.com

Unfunded: Black Communities Overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy: https://forblackcommunities.org/assets/docs/Unfunded-Report.pdf

Agapi Gessesse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agessesse

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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