STORIES OF
SOCIAL INNOVATION ANNUAL REPORT 2013
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 2
the average time SPENT ON OUR WEBSITE
85% of executive directors gain access to NEW
resources
90%
of executive directors
enhance their leadership capacity
The progress of non-profits really depends on a whole lot of people in the community being invested in their success
Executive directors gain access to expert advice
and guidance
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8.2 percent
of our website visitors are through
mobile phoneS
49,402
3316
have read the posted
Storytelling guide
on social media
94%
said boot camp helped them rethink
THE Governance of their organizations
90% of board members become more strategic &
accountable
MatchBoard has linked 70 Manulife employees to vacant roles on governing boards since 2010
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 4
Capacity at 5: Reaching out beyond our borders Message from the Executive Director in Residence
Be bold. How are those for marching orders? But that’s what Tim Jackson, founding chairman of Capacity Waterloo Region, told me five years ago when we were figuring out how best to serve the charitable non-profit community in Waterloo Region. No question, we already had terrific organizations led by men and women who knew how to stretch a buck. What they needed was support and LOCAL BOARD DIRECTORS affirmation.
200
HAVE IMPROVED THEIR SKILLS BY GOING THROUGH OUR BOOT CAMP
Cathy Brothers
So Capacity took a page from Communitech, the local organization that serves the tech community.
We connect our non-profit leaders to peers and mentors, and encourage
them to tell people the stories behind the fine work their organizations do.
Let me introduce you to Capacity Canada.
Capacity provides training in board governance, and helps with the neverending challenge of finding committed, skilled volunteers to fill board roles. A huge thanks goes to Manulife Financial for its exceptional faith in — and support of — Capacity’s efforts.
As our new chair, Steve Farlow will help lead us to opportunities outside our borders, while we continue to strengthen our non-profit partners here in Waterloo Region.
I can tell you that more than 70 Manulife employees have been matched to local non-profit boards, and that about 200 local board directors have improved their skills by going through our Manulife-sponsored governance boot camp. But another measure of Capacity’s success is the favourable attention it draws from outside the region. That’s what makes 2014 such a pivotal year: We are sharing our knowledge in centres such as Toronto and Fort McMurray, and we are changing our name to reflect our wider reach.
I couldn’t have imagined this five years ago when we were sorting ourselves out and looking for office furniture. Tim pushed us to be innovative, to look beyond the obvious and see possibilities. Which brings up one bittersweet element in all this exciting news: Tim has wrapped up his term as chair to take on new duties — and big time commitments — with the Centre for Impact Investing at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto. We won’t be seeing as much of him as we’d like. So back at you, Tim. Be bold.
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Tim Jackson takes on new challenge in Toronto Message from the Chair of the Board
A man in demand in Waterloo Region, Tim Jackson recently joined the Centre for Impact Investing, a division of the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto. This means he is stepping down as chair of Capacity Waterloo Region, which he helped establish to provide executive mentoring, peer-to-peer networking and board-governance training for Waterloo Region’s non-profit community. He offers some thoughts as he says au revoir, not farewell. Q: How do you view the progress Capacity Waterloo Region has made over five years?
Q: Innovation is a powerful word in the tech sector. Does it have a place in the language of charitable agencies?
A: I’m thrilled… Any time you start something new, it’s never a straight line. Good entrepreneurs adjust constantly, and Cathy (Executive Director in Residence Cathy Brothers) has done that… We’re having a significant impact on the community. That’s what makes it entrepreneurial: It’s adapting to needs. Manulife is a perfect example. Manulife comes along and says, “We’d like to engage some of our managers and get them involved in the community.” And Cathy says, “We have a program. We can make that work.”
A: When I was running a venture-capital firm (Tech
Capital Partners), if an entrepreneur or group of entrepreneurs came to us and asked us for a million dollars, and we liked their idea, we would typically give them $2 million. We would do that because we knew that for them to be successful, they had to have the ability to make mistakes. Not everything would work out perfectly… If you look at the winners in the tech sector, they have been allowed to make mistakes, but have been backed well financially. We need to do the same thing in this sector.
Tim Jackson
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 6
Q: Do you think people are aware of the social problems in their community?
Q: How do you encourage people to give back to their community?
