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Fundraisingpros weigh in

6p

Fighting thefunding gap

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Immigrantsswell volunteer

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Virtualvolunteers

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Where doyour donateddollars go?

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Taking the stagein Rosebud

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Socialentrepreneurship

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E EDITOR: KERRY POWELL, 429-5373; [email protected] EDMONTON JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2005

AnEdmonton

Journalspecial

report onAlberta’s

volunteersand

not-for-profitorganizations

FILE PHOTOS FROMCANDACE ELLIOTT,BRIAN GAVRILOFF,

ED KAISER,JOHN LUCAS,

RICK MacWILLIAM,LARRY WONG,THE JOURNAL

AND FROM THECALGARY HERALD,

CANWEST NEWSSERVICE

RICK MacWILLIAM, THE JOURNAL, FILE

Clockwise from main photo:Jessica Moe, Krysten Lozier

with Farhana Hadi andDavid Williamson, Leslie

Genao, Miriam Marifa withKitty Gambler, Jane Xu,Vanessa Mansell, Dan

Garsonnin, from left, NancyStewart, Jean Thomson,

Elma Chavez, Chris Lees andDee MacPherson,

Tony Lau, Marcus Desireau,Frankie Moffat, Cindy

Gordon, Remy Lastiwka,Brian Eaton and Joe Shea

E2 NEW

E2 EDMONTON JOURNALWEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2005 S H A R I N G T H E I R W E A L T H

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E3KE3CYE3MAGE3YEL

S H A R I N G T H E I R W E A L T H100 YEARSOF GIVING

From the native “Society of the Generous” — consisting of acommunity’s best hunters donating shares from a hunt to their lessfortunate members — to pioneer families helping each other raisea barn, a western spirit of volunteerism existed long before thecreation of Alberta’s provincial borders and formal government.

The Edmonton YMCA and YWCA areincorporated by special provinciallegislation. In 1908, the YMCA opens athree-storey facility housing “social”rooms, a lunchroom and classrooms.

19071905

Calgary launches a $50,000fundraising campaign tocomplete its YMCAbuilding. In 1910, Calgaryopens its first YWCA.

1909

EDMONTON JOURNAL WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2005 E3

The changing faces of Alberta’s volunteersCHRISTINE PEAKE BREMNER

S p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a lEDMONTON

Alberta volunteers.According to the 2003 National

Survey of Nonprofit and VoluntaryOrganizations, there are 19,000 vol-unteer and not-for-profit organiza-tions in the province,with 2.5 millionvolunteers. These Albertans collec-tively contribute about 449 millionhours, the equivalent of 234,000 full-time jobs.

In economic impact, that’s morejobs than in the mining, oil and gassector plus the accommodation andfood services sector combined, ac-cording to Statistics Canada.

Further, these organizations em-ploy 105,000 paid staff members.

Despite these numbers, Alberta’snot-for-profit and voluntary sectorsees a problem looming. An increas-ing number of organizations reportdifficulty in attracting new volun-teers and retaining existing ones, re-sulting in more work falling on theshoulders of fewer people. Volunteerburn-out coupled with changing de-mographics produces a potential vol-unteer shortage.

The first of the baby boomers areapproaching 60; the tail end of thecohort is nearly 40. This generation,about 30 per cent of the province’spopulation, has been steadfast in vol-unteering. As they retire, will theycontinue this commitment?

The next generation, children of theboomers, are under pressure. If bothparents work, they find themselvesjuggling longer working hours, childrearing and sometimes parent care,leaving them with less time for recre-ational and voluntary activities. Addmore new immigrants, often dealing

with a new language and culture, andyou have an increasing demand forservices with a potentially decreasingvolunteer supply.

The volunteer sector has started itsstrategic planning. “It’s not yet a cri-sis, but we’re starting to get to thatpoint,” says Karen Lynch, executivedirector of Volunteer Alberta. “Oneway we’re addressing the situation isby getting youth involved in the com-munity, and we do this by increasingawards, showing appreciation, anddeveloping programs especially foryouth.”

An Edmonton example is the web-based Youth One, a program of theSupport Network.

“We offer a lot of services online, in-cluding a magazine written by youth,for youth,” says Jennifer Wong,youth supervisor. “One of our ser-vices is YouthVOLUNTEER!, whichconnects youth, aged 13 to 24, withvolunteer opportunities. It’s a clear-inghouse for other not-for-profitgroups and agencies.”

