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

Article by McConnell Foundation

Funding in Atlantic Canada and Applied Dissemination

Atlantic Canada's Funding and Resourcing Environment

(Please bear in mind that the comments below reflect only our experience of the region and not necessarily the reality for the whole Atlantic Canada voluntary sector!)

• The fundraising climate appears to be a challenging one in the region. On the positive side, there are more corporate sources of support than there were ten or twenty years ago, especially in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. These sources are still more limited, however, than they are in Ontario and Alberta. Also, there are only about 10 community foundations in the Atlantic and those that exist are quite small. This is changing with the challenge grant from the T.R. Meighen Foundation to strengthen the four existing community foundations in New Brunswick and spark the creation of a fifth. Finally, private foundations are few in number. The majority of small to medium-sized voluntary organizations that we have supported still rely primarily on a mix of federal and provincial government project funding (with some ingenious efforts to blend various funding streams!).
• The McConnell Foundation has funded over 130 initiatives in the Atlantic region since 1963, through community-based organizations, universities and other institutions. Our observation of the small to medium-sized voluntary organizations with which we have worked is that they are very strong in terms of volunteer participation but fragile in terms of sustainability. Many have depended on pilot project funding from the federal government, some provincial government resources, and the rest a mix of modest corporate grants/sponsorship, United Way support, and special event fundraising. As is the case across Canada, core and multi-year funding are extremely hard to secure. Not many of the groups we have funded have direct mail or major gift campaigns, and only a fraction have professional fundraising staff. Although there is considerable entrepeneurial activity in the region, it is the rare Atlantic Canada organization we know that has turned to revenue-generation/fee for service activities. And while our Foundation, like many others, encourages collaboration and even joint funding proposals, not many have come our way. Staff and volunteer board members do not have a lot of fundraising experience or training and many learn as they go. Some of these individuals have become very effective! Despite the challenging funding environment, it is our perception that staff turnover, especially of executive directors, is low and organizations benefit from that organizational commitment.

Contemporary Funding Strategies
Applied Dissemination

The funding and resource raising environment for the voluntary sector in Canada as a whole is not that different from what it is in the Atlantic region, except that there are more corporate sources of support in some parts of the country, and perhaps more organizations developing their revenue generation capacity. Some provinces also benefit from vigorous, well-established community and private foundations.

In 1998, the McConnell Foundation published "Should you sow what you know? A Foundation Primer for those developing, or referring, an Applied Dissemination proposal". "Applied Dissemination" (AD) refers to a deliberate process to identify not just the effective dissemination of information about successful initiatives, but also the steps to be taken in applying these learnings in a different context. The genesis of the primer was that we were receiving dozens of requests from community organizations across the country for support to spread their good ideas/programs/approaches. We noticed that there was a considerable amount of duplication as organizations developed initiatives that had already been tested elsewhere, without benefiting from these experiences. As a national funder, the Foundation sees its niche as helping to spread tested ideas rather than funding strictly local initiatives. It is important to note however that AD is not a distinct program direction or funding strategy per se for the Foundation, but rather a tool to enhance program development and the sharing of experience. Other strategies include round-tables, consultations, site visits among grantees, etc.

After more than five years of funding AD initiatives the following are some of our early learnings, enriched by the candid observations of our Applied Dissemination grantees:

• The Foundation's primer is useful but not sufficient for organizations considering Applied Dissemination. What many find most helpful (especially board members) are the stories and real-life experiences of other organizations as they disseminate and apply their programs.
• Small organizations with local or provincial programs should generally not go national immediately. A large infusion of funds and rapid growth can skew organizational priorities and create serious, sometimes crippling, tensions between on-going operations and the push to expand.
• Boards of Directors must fully understand and actively support any Applied Dissemination program, because of both the challenges and opportunities it provides. A thorough board discussion is essential, including a careful assessment of organizational capacity. Saying "no" or "not yet" after due consideration is a real option.
• Partnering is an effective strategy, especially between a small local or provincial organization and a large national organization. Such partnerships can lead to program sustainability, and substantially reduce the costs of expansion. Both partners must clearly spell out their objectives and mutual expectations and review these on a regular basis.
• For the McConnell Foundation, partnering for effective AD includes working jointly with other funders, in particular community foundations.
• It can take up to a year for an organization to decide on its expansion strategy before it begins to actively disseminate. Funds for this design/exploration phase are very important. The organization will be much better prepared to develop effective relationships with local implementers.
• Many organizations have learned that AD projects should be phased in with planning; piloting growth in one region or province; and finally, depending on the results of the earlier phases, expanding regionally or nationally. In addition, conditions change as an AD process unfolds and the disseminating organization must remain ever-flexible and responsive to these changing dynamics: not an easy process!
• Building in an external evaluation from the outset (or within a year of program launch) is critical. Evaluations can yield valuable information to adjust programs as they unfold. They can also ensure an accountability mechanism to boards and funders. The most useful evaluations tend to be those that examine both the process and the results of expansion.
• Funders supporting program spread should include more than funding, incorporating other types of accompaniment such as training/tools to assist volunteer boards in particular to exercise an effective role and feel comfortable with the process of Applied Dissemination; capacity-building in the areas of evaluation and program sustainability; linking organizations together (new and experienced), etc. This accompaniment should be on going throughout the length of the project.

Finally, the McConnell Foundation has learned that properly supporting Applied Dissemination initiatives is a labour intensive exercise on our part, and therefore we only fund a handful of these in any given year.

For more information, please visit our web site at www.mcconnellfoundation.ca

Katharine Pearson
Program Manager