A: At one point the talk was we had 5,000 job
and raise families in a vibrant, active community, then I think we all have an obligation to play a role in that… The executive directors who are running our non-profits, the way I look at it, are just as skilled as the people running our for-profits… If those people have made a personal sacrifice to run those organizations, shouldn’t I find a way to support them… whether it’s sitting on a board, or helping fund-raise or providing mentorship?
openings in the tech sector, and 5,000 people out of work in the old manufacturing sector. If you’re 55 years old and you’ve been working at one of the plants for 25 years, that’s got to be a horrible situation trying to get back in the workforce. Because of that, demand on things like the (Food Bank of Waterloo Region) and social services is huge — and growing. I do think some people don’t understand that.
A: At the end of the day, if we want to live, work
See capacitywr.ca for a longer version of this interview.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tim Jackson
Stephen Swatridge
Terry Reidel
Joanna Lohrenz
Steve Farlow
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GETTING HIDDEN STORIES TOLD & SHARED KWCF Storytelling
Daniel Cook weighed 372 pounds in 2010. In 2013 — 190 pounds lighter — he ran a half-marathon. It’s a great story, and there are more like it — about hope, inspiration and beating the odds — on the Centre for Community Knowledge (CCK) website. An offshoot of the Storytelling Boot Camp organized by the Kitchener and Waterloo Community Foundation and Capacity Waterloo Region, CCK encourages non-profits to tell people about the impact they have on the lives of others. RunWaterloo features Cook’s story, in video and text, on its CCK page. Running can change a life for the better. “A good story goes much further in talking Impact, and building relationships with donors and volunteers, than do mission statements and financial reports,” says Cathy Brothers, Capacity’s Executive Director in Residence.
Photo (L to R): Chelsea Arnott, Brendan Sheehan, Nelson Dunk & Christian Aagaard
Stories Worth Telling, the program guidebook written by Jennifer King, attracts eyes from around the world to Capacity’s website. The boot camp sessions run three times a year. Nelson Dunk of Skylight Productions looks after the video portion of the training. Christian Aagaard of Rapidviking Communications handles text. They work with Brendan Sheehan and Chelsea Arnott of the community foundation. Since 2012, 84 Waterloo Region nonprofits have completed training in text and video storytelling. Sixty-six have created CCK profiles. “It would be a shame to let the stories of non-profits go untold and forgotten,” Brothers said.
Visit cckwr.ca
“It would be a shame to let the stories of non-profits go untold and forgotten.” Cathy Brothers, Executive Director in Residence, Capacity Waterloo Region
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 8
LET’S BRING THIS MEETING TO ORDER MANULIFE BOARD GOVERNANCE BOOT CAMP
Tupper Cawsey Professor Emeritus (OB/HRM) Wilfrid Laurier University
Fred Galloway Board Governance Expert
Mark Weber Board Governance Expert
Ruth Cruikshank Board Governance Expert
Don McCreesh Board Governance Expert
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Funders, donors and governments “are looking for best practices — how we make a difference in people’s lives. All these things have come together to reshape the role, purpose and model of governance.” he said. Fred Galloway, Board Governance Expert
There was a time when well-intentioned citizens met, nodded a few approvals and quickly dispensed with the business of non-profit boards. No more. “There are more regulatory and legislative compliance issues and requirements,” Fred Galloway said shortly before 38 men and women graduated from the Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp in March. “There has been this coalescing of a whole bunch of factors that has brought
governance to a point where it needs to be professional and more understood.’’ Galloway is among the faculty leading the governance program. He runs F.J. Galloway Associates Inc., a London, Ontario-based management consultancy. Hosted by Capacity Waterloo Region, the annual boot camp has attracted board chairs and executive directors from about 200 organizations in Waterloo Region since the program began in 2010.
A two-day session in November covers such topics as the legal responsibilities of boards, and the different roles boards and management teams play in running successful non-profits. Participants leave with a plan to take on a specific governance challenge facing their own organizations, then report back in March. This year, Capacity added advanced governance training over three nights in April and May. Surveyed after the 2013-2014 boot camp, 94 per cent of respondents said the program helped them rethink the governance of their organizations. Almost 90 per cent said it clarified the duties of boards and management. Filling board vacancies used to be as easy as asking friends. Boards should carefully consider how well the interests and skills of candidates mesh with the jobs that need to be done, Galloway said. He suggests they prepare a one-page synopsis setting out expectations. Funders, donors and governments “are looking for best practices — how we make a difference in people’s lives,’’ he said. “All these things have come together to reshape the role, purpose and model of governance.”
Photo: Boot camp graduating class of 2013.
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 10
Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp OFFERS Capacity Waterloo Region's governance boot camp delivers practical governance training to non-profit charity Boards and equips them with relevant action plans that will deliver a noticeable performance improvement in their boardrooms.
