The Community Services Recovery Fund supports the adaptation and modernization of community service organizations facing immediate and long-term impacts of the pandemic.
Today, we’re excited to share the local organizations that have received funding through the Community Services Recovery Fund (CSRF).
The CSRF is a one-time investment of $400 million across Canada to help community service organizations adapt, modernize, and be better equipped to improve the efficacy, accessibility, and sustainability of the services they provide through the pandemic recovery and beyond. A collaboration between the Canadian Red Cross, Community Foundations of Canada, and United Way Centraide Canada, the CSRF responds to what community service organizations need right now, and supports organizations as they adapt to the long-term impacts of the pandemic.
The Ottawa Community Foundation is proud to have worked with community foundations across Canada as part of the CSRF. The following projects are being supported in Ottawa:
| Organization | Project Title | Amount Funded | Project Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alliance to End Homelessness Ottawa | Investing in Collective Impact: Achieving System Level Change Through Collaboration | $115,500.00 | This collective impact project will support the collaboration of the Alliance and OSHN to map out the ideal state of the housing and homelessness system, and the steps needed to operationalize it. It will show us how the services of our individual member organizations should evolve, and how we can collaborate across the non-profit sector to realize much-needed system-level changes. |
| Black History Ottawa Corporation | The Future of Black History Ottawa | $73,070.00 | A re-examination of Black History Ottawa's strategic plan through engaging in consultations with the Black community and the subsequent implementation of fundraising and communication strategies to prepare for the future. This project will help BHO adapt to the wave of digitalization, disruption in philanthropy and the changing demographics of Ottawa by focusing on digital communications and; digital and sustainable fundraising. |
| Britannia Woods Community House | Building Shared IT Systems | $68,880.00 | Project will create a shared IT infrastructure and systems including a common database, virtual scheduling/booking tool, websites and security/privacy policies and procedures for the 5 participating comm. houses that can be shared/scaled as needed by other agencies. This project will support the community houses by increasing accessibility, collaborations and the capacity to reach more people through hybrid/virtual programming as needed. |
| Bruce House | Bruce House Strategic Fundraising Plan | $59,686.00 | This project will build Bruce House’s (BH) fundraising capacity by fully leveraging existing donor revenues, creating new donor relationships, reviewing existing and exploring new fundraising events, and developing new sources of grant revenues to increase its financial resources. This adaptation will allow BH to stabilize its revenue and plan for revenue growth to sustain expansion in key programs. |
| Capital City Mission | Capital City Mission | $37,850.00 | We will undertake a Strategic Planning process that engages our clients, develop a Case for Support and purchase 12-months of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database. Because COVID-19 changed our programming and our impact, this project’s activities will allow us to validate and re-evaluate our future direction through strategic planning alongside modernizing our fundraising tools to sustain these plans. |
| Centre Pauline-Charron | Strengthening technological capacities to better serve CPC users | $50,485.00 | CPC wants to modernize the computer system it uses to manage memberships and ticket sales by introducing a new touchscreen system, an automated mass calling system and other communications tools. The project will help staff and volunteers optimize their time and increase user satisfaction. |
| Collaborative Justice Program: Restorative Justice Ottawa | Consulting to Develop Fundraising Capacity, Adaptability, Resilience, and Impact | $23,922.00 | A fundraising consultant familiar with the local justice community will be contracted to identify prospective individual donors, corporate sponsorships, and foundations. He will provide the Development Committee and Donor Recognition Committee with guidance and advice on cultivating and stewarding supporters so the CJP becomes less reliant on government grants and more adaptable when facing external disruptions (COVID and Freedom Convoys). |
| Confederation Court Community House Inc. | Human Resources & Policy Development | $46,000.00 | The project will bring consistency and support specific human resource functions, policies and procedures across 6 community houses. This will support our organizations to adapt to rapid policy changes and also modernize our approach to human resource matters. |
| Coopérative multiservices francophone de l’Ouest d’Ottawa Inc. | Implementation of a new communication plan for CMFO | $85,000.00 | Our communication plan will focus on reaching out to minority Francophone communities living in western and southern Ottawa and on encouraging them to use our in-person services on a regular basis, taking into account the fact that the pandemic led to the closure of our new community centre and that our transition to virtual services has done little to promote regular in-person use. |
| Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard | Documenting operational procedures to maintain food security during unexpected situations | $38,720.00 | The project will ensure procedures related to food provision are clear and that data security/privacy measures are robust; it will address vulnerabilities and document core operations. This will provide us with the information and tools required to maintain operations to address the food security needs of vulnerable community members during an emergency. It will also inform planning our new facility. |
| Greenspace Watch | More Current and Comprehensive Content for Website and Social Media | $15,000.00 | The project will streamline the process for creating website content, make it easier to find it, and to distribute it through social media and email channels. This will enable us to provide current and comprehensive information on greenspace protection despite the accelerated rate of engagement with residents, partners and government bodies brought about by the widespread adoption of virtual meetings. |