The best way to attract young vol-unteers is through example, Lynchfeels: “We know that when volun-teering is part of the family culture,children and teens will continue tovolunteer.”

Time is the problem. Parents maynot be able to commit to regularmeetings and ongoing programs, butthey may be willing to work on a spe-cific project such as a fundraisingevent or festival. It’s called episodicvolunteering, and more organiza-tions are restructuring and tailoringtheir activities to accommodate it, ac-

cording to Lynch.Edmonton’s high schools hold vol-

unteer fairs, and Miki Stricker, Festi-val Director of Edmonton’s Fringe,has attended a number of them.“What is great about Edmonton isthat high school students can earncredits for volunteer work, and Ithink it’s wonderful that high schoolsare trying to help.We’ve had somewonderful volun-teers come out ofthis program.”

Corporations, too,are recognizingtheir need to sup-port volunteeringwith more thanmonetary dona-tions. “CorporateCanada is realizingthat the kind of em-ployee who bene-fits the companyalso supports the community,”Stricker says. “Home Hardware inWetaskiwin is one example. Whenemployees who are members of thevolunteer fire department are calledinto action during work hours, theyknow that when they head out thedoor, they won’t lose any wages.”

It’s not just an aging population andlifestyle changes. Our ethnic compo-sition is being transformed. You cansee the diversity of our population intwo of Alberta’s major summer festi-vals: Edmonton’s Heritage Days andCalgary’s GlobalFest, largely run byvolunteer members of various cultur-al communities.

Within a number of ethnic commu-nities, volunteer organizations easethe transition into Canadian culture.Assist Community Services Centrehas helped Chinese immigrants withsettlement and integration servicesin Edmonton since 1977. WanfangLy-Lin, one of 295 volunteers, re-gards her work at the centre as a full-

time job.When the retired

nurse from Tai-wan is not at thefront desk, an-swering the phoneand referringclients, she’s afamily mentorthrough the BigBrothers/Big Sis-ters program.“The kids call megrandma,” shesmiles. She alsoeducates women

about the breast cancer screeningprogram.

“I had no idea of volunteering fulltime when I first came in,” she says,“and I’ve gained new skills andknowledge. I feel that I get more thanI give.”

Though Calgary and Edmonton at-tract the majority of new immigrants,Medicine Hat is getting its share, par-ticularly of African refugees.

“We’re a one-stop refugee settle-ment organization, the only one serv-ing Medicine Hat,” says Linda Gale,executive director of Saamis Immi-gration, “and our situation is com-pounded by a two-hour drive to the

closest federal immigration office.”The agency has four and a half staff

members and between 150 and 170volunteers. “Our volunteers are pre-dominantly ‘mainstream’ Canadians,aged 30 to 50, supplemented by theirfamilies. About half are immigrantsthemselves,” says Gale. “When weengage newcomers in volunteeringdepends on their skills. Those withgood language skills may find them-selves signing up as volunteer trans-lators within days.

“We introduce many of our clientsto volunteering through our localhomeless shelter,” she continues.

“One week, every second month,our organization staffs the soupkitchen. Some of our clients comefrom countries where volunteering isnot seen as valuable and part of theirculture, while others have well-de-fined skills in the area of volunteer-ing.”

In the short term, the imminent re-tirement of baby boomers may provea boon to the voluntary sector.Healthy, enthusiastic and experi-enced seniors may look for an outletfor their energies: a way to stay activeand contribute once their paid ca-reers are complete.

It’s possible that new immigrantsmay integrate themselves into broad-er community volunteer activitiesover time, just as previous genera-tions of new Canadians did. Today,organizations are looking at ways tostructure their activities to encourageyouth and more mature, episodic vol-unteers to use their time and skills toadvantage.

The volunteer sector has becomeaccustomed to adapting to new anddifferent needs, and the changingface of volunteerism will reflect theAlberta of the future.

An aging population, 21st-century lifestyles and immigration are changing the province’s demographics —and the landscape of volunteerism

Forget altruism. Volunteer, donate out of enlightened self-interest

My Uncle Alfie was the greatest philanthropist I ever knew.

He didn’t have millions of dollars.He was no captain of industry. Formuch of his life, he ran a small drygoods store on Fort Road, in northEdmonton.

He never endowed a museum. Noone ever named a concert hall or auniversity chair in his honour.

My uncle didn’t give the gift ofmoney. He gave the gifts of skill andtime.