Establish
clear roles and relationships between board members & executive directors
Learn through shared experiences & challenges with peers, faculty and other organizations
Be Inspired & informed by meeting people in the community
EMPOWER
innovative decision-making
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Fort McMurray: An intersection of economics & social good
More than 2,600 kilometres of rock and trees separate Waterloo Region from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta. But the two communities have a shared interest in healthy non-profit agencies. “There is amazing rapid growth in the community,’’ Nancy Mattes says of Wood Buffalo."That places pressure on the social-benefits sector to respond to the growing needs all the time.” Mattes is director of Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo, a five-year project based out of the University of Waterloo and supported ”There is amazing by the Suncor Energy rapid growth in the Foundation.
Nancy Mattes
community… That places pressure on the social-benefits sector to respond to the growing needs all the time.“ Nancy Mattes, Director of Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo
It strengthens nonprofit organizations serving a region where jobs on the oil sands have created a boom economy. The workforce tends to be young and transient, and housing costs are painfully high.
Retaining non-profit leaders poses a big challenge, but Capacity Waterloo Region is there to help. Cathy Brothers, Capacity’s Executive Director in Residence, sits on the Social Prosperity steering committee. She flies to Fort McMurray from time to time to meet non-profit leaders. “For not-for-profit organizations, governance and strategic planning are very important components,’’ Mattes says. “People have been so excited and delighted with having somebody of Cathy’s experience share her knowledge, and work in a very one-on-one way.” With Imagine Canada and Capacity Waterloo Region, Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo took nine non-profits through an accreditation workshop series that improved policies and procedures. Brothers says Suncor deserves full marks for its commitment to community development in Wood Buffalo. It understands that employees want to live in communities with vigorous social features, she adds. “Social good is a responsibility of all sectors,’’ Brothers says. "The progress of non-profits really depends on a whole lot of people in the community being invested in their success.”
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 12
MatchBoard: Successful partnership with Manulife expands to Toronto There is something calming about numbers that add up. It points to sensibility and good governance.
So it’s not surprising that Affan Khan, a treasury analyst for Manulife Financial, finds comfort in keeping accounts in order at the Waterloo Community Arts Centre. He’s been a volunteer there for two years, a connection made through the Manulife Financial MatchBoard program hosted by Capacity Waterloo Region.
Capacity’s flagship program since 2010, MatchBoard has linked 70 Manulife employees to vacant roles on governing boards in Waterloo Region’s charitable non-profit sector. Among them was Joanna Lohrenz, who joined Capacity’s own board of directors.
70
Lohrenz, vicepresident of MANULIFE EMPLOYEES contact centres for Manulife’s HAVE BEEN LINKED Canadian division, THROUGH says MatchBoard MATCHBOARD TO “does a really good VACANT GOVERNING job of understanding BOARDS “I was looking to what a person’s interests volunteer… and the are — where are they MatchBoard program passionate — then looking for a seemed like a great way to board that can help match that passion.” start,’’ says Khan. “It’s great to know The job of co-ordinating matches, and that I can use my skills and knowledge staying in touch with Manulife volunteers to impact the community.”
as they settle into their board roles, belongs to Judy Blasutti and Moira Taylor. Taylor is an Executive in Residence at Capacity; Blasutti is Manulife’s manager of employee engagement. In 2014, the program will expand to Manulife’s Toronto offices to match executives to roles on non-for-profit boards in the Toronto area. It’s the program’s first reach beyond Waterloo Region, and occurs just as Capacity changes its name to Capacity Canada. “Manulife totally gets the importance of social good that comes about through all of these non-profit organizations,” says Cathy Brothers, Capacity’s Executive Director in Residence. “Its commitment to volunteerism is wide and deep.”
Affan Khan
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95% of executive directors develop new ideas & strategies and
gain direction & clarity
90%
of executive directors
70,917 unique visitors to our website
build stronger networkS & connections
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 14
Capacity Waterloo Region helps ball club build winning board Ninety-six seasons. Ten league champions. It’s a record any sports team would love to have.
board governance boot camp and Manulife MatchBoard program — to help build bench strength in the back office.
More remarkably for the Kitchener Panthers of the Intercounty Baseball League, it happened with relatively few people running the show over almost 100 years.
“Capacity Waterloo Region helped us identify the needs of our organization, in terms of the types of board members and the interests that people had,” says Pegg, chair of the board.
“I was the main guy as far as the Panthers goes,” Bill Pegg says of the club’s recent administrative history. “If I got hit by the bus, we would have been in serious trouble.” To build security around the brand, the Panthers last year incorporated into a formal, community-owned, not-for-profit entity.