| Habitat for Humanity National Capital Region | Affordable Homeownership Development Planning ‘Toolbox’ | $85,000.00 | Habitat Greater Ottawa will gain development planning knowledge and improve operational resourcing and decision making to better manage build projects. Allowing us to streamline management of our housing portfolio, financing, land and architectural processes to increase affordability, shorten build timelines and build more homes for more families. |
| Hospice Care Ottawa | Enhanced constituent management system and digital experience | $63,662.00 | By purchasing a new, agile, constituent management system, we will enhance fundraising capacity while providing a more user friendly, digital experience. We will adapt to the new digitally focused reality, and modern tools will help us raise more money, realize lapsed potential, stay competitive, while saving significant staff time currently wasted on manual tasks on outdated systems. |
| Indo-Canadian Community Centre Inc. | Systems, Process and Security Enhancements | $37,000.00 | To help ICCC to adapt & modernize the technology base of its operations and address security challenges, predominantly left stagnant due to slowdowns cased by Covid 19 pandemic. The successful outcome will help ICCC move out of archaic technologies to efficiently sustain its operations, mitigate immediate security issues while providing a scalable framework for the future. |
| JazzWorks | JazzWorks Marketing and Communications Strategy | $28,504.00 | Our project is to expand and diversify the pool of amateur musicians in Ottawa and beyond who participate in JazzWorks activities. This project will give us the marketing strategy, tools and human resources to achieve this objective, thereby renewing our membership with a younger and more diversified group of amateur musicians. |
| Le Patro D'Ottawa | Ensemble pour l'avenir du Patro | $75,000.00 | Patro d’Ottawa has been a vital part of Ottawa’s Francophone community since 1957. To help ensure its long-term viability and growth, Le Patro is reaching out to established partner organizations within the community to develop a new and more efficient operating model. By combining resources and pooling expertise, we hope to address the needs and challenges of the community we serve in a modern and professional way. |
| LiveWorkPlay | Efficiency, Accountability and Impact- Modernizing Our Client Management System | $38,500.00 | This project will modernize our client management system. This will digitize all client files, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization to document support activities, collect data to help us understand our outcomes which will help us measure and articulate our impact and understand our own progress and areas of continued growth and improvement. |
| National Capital Region Equitable Recreation Network | Increasing organizational sustainability through strategic partnership development and fundraising diversification | $36,981.00 | This project will develop and support a revenue diversification strategy, fundraising plan, and a strategic review to prioritize partnership development. This project will identify and prioritize, both the steps required to adapt our services to increased demand and costs, as well as neighbourhood sites and partnerships, to maximize impact and build a resilient foundation for future sustainability of the organization. |
| Options Bytown Non Profit Housing Corporation | Enhancing Connection | $27,200.00 | This project will allow us to evaluate, modernize and improve our ability to drive our organization’s goal of ending chronic homelessness. We will review our current communications strategies and tools and hire consultants to help us adapt our website and communications planning to better fit the post pandemic realities of our organization. |
| OrKidstra-Sistema Ottawa | Creating Accessibility and Capacity: Modernizing OrKidstra’s Student Database | $38,000.00 | This project will upgrade the internal student database from a singular desktop-based program into a modern, cloud-based system which is accessible by multiple staff concurrently. This new system will help streamline administrative processes and build capacity for growth following the effects of COVID-19; the project will allow programming staff to minimize manual data processing and maximize their time with students. |
| Ottawa Arts Council | The Lighthouse Project | $94,500.00 | The Lighthouse Project will determine the fiscal and cultural feasibility of a merger between our two organizations by 2024. Through this process, we will refine strategic priorities for one or both organizations, optimize resources, and innovate internal infrastructure to better serve and address emergent challenges in our local arts community. |
| Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization | OCISO Web-Based Volunteer Platform | $81,400.00 | The project will develop a Volunteer Management web application, leveraging volunteer best practices. The platform will revolutionize the way OCISO makes an impact through volunteerism, by providing a modernized, comprehensive streamlined solution for multiple volunteer coordinators to match and facilitate OCISO’s 700+ yearly volunteer placements across seven diverse departments. |
| Ottawa Community Land Trust | Strengthening the OCLT’s acquisitions capacity through a sector wide strategy | $95,640.00 | The project will support structured two-way communications and learning between the OCLT and non-profit, cooperative housing and community sectors to jointly identify priority actions and functions for the OCLT. Within a challenging post-Covid economic climate, greater collaboration will enable the OCLT and community housing organizations to adapt and expand capacities by leveraging equity, acquiring properties and becoming more resilient. |
| Ottawa Shared Services Organization | Shared Employee Management System Platform Assessment | $60,500.00 | OSSO serves agencies with 400 staff working 24/7 to serve diverse, medically fragile, and disabled individuals: an efficient and effective scheduling and HR system will ensure excellent, seamless services to the vulnerable. The assessment/audit will allow us to determine the next steps to align multiple systems to a common platform, streamlining training and resources and eventually sharing relief staffing resources. |
| Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre | Developing and Implementing a New Health and Safety Program | $51,050.00 | A Health & Safety program overhaul will create new procedures, training materials and biosecurity protocols that will ensure compliance with the Occupational Health & Safety Act and allow us to adapt and modernize our operations. The new program will build organizational resilience and strengthen internal capacity by protecting staff, volunteers and the public from illness, injury, and future zoonotic risks. |
| Ottawa Young Mens and Young Women's Association | Modernizing program registration and membership services/communication at the YMCA | $75,500.00 | This project will involve implementing a vital and flexible new software solution to replace the YMCA’s aging recreation registration system, which is no longer supported. This necessary technology upgrade will provide better functionality and improve the Y’s membership and program registration process, while better serving families and individuals who rely on Y programs for health, fitness and recreation. |
| PAL Ottawa | PAL Ottawa Transitions Processes & Strategies due to pandemic impacts. | $83,000.00 | The project addresses unexpected delays and revised resident intake processes, impacting our fundraising efforts and critical infrastructure development, supporting future governance and operations. Revising our fundraising strategy to achieve our $2million goal supports our affordable housing Rental Subsidy Fund target; adapting our governance and operations to contemporary social enterprise models match our vanguard position within this forward-thinking (pilot) partnership project. |
| Propeller Dance | Strategic direction and planning for Propeller Dance | $79,711.00 | Propeller Dance will hire five specialized consultants to help re-vision Propeller’s future and strengthen its capacity. Projects will include developing a new three-year strategic plan; applying a DEI Action plan to HR policies and job recruitment tools; developing a fundraising plan and campaign; updating marketing and communications plans; and implementing career, mental and physical health supports to the Company. |
| Restore International Foundation | Collective Impact for Black Communities in Ottawa | $100,000.00 | This project will bring together the four partner organizations to develop a collective impact model that enhances the impact of services and programs for Black communities in Ottawa. This will enable all four organizations to leverage their individual strengths to establish mutually enforcing activities to increase our collective capacity, reducing duplication of services and increasing positive outcomes for community members. |
| Rural Ottawa South Support Services | Stronger Together: Integrated Agency Strategies for Capacity Building | $62,500.00 | The Stronger Together project will identify opportunities for Rural Ottawa South Support Services and Olde Forge Community Resource Centre to integrate in the delivery of community support services. The project will increase the capacity of both agencies to serve more seniors and adults with disabilities in their communities and meet the increased demand for services created by the pandemic. |
| Social Planning Council of Ottawa (SPCO). | Strengthening SPCO’s Revenue systems and processes | $99,870.00 | To develop and implement a post-Covid funding strategy that includes funding/fundraising approaches, processes and systems. The project will enhance funding/fundraising processes, including donor/donation management project invoicing and revenue management systems. Redesigned and streamlined processes will be enabled by improved information systems and technology including enhancements to the current financial management software (Quickbooks) and the adoption of contact/donor management software. |
| Society for Social Ingenuity | Building Capacity to Grow Community Access to Tools and Skills | $70,147.00 | Build the financial sustainability of SSI/OTL by supporting the development, alignment, communication, and implementation of a two-year fundraising strategy to raise our profile and increase revenue generation. • Develop internal fundraising capacity, implement fundraising software to engage supporters, track, and evaluate metrics, update marketing and communication materials, provide training, adopt a systematic approach to stakeholder engagement, revenue generation, and fundraising activities. |
| Soul Space Ottawa | Developing Foundational Communications to Support Frontline Workers | $36,592.00 | The project will support Soul Space to establish foundational communications to strengthen community partnerships, develop public awareness and support fundraising efforts to achieve long term sustainability. It will help Soul Space raise the quality of our communications and strengthen our relationships with partners - ultimately delivering more care to frontline workers. |
| The Dementia Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County | Fundraising Strategy Development Adaptation and Implementation | $90,000.00 | This project involves the development, implementation, and adaptation of a new five year fund development strategy, resulting in increased, sustainable revenue. This initiative will allow DSORC to support the strategic directions of building organizational capacity and promoting access to a broadened range of high–quality programs and services. |
| The Elizabeth Fry Society of Ottawa | Revitalizing Recruitment, Retention and Organization Delivery Capacity | $70,000.00 | This project will see us conducting a thorough review and needs assessment to support a robust human resources capacity following impacts of COVID on our organization. As an older, established not-for-profit, this project will enable us develop and apply current and forward-looking policies and tools that support staff recruitment and retention, based on best practices for our sector. |
| Volunteer Ottawa/Bénévoles Ottawa | Strengthening Volunteer Ottawa’s Capacity Through Digital Adoption | $87,630.00 | VO will (a) acquire a CRM/contact management system to improve data management and engagement tools with volunteers, non-profits, partners, and donors/sponsors, (b) redesign its MS365 SharePoint/Teams environment and (c) integrate these platforms with existing digital communications tools. Maximizing/integrating technology will create efficiencies and provide better tools to manage, share, and analyze information, and develop effective strategies to continually innovate services. |