The list of charities he worked forover the decades is too long to in-clude in its entirety. The Rotary Club;St. Anthony’s College for Boys; Good-will; the Jewish Seniors Drop-In Cen-tre; the Army, Navy, and Airforce Vet-erans Club; and the Robertson-Wesley United Church communitydinner program were just a few of hisfavourite groups and causes.

My uncle was a gifted amateurchef, and though he volunteered inmany ways, what he loved to do bestwas to organize and prepare nutri-tious, home-made meals for massesof people. Blintzes and latkes,spaghetti sauce and cabbage rolls andhamburgers, ginger snaps and honeycakes.

People would ask him to run their

charity kitchens, and he’d leap at thechance.

My uncle was Jewish, but his atti-tude to volunteerism was utterly ecu-menical. If he admired the work of agroup or agency, he’d be there tohelp. Orthodoxies and ideologiesnever interested him. People did.

He kept on volunteering, well intohis vigourous eighties. Our familyused to giggle over the fact that someof the frailer seniors he assisted wereactually 10 or 15 years his junior.

But please, don’t run away with theidea that my uncle was a saint. Hedidn’t volunteer out of some pureand selfless sense of duty. He did itbecause he loved it.

He loved being with people, and hisvolunteer work kept him from feelinglonely and blue when he was wid-owed, not once, but twice.

In the kitchen, my uncle was anartist, and like every artist worth hissalt, he had a healthy ego. Cookingfor crowds gave him an outlet for hiscreative energies — and guaranteedhim an appreciative audience. Noartist can survive long without ap-plause, and Uncle Alfie never mindeda little praise.

Being a volunteer made him feelneeded, wanted, important. Un-

doubtedly, my uncle’s work benefitedthe social fabric of our whole com-munity. But beyond enriching the lifeof our city, his volunteerism enrichedhis own life. It made him, a diminu-tive retired storekeeper from northEdmonton, feel that he mattered.

And that, really, is the secret to be-ing a great philanthropist. The wordphilanthropy comes from the Greekphilos, meaning loving and the wordanthropos, meaning human being.Philanthropy isn’t the gift of money.It isn’t even the gift of time. It’s thegift of love.

So please, don’t volunteer or donatebecause you feel you should. Don’trun yourself ragged or write bigcheques to impress your friends orneighbours or community leaders.Find a cause that you love, somethingthat really matters to you. Seek out away to help that makes you feel hap-py and useful and appreciated. Havefun. Participate in the life of yourcommunity, not out of some mar-

tyred sense of obligation, but becauseit makes you feel good.

In the end, it doesn’t really do muchgood to lecture people on their moralduty to donate their money or theirtime to earnest, worthy causes.

Sure, we all have a responsibility toour community, to our fellow citi-zens, to contribute to the well-beingof our city and province.

But in a time and place when somany people are stretched so thin,when we have so many bills to pay, somany jobs to juggle, so many familyresponsibilities to manage, it can beself-defeating to preach to people ontheir responsibility to volunteer ordonate.

Such well-meaning lectures can sim-ply make people feel resentful, over-whelmed, reluctant to step forward.

And who can blame people for feel-ing suspicious of official exhortationsto volunteer or donate, when ourgovernments, at all levels, have beenbusy downloading their commitmentto the community, expecting citizensto provide or pay for more and moreof the basic social infrastructure weonce expected our public servants totake care of.

You don’t feel very generous whenyou get the sense that your “dona-tion” is really just some sort of invisi-ble tax.

So forget altruism. Volunteer or do-nate out of enlightened self-interest.You don’t have to have a lot of moneyor a lot of talent to find some way tohelp that makes you feel special, thatgives you a sense of connection toyour community — a sense of be-longing and a sense of purpose.

Give the gift of time or money, andgive yourself a gift at the same time.Cast your bread upon the water —and you may be surprised at whatyou receive in return.

p s i m o n s @ t h e j o u r n a l . c a n w e s t . c o m

True philanthropy is a gift of love, not money

Paul

aSim

ons

“Chef” Alfred Simons

BRUCE EDWARDS, THE JOURNAL

Wanfang Ly-Lin is a retired nurse who volunteers full time for the Assist Community Services Centre. She also volunteers as a famliy mentor through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.

“We know that whenvolunteering is part of the

family culture, childrenand teens will continue to

volunteer.”Karen Lynch,

Volunteer Albertaexecutive director

E2


Edmonton becomes the first city inCanada to adopt the idea ofcommunity-based organizations,forming the Edmonton Federationof Community Leagues.