Bill Pegg
Pegg had some people in mind for the new board of directors; but he turned to Capacity Waterloo Region — with its
“We simply didn’t have a good business model. We were always going from good to bad, to worse, to back to good again. It was a roller-coaster.” Today, the Panthers board adds stability and expertise to a legacy organization that fields top senior and junior players at Jack Couch Park. The brand reaches into minor ball, with players as young as eight wearing Panthers uniforms. Fundraising is strategic.
“We’re not really selling an advertising opportunity,” Pegg says. “What we’re selling is a branding opportunity with one of the oldest amateur sports brands in the country, if not the oldest.” The team at Capacity Waterloo Region provided guidance on board governance and bylaws, and introductions to potential board recruits. “I’d say we couldn’t have done it without them,” Pegg says. "They were very, very helpful.”
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A happy match for St. Mary’s Hospital Don Shilton and Christine Henhoeffer have high praise for Susy Martins. “Manulife employees are very broadthinking, and she certainly has the global perspective,’’ says Shilton, president of St. Mary’s Hospital in Kitchener. “That has been a real strength to add to our board.” Martins, a human-resources executive for Manulife Financial, is a graduate of the Manulife-sponsored MatchBoard
program that Capacity Waterloo Region runs. It teaches board governance and responsibilities to Manulife employees, then matches their interests and skills to vacancies on community boards. “I’ve learned a lot by being on the board,” Martins says. “I’ve learned how the hospital system works, and the different protocols on the board. And I’ve learned just how far-reaching St. Mary’s is in the community.” St. Mary’s, meanwhile, benefits from Martins’ expertise in “lean” thinking, an operational approach that minimizes waste
Don Shilton & Christine Henhoeffer
while focusing on the best outcome for the customer or consumer. St. Mary’s uses lean strategies. “Susy Martins is from a younger generation and brings a very unique perspective,” says Henhoeffer, chair of the St. Mary’s board. “She challenges those of us who have been around longer. I think she has challenged the board.” “The scope and complexity of issues in health care mean that hospital boards have to be made up of people with diverse skills and interests,” Henhoeffer says. “We need chartered accountants, we need lawyers, but we also need people from business who have tried different methods of leadership, and different methods of teamwork, so that we are exposed to that,” she says.
Susy Martins
”It teaches board governance and responsibilities to Manulife employees, then matches their interests and skills to vacancies on community boards.“ Susy Martins, human-resources Executive, Manulife Financial
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 16
Mentorships: Leaders helping leaders build better non-profits In the charitable non-profit sector, it’s a familiar story.
A group of volunteers sets out to fill a gap in community services. The group becomes an organization. The organization — eventually — needs a more formal structure.
“When we’re swamped, we lean on each other for help. And that’s what mentoring does: it provides valuable, clear-headed perspective on our jobs.“ Cathy Brothers, Executive Director in Residence, Capacity Waterloo Region
Cathy Brothers
When Muslim Social Services reached that point a few years ago, founding director Idrisa Pandit sought out a friend to talk about such challenges as building a diverse and collaborative board, setting policies and staying true to the organization’s strategic vision. She turned to Cathy Brothers, Capacity Waterloo Region’s Executive Director in Residence, and head of Capacity’s mentorship program. “We certainly benefitted from her experience and mentorship,” Pandit says. “That guidance has been tremendously beneficial.”
A mentor herself, Brothers pairs other leaders of notfor-profit organizations into effective mentorships, some of which last for years. She can also turn to Capacity’s executives in residence for specific skills. “When we are swamped, we lean on each other for help,’’ Brothers says. “And that’s what mentoring does: it provides valuable, clear-headed perspective on our jobs.” Formed in 2007, Muslim Social Services now has a small staff and its own space in The Family Centre on Hanson Avenue, Kitchener. Having a mentor, Pandit says, helped her “stay on course and not get discouraged” by the to-do list involved in turning the organization into a full-fledged non-profit. “We know, from the tech sector, the importance of mentoring, networking and collaboration,” Brothers says. “Those types of relationships also create innovative non-profits.”
Cathy and Idrisa discuss the challenges of building a diverse board.
