Inventory of Effective Practices in Financing and Resourcing of Voluntary Sector Organizations in Canada

British Columbia and Yukon: Introduction and overview

The British Columbia and Yukon inventory of effective practices in financing and resourcing of voluntary sector organizations includes thirteen case studies, eleven in British Columbia and two in Yukon. The case studies represent a variety of types and sizes of voluntary organizations in a number of locations in the province and territory. The types of organizations and locations are identified below.

Type		Location
Arts and Culture:
Canadian Museum of Rail Travel		Cranbrook, BC
Dawson City Arts Society		Dawson City, YT
Education
Literacy BC		Vancouver, BC
Environment
TLC The Land Conservancy of British Columbia		Victoria, BC
Funder
Enterprising Non-Profits		Vancouver, BC
Service
United Community Services Co-op		Vancouver, BC
Volunteer Richmond Information Services		Richmond, BC
Social
Central Interior Community Opportunities Coalition		Williams Lake, BC
Challenge Community Vocational Alternatives		Whitehorse, YT
Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society (IMPACS)		Vancouver, BC
Kelowna Community Resources Society		Kelowna, BC
Sport and Recreation
British Columbia Lacrosse Association		Burnaby, BC
Sechelt Skatepark		Sechelt, BC

Each of the case studies provides a profile of the organization(s) / project(s). Most of the organizations have staff, although the Sechelt Skatepark is a project initiated by a community and an informal group of Skateboarders (Skateboarders of Sechelt) and has no staff. Staff numbers range from one (United Community Services Co-op) to twenty-five (Kelowna Community Resources Society). (The Executive Directors of the coalition of organizations in Williams Lake are the main project participants. The organizations they represent together, however, have over 150 staff.) The number of volunteers ranges from 0 to 5,000.

The sample of cases emphasizes social organizations, which are typically the most common type of voluntary agency. It also includes one grant program, Enterprising Non-Profits, that is being offered by a partnership of three funders.

The budgets of these organizations/ projects range from the lowest of $105,000, for the grant fund and the $200,000 cost of the skatepark, to the $5 million operations and $15 million asset budget of TLC (The Land Conservancy) of B.C.

Please click here to link to the BC and Yukon case studies.

Methodology

The first phase of this project involved contacting voluntary organizations, provincial and territorial offices, foundations/funders in British Columbia and Yukon to develop a representative and diverse sample of funding/ resourcing best practices. The case study examples were identified with the recommendations of:

• Voluntary Organization Consortium of BC
• Volunteer BC and a number of volunteer centres throughout British Columbia and the volunteer centre in Whitehorse
• British Columbia and Yukon Government offices
• Foundations
• United Ways (a sampling of these organizations)

A sampling of provincial/territorial or umbrella organizations representing various types of voluntary organizations were also contacted, such as:

• Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres
• Canadian Cancer Society
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and Yukon
• Sport BC
• Community Future Development Corporations & HRDC offices (a sample of these)

The second phase of the project involved telephone interviews of the contacts for the recommended best practice projects. Contacts (including those contacted for recommendations) were all sent a description of the project. Using the template interviews were conducted and information was collected on each of the best practice organizations / projects.

Draft reports were then sent to the organizations for their review and comments on the contents. As well, agreement to participate as potential case studies was received from them all.

Some concluding observations

The description of financing and resourcing practices of these thirteen organizations is very instructive. Partnership is demonstrated by all of them and all emphasize an entrepreneurial approach (nine of the thirteen generate revenue through fee for service or through a more formal business enterprise). Many emphasize factors like leadership and relationship building, and many identify owning their own buildings or sharing space, etc. as factors in their success. They all represent effective organizations that have adapted to change, are committed to their mission or purpose and strongly represent their communities.

Gail Joyce
Project Contractor for British Columbia and Yukon
Scollard Consulting
575 Scollard Rd.
R.R. 1 Mill Bay, BC
V0R 2P0

Phone: 250-743-6875
Fax: 250-743-6829
Email: gailjoyce@mac.com