An amendment to the Criminal Code ofCanada allows pari-mutuel betting andparticipation in games of chance whereprofits are used for charitable orreligious purposes.

19111910

The first community league, Crestwood (formerly the142 Street District Community League), is formed inEdmonton. The league concerned itself with districtimprovements, shared use of the school, socialevenings, and organized sporting events.

1912

E4 WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2005 EDMONTON JOURNAL

Voluntary sector a $75-billion boon to economy

CHRISTOPHER SPENCERS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

EDMONTON

Canada has one of the largest not-for-profit sectors per capita in theworld, but that’s does not translateinto visibility or respect.

“You’ve got this diverse sector of theeconomy that’s in every communityin the country, but people generallydon’t see it as a sector,” says MichaelHall, vice-president of research forImagine Canada. “It’s definitely a sec-tor that’s under the radar for manyCanadians.”

A study recently completed byJohns Hopkins University and fund-ed in part by the federal governmentshows that not-for-profit, charitableand voluntary organizations accountfor about 8.5 per cent of the nationalGDP. Furthermore, they employmore than 11 per cent of the work-force.

Overall, the not-for-profit sectoradds $75.9 billion annually to theCanadian economy.

Among developed countries, onlyHolland has a larger not-for-profitsector per capita.

The size of the sector and the extentof Canada’s dependence on commu-nity organizations is partly a result ofyears of government funding cuts,says Keith Seel, director of the Insti-tute for Nonprofit Studies at MountRoyal College.

“Government, when it was reduc-ing its size, chose to move services itwas providing directly to the public,onto largely the not-for-profit sector.

“The challenge is that the govern-ment hasn’t sent the necessary re-sources over to deliver those servicesat the same level as the governmentitself was able to do.”

Senator Terry Mercer, a former na-tional director of the Liberal Party ofCanada, argues that the decline ofgovernment involvement and thegrowth of the not-for-profit sectorhave actually improved responsive-ness by creating a more decentral-ized welfare system with localleadership.

“I think now there is a recognitionthat communities need to take con-trol of their own destinies. We havesome tremendous success storiesacross the country.”

The full value of the transition willnot become apparent until the nextrecession, he adds.

“If the economy were in trouble,which it is not, I think the strength ofour not-for-profit sector would helpcushion the impact. We have thishuge infrastructure of organizationsacross the country which can help.”

Hall, the lead author of the JohnHopkins study, says the Canadianmethod of delivering social servicescombines the Anglo-American tradi-tion of philanthropy and volun-teerism with the northern Europeanmodel of public enterprise.

“We’ve got a very unique system inCanada which is very much a hybridbetween the private sector and thecommunity sector. You would thinkthat in countries where the govern-ment was more activist and morewilling to invest in social causes, thecommunity sector would have beenmuch larger. That wasn’t the case.We saw results coming out of Scandi-navia, where they have a very longtradition of government taking a veryactive role in society, not being aboveCanada.”

For example, the not-for-profitworkforce only accounts for 7.1 percent of jobs in Sweden. The UnitedStates and Great Britain are at 9.8and 8.5 per cent, respectively.

One notable difference betweenCanada and the other three countriesis that the number of paid employeesin the Canadian not-for-profit sectoris comparably high. When comparingactual rates of volunteerism, Canada

starts to fall behind.Canadian not-for-profit groups are

also more likely to be involved in pro-viding services such as education,health care and housing, while orga-nizations involved in expressive ac-tivities, such as arts, sports and reli-gion, are more prominent in othercountries.

Seel says the study shows that gov-ernment needs to make issues facing

not-for-profit organizations a higherpriority.

“Because we haven’t been perceivedto be an economic entity, we simplyhaven’t drawn any political attention.Without the political attention, thegeneral public hasn’t seen us as beingof the size and scale that we are.”

Mercer, who is also the chairman ofthe Association of Fundraising Pro-fessionals Foundation for Philan-thropy in Canada, says part of theproblem is that not-for-profit groupshave not taken enough responsibilityfor publicizing their contribution tothe economy.

“I don’t think that the Canadianpublic has any concept as to how im-portant charities are from an eco-nomic point of view. We have to beconstantly educating not just thepublic but also MLAs, MPs, city coun-cillors and members of the schoolboard of the value of the voluntarysector.