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Capacity joins ASCent program to help social entrepreneurs Tired of seeing her autistic brother Troy miss out on opportunities, Nadia Hamilton took an idea and turned it into a company. Toronto-based Magnusmode Ltd. has developed interactive cards that prompt people with special needs through such tasks as taking a bus or preparing a meal. “It builds in the very structure that they need to thrive and act independently,’’ Hamilton says. This spring, she spent several weeks with Communitech’s ASCent (Accelerating Social Cause Entrepreneurs) program in Kitchener. Capacity Waterloo Region is one of eight partners supporting ASCent to nurture for-profit or non-profit ventures that address a social need. “Anybody who comes by and sits beside me has something to offer,” Hamilton says of ASCent. “Everybody’s doing something incredible and trying to change the world. It’s great to learn from people who are in the same position as I am, or six months ahead of me, or even a year or two ahead of me.” “It’s almost like you step inside a community of mentors because there is so much to learn from everybody.”
ASCent benefits from Capacity’s connections and breadth of experience in Waterloo Region’s charitable non-profit sector, says Glenn Smith, who leads the program. Startups and charitable non-profits often face similar challenges raising money and pushing innovation. “Cathy Brothers (Capacity’s Executive Director in Residence) is a champion of social innovation,” Smith says. “If non-profits are struggling for funding, it can often be tied back to the need for better ideas.”
Nadia Hamilton
“It’s almost like you step inside a community of mentors because there is so much to learn from everybody.“
Brothers joined a panel this spring to judge ASCent’s social enterprise competition, which drew 60 entries from Ontario universities. Edusight, a startup with an online platform to help teachers grade work and track the performance of students, won the $5,000 top prize.
Nadia Hamilton, Magnusmode Ltd.
Glenn Smith
2013 ANNUAL REPORT • CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION 18
FINANCIALS 2013 Audited
2012 Audited (7 months*)
INCOME Donations
$
Fee for Service Grants Total Income
110,450
$
88,910
52,888
131,138
354,796
238,762
$
518,134
$
458,810
$
300,417
$
242,440
EXPENSES Salaries & Benefits Contracted Services
74,320
Administration
22,018
41,561
Meetings & Conferences
31,245
41,030
Educational Events
54,524
35,229
7,817
26,369
Marketing & Promotion
22,898
5,309
Professional Fees
10,478
9,650
968
2,849
-
69,200
Technology
Amortization of Property & Equipment Other (Transfer to Capacity Waterloo Region)
124,481
Total Expenses
$
524,685
$
598,118
Excess (Deficit) of Income over Expenses
$
(6,551)
$
(139,308)
Net Assets Transfer from Tides Canada Net Assets – End of the Year
$
84,066
154,174
4,826
69,200
82,341
$
84,066
* Combined Total of Audit & Tides Canada Financials
19 CAPACITY WATERLOO REGION • 2013 ANNUAL REPORT
THANK YOU
Accelerator Centre ASCEnt Astley Family Foundation Bob & Judy Astley AV Ontario Blackberry Don Bourgeois Cathy Brothers Tupper Cawsey Communitech
Conestoga College Megan Conway Cowan Foundation Bill Creighton Ruth Cruikshank Deborah Currie Jan d’Ailly Mandy Dennison Evergreen Digital Marketing Steve Farlow
Roger & Cathy Farwell Fred Galloway David & Pat Graham Mark Hallman Chris Howlett IBM Canada iNotForProfit Tim Jackson David & Jan Jaworsky Sheri Keffer
The Kitchener & Waterloo Community Foundation Anne Lavender Louise Leonard Libro Credit Union Joanna Lohrenz Lyle S. Hallman Foundation Manulife Financial David McCammon
Matt Miller Mike Murray Ontario Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration Ontario Trillium Foundation Regional Municipality of Waterloo Terry Reidel Christine Rier
Ken Seiling Jason Shim Reg Snyder Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo Suncor Energy Foundation Stephen Swatridge Moira & Roger Taylor Tivoli Films University of Waterloo
Karin Voisin Wallenstein Feed Charitable Foundation Mark Weber Frances Westley Wilfrid Laurier University Vivian Zochowski
@capacitywr • www.capacitywr.ca
Cathy Brothers Executive Director in Residence Andrew Wilding Director of Operations Tanya Darisi Executive in Residence Moira Taylor Executive in Residence Matt Miller Executive in Residence Jim Miller Executive in Residence Dave Jaworsky Executive in Residence Shubhagata Sengupta Digital Media Coordinator
Accelerator Centre 295 Hagey Boulevard Waterloo, ON N2L 6R5 519.513.2606
Charity # 81658 9287 RR0001
Photographs by: David McCammon
Stories by: Christian Aagaard
Design by: Two Blonde Chicks Inc. Design + Marketing Group