“The bottom line is that a healthyand vibrant charitable sector is a keyelement to a strong Canadian econo-my. It’s not just gas and oil in Albertaand cars in Ontario. It’s those chari-ties in every little community across

Not-for-profits must dobetter job of promoting

themselves: senator

“The bottom line is thata healthy and vibrant

charitable sector is a keyelement to a strong

Canadian economy.”Senator Terry Mercer,

chairman of the Associationof Fundraising ProfessionalsFoundation for Philanthropy

in Canada

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

0Non-profit

sectorexcludinghospitals,

universities,and colleges

Utilities Constr-uction

Trans-portation

Manufac-turing

2,073

1,541

132

9231,122

2,294

Empl

oym

ent(

thou

sand

s)

Canada’s non-profit and voluntary organizationworkforce in context

Source: 2000 National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating;National Survey of Non-profit and Voluntary Organizations; International Labour

Organization; Report on Business Top 1,000, The Globe and Mail

Non-profitsector

includinghospitals,

universities,and colleges

Volunteeringa tradition in this family

DINA O ’MEARAS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

CALGARY

Volunteering is a given for the Ea-glespeaker family, whether they’rehelping out during an event, or sit-ting on a board of directors — or twoor three boards.

Whiley and Au-tumn Eaglespeakerare immersed inbettering the livesand future of abo-riginal people, fol-lowing the exampleset by their uncleCasey Eaglespeak-er, a renownedaboriginal educa-tor, and mom Di-ane Eaglespeaker, afamily and housing advocate withthe Aboriginal Resource Centre Asso-ciation.

“In the aboriginal community,when somebody needed something, Iwould make myself available,” Dianesays. “I had lots of help to raise myfamily when I needed it.”

Raised in a traditional Blackfootfamily, Diane brought her childrenback to the Blood reserve in South-ern Alberta in the mid 1980s fromSeattle, where her father had moved

the family some 30 years earlier tokeep them out of residential schools.

Calgary’s aboriginal populationjumped 16 per cent between 1996and 2001, according to StatisticsCanada. Now numbering more than22,000 in a city of just under a mil-lion people, Calgary’s native resi-dents are among the most educated

and influentialrepresentatives oftheir peoples in Al-berta.

Linked to thisgrowth is a risingneed for services,from housing tohealth care. As co-ordinator of theTipi of CourageHIV/AIDS aware-ness program,

Whiley, 29, trains “warriors” to fightfor people’s health, by teaching themhow to protect themselves againstthe disease.

The stigma around HIV/AIDS is ahuge stumbling block for educationand prevention, something the Tipiof Courage is changing. Between 20and 60 volunteers are active at atime, with more than 150 on the calllist, including elders and advisors.

“From my perspective, aboriginalvolunteering is absolutely necessary

for this type of program to run,”Whiley says.

The program reached more than6,000 people in Alberta and Ontariolast year, and Whiley became the firstaboriginal to receive the YMCA PeaceMedal for his efforts.

Autumn, 27, admits she first ap-proached volunteering as a way tobeef up her resume.

“Now I want to help my community,I want to do more for people. My

mom really taught us to care aboutfamily and give back to the commu-nity. Because there have been timesthat we really struggled, and therewere people to help us.”

A volunteer on several boards likeher mom and brother, Autumn isnow working with the City of Calgaryto organize its first Aboriginal Aware-ness Week. She also works on pro-grams that help span the cultural, so-cial and economic gap natives experi-

ence when migrating to urban cen-tres from reserves.

Another goal for the political sci-ence grad from Mount Royal Collegeis to educate aboriginal people aboutvoting and participating in the demo-cratic process.

“There’s such a stigma about feder-al anything,” she says. “There’s a lotof distrust. But if you want to get so-cial issues changed, the best way is towork from within.”

Building on their elders’ example, mother andchildren serve the First Nations community

THE HERALD

Autumn, Whiley and Diane Eaglespeaker in the downtown Calgary offices of the Aboriginal Resource Association Centre

“Now I want to help mycommunity, I want to do

more for people. … Becausethere have been times that

we really struggled, and therewere people to help us.”

Autumn Eaglespeaker

DIDYOU

KNOW?

VOLUNTARY SECTOR WORKFORCE

Canada’s charitable and not-for-profit sector, excluding hospitals, universities and colleges,represents:x 4.0 per cent of the national gross domestic product;x 1,016,856 full-time equivalent paid employees;x 524,489 full-time equivalent volunteers;x 9.0 per cent of the economically active population;x 10.2 per cent of nonagricultural employment

Including hospitals, universities and colleges, the sector represents:x 8.5 per cent of the Canada’s GDP;x 1,524,032 full-time equivalent paid employees;x 549,000 full-time equivalent volunteers;x 12.1 per cent of the economically active population;x 13.2 per cent of nonagricultural employment

S o u r c e : I m a g i n e C a n a d a

THE HERALD, FILE

Keith Seel, director of the Institute for Nonprofit Studies at the Bissett School of Business at Mount Royal College, Calgary

E5KE5CYE5MAGE5YEL


The Edmonton Federation ofCommunity Leagues consists of42 leagues. By 1916, there will be146 member community leaguesin the EFCL.

First World War begins. With 45,136men serving overseas, Albertansrepresented one of the highest volunteerenlistment rates in Canada.

S o u r c e : w w w. a b h e r i t a g e. c a

19141913

The Fort SaskatchewanWomen’s Institute isformed to assist the Red Cross in its war relief effort.

1915


Early women’svolunteerism set the stage


EDMONTON

Alberta may be famous for mascu-line symbols such as untamed cow-boys and greasy roughnecks, but themost prosperous province in one ofthe world’s most prosperous coun-tries was built as much by Martha asby Henry.

Mind you, therewas one big differ-ence: she didn’tget paid for herwork.

During theprovince’s forma-tive years, volun-teering was one ofthe few sociallysanctioned activi-ties available towomen outsidethe home. Thehardships of set-tlement, depres-sion and twoworld wars wereovercome by rely-ing on the vitalityof the “weaker”sex.

Some of the vol-untary organiza-tions womenjoined became theprogenitors of so-cial movements that promoted equalrights. The range of opportunitiesavailable in today’s paid workforce isa product of time freely given bywomen in the past.

A history of volunteerism shouldbegin by noting that the concept ofmutual help was a fundamental char-acteristic of native societies. Settlersquickly picked up upon the impor-tance of co-operation, as survival inthe harsh climate only proved possi-ble through joint effort.

In her 1852 memoir, Roughing It inthe Bush, Susanna Moodie recordedthat the pioneer experience pro-duced an uncommon spirit of kind-ness.

“The Canadians are a truly charita-ble people; no person in distress isdriven with harsh and cruel languagefrom their doors; they not only gen-

erously relieve the wants of sufferingstrangers cast upon their bounty, butthey nurse them in sickness, and useevery means in their power to pro-cure them employment. The numberof orphan children yearly adopted bywealthy Canadians, and treated inevery respect as their own, is almostincredible.”

Among the first women to ventureinto the westernwilderness werethe Sisters of Chari-ty, popularlyknown throughoutthe prairies as theGrey Nuns. Formost of the 19thcentury, this Ro-man Catholic or-der, founded byMarie-Marguerited’Youville in 1737,provided the onlyhealth care avail-able to the majorityof the people livingin Alberta. Not justvolunteer nurses,the Grey Nuns wereskilled administra-tors, and many ofthe organizationsthey created con-tinue as part of themodern medicalsystem.

As settlement in-creased, protestant women con-tributed to improvements in healthcare, social services and education byjoining missionary societies. Theyworked to alleviate poverty amongimmigrants and natives, but their ral-lying cry, “Christianize and Canadi-anize,” does not pass the test of mod-ern political correctness.

By 1912, about one in every eightCanadian women belonged to an or-ganization, religious or secular, thatwas exclusively female and which in-cluded a service component. Some ofthese societies, such as the Women’sChristian Temperance Union, arguedthat moral and social reform couldonly be achieved by invoking thepower of the state. Prohibition advo-cates subsequently emerged as lead-ers in the universal suffrage move-ment.

During the First World War, womengot the vote and the province wentdry.

With so many men serving over-seas, housewives put their domesticduties aside and voluntarily assumedtasks to keep the home front fromfalling into disarray. The St. JohnAmbulance and the Canadian RedCross provided free medical care tocivilians and wounded soldiers.Women collected clothes forrefugees, knit socks for the boys inthe trenches and raised funds to fi-nance hospitals and purchase mili-tary equipment.

Their efforts during the SecondWorld War were equally impressive.Nearly 50,000 Canadian womensigned up to join the Women’s Volun-tary Services. A further 45,000 en-listed in the military, releasing menfor combat by assuming administra-tive, clerical and communicationsduties. In both wars, women servedclose to the front lines in nursing sta-tions.

Until the oil discovery at Leduc in1947, the population of the provinceremained largely rural and agrarian.The United Farm Women of Albertaaddressed the problem of isolation byproviding an outlet for social contact,but also undertook dozens of projectsto improve the common good.Women took the lead in areas such asproviding agricultural education, de-veloping shelter belts, buildingschools and hospitals and lobbyingthe government to improve socialservices.

One of the most spectacular ruralvoluntary initiatives took shape inMyrnam, 200 kilometres east of Ed-monton, during the Great Depres-sion. Money was scarce so residentsof the District of Ukrainia built a hos-pital using volunteer labour. Itopened on July 28, 1938, and provid-ed free services with the exception ofovernight hospitalization, which cost$2 per day.

The Myrnam project is today recog-nized as one of the steps leading touniversal health care.

Urbanization, the trend for the last60 years, has not erased volun-teerism from the Alberta identity.People living in this province aremore likely to volunteer than otherCanadians. Women continue to takethe lead, accounting for 57 per centof the unpaid workforce.

Unfortunately, prosperity has notresolved the problems that tradition-ally inspired Albertans to take volun-tary action. Poverty continues de-spite the expansion of governmentsocial programs. Immigrants still facechallenges adjusting to Canadian so-ciety.

Prohibition did not eliminate vio-lence within families. Illiteracy, childabuse and access to health care arestill prominent political issues.

It would seem the concept of mutu-al help is as relevant for modern Al-bertans as it was for the pioneers.

Women’s voluntary organizations led the way for social movements that promoted equal rights

Philanthropy’s next generation

MELANIE COLLISONS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

CALGARY

Venture capitalists seek out bud-ding enterprises with great ideas, butwho are short on cash. With theirbacking, an entrepreneur can grow abusiness to realize its full potential.

For the past 31⁄2 years, a group ofCalgarians have been learning to be“venture philanthropists.”

High-tech graph-ics entrepreneurBrad Zumwaltbrought the ven-ture philanthropymodel to Canadafrom Seattle fiveyears ago. Likeventure capital-ists, the partnerscontribute time,business expertiseand financial backing.

As venture philanthropists, howev-er, the partners help not-for-profit or-ganizations achieve their goals.

Writing a cheque is just the first stepin their relationship with a not-for-profit, says Social Venture PartnersCalgary executive director CammieKaulback. Contributing personally isat least as important. “It can changethe way they think about giving.”

“Before I got involved with SocialVenture Partners I hadn’t really got-ten involved with volunteer work atall,” says board member Ruth Capin-dale, who learned the ropes by acting

as SVPC’s lead partner, or liaison,with a couple of not-for-profits.

“My husband and I chose SocialVenture Partners because we wantednot only to donate some funding, butshare our experience with some ofthe non-profits, which would be agood learning experience for us.”Capindale’s husband is a financialadviser who was also new to volun-teering.

“It’s been very rewarding (becauseof) the level of ap-preciation the orga-nizations show,and seeing whatcan happen whenyou pull someoneout of the businesscommunity andput them in touchwith a non-profit.”

Harry Yee, CEOfor Calgary Bridge

Foundation for Youth, credits thePartners for helping his not-for-profitoutreach organization fulfil its poten-tial.

Their support has allowed Yee toexpand Bridge’s community-basedprograms for immigrant children. Asa result, Bridge’s clients are learningto integrate into Canadian culture.

“They have been an unbelievablepartner,” Yee says.

“Before they joined us we were onour own lonely little island. It was sohard to get help because there are somany organizations. I make one callto them, they send an e-mail to their

network, and they find someone whocan provide assistance. It (builds)confidence to do a lot more becausethere are people behind you.”

Besides providing seed money,SVPC members guided the founda-tion’s strategic plan and organiza-tional structure. Various volunteershave helped with technology, policiesand financial software.

“They learn about the needs of anon-profit, the challenges,” Kaulbacksays. “We bring skills to the table, butthe learning is definitely a two-waystreet as people start to understandthe (not-for-profit) community andhow they can have an impact.”

On May 25, the venture philan-thropy group will celebrate reachingthe million-dollar investment mark.

“There are lots of senior philan-thropists in this town giving a lot ofmoney back, but when we’re talkingabout our million, we’re talkingabout people who have pooled theirmoney together,” Kaulback says.

“Some have made a lot of money,some are middle-class. We are al-ways looking to get more people in-volved. We’re trying to educate a fu-ture generation of philanthropists.How do you learn to be a good giver,especially if it’s new money?

“It’ll be interesting to see, in 10 or20 years, if the people from ourgroup are the leaders in the philan-thropic community. This is a safetraining ground.”

“There are educational sessionsthroughout the year,” Capindale

says. “I enjoyed doing it with my hus-band.

“It was valuable that we had an un-derstanding of what each other wasdoing.”

SVPC is already launching its ownnext generation of philanthropists.The partners’ children and teenagershave raised and given away $2,500,

based on the youngsters’ own evalua-tion of grant applications.

“Our partners are seeking out thatfeeling of doing important work,”Kaulback says.

“They are getting an intangiblething back that could be more valu-able than money.”

O n t h e N e t : w w w. s v p c a l g a r y. o r g

Safe training ground for ‘venture philanthropists’ connects their talents,financial backing with not-for-profit organizations

PHOTOS: COURTESY GLENBOW ARCHIVES

St. John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachment vehicle, in Edmonton, circa 1918

Red Cross workers perform a final check before shipping blood from theBlood Donor Clinic in Calgary to Winnipeg, during the Second World War.

Members of the United Farm Women ofAlberta at a Better Baby Show, in

Parkland, 1922

“The Canadians are atruly charitable people; no person in distress isdriven with harsh and

cruel language from theirdoors; they not only

generously relieve thewants of suffering

strangers cast upon theirbounty, but they nurse

them in sickness, and useevery means in their power

to procure thememployment.”

Susanna Moodie, in her memoirRoughing it in the bush

“We bring skills to the table, but the

learning is definitely a two-way street … .”

Cammie Kaulback

TED JACOB, THE HERALD

Social Venture Partners Calgary member Ruth Capindale is partnered with ServantsAnonymous Society and works with numerous other not-for-profit organizations,

including Fireworks Cooperative.


EDMONTON

A box of chocolates doesn’t go veryfar these days, when billion of dollarsare needed annually to sustain Cana-da’s growing not-for-profit sector.

Growing demand coupled with in-creasing competition has given rise tothe fundraising professional. Weasked independent consultants andrepresentatives from organizationslarge and small to talk about the chal-lenges and rewards of trying to gen-erate revenue for a worthy cause.

How has fundraising changedin the past 20 years?

x Paul Nahirney, president of Ed-monton-based consulting firm Nahir-ney and Associates and a fund-devel-opment instructor at Grant MacEwanCollege: “When I started out, interms of education, there would beseminars and workshops. Now youfind graduate-level programs. Youcan do a master’s degree. The Univer-sity of Indiana is thinking about im-plementing a PhD program. Thenumber of people in the field has justgrown tremendously. The number oforganizations needing to raise mon-ey has also increased dramatically.”x Julie Hamilton, senior develop-ment officer at the University of Al-berta and president of the Edmontonchapter of the Association ofFundraising Professionals: “There’s agrowth in the need by various chari-table organizations to hire fundrais-ers. One of the challenges we’ve seenin the sector is the decrease in gov-ernment funding for some of the pro-grams. As a result, organizationshave been compelled to includefundraising as part of their opera-tional planning.”x Gloria Stewart, direct marketingspecialist and president of Calgary-based Touchworks Communications:“We still use direct mail for acquisi-tion purposes. It’s just getting moreand more costly. As the privacy lawcame into force, some mailing listswent right off the market becausethey were not compliant. The cost ofrental lists has really started to in-crease, and then you’ve got your costof postage, print and production. Theeconomics are making it more andmore difficult to justify, but what oth-er resources do you have to feed yourpool of prospects?”

How do you make a cause standout amid all the noise and clutter?

x Stewart: “It’s important to make acompelling argument for why an or-ganization deserves to be funded.You have to make sure you are clearlystating what the mission of your or-ganization is and how the money isgoing to benefit someone.

“You can’t fall into the trap of beinggimmicky. That’s always a danger,particularly in direct mail. There’s al-ways a lot of formulaic direct mail,and I think there is a lot of evidenceto say that it works. In our organiza-tion, we use a lot of those techniques.But we don’t want to insult donors’intelligence. We have a pretty educat-ed population in Alberta, so I don’twant to talk down to people. But weneed to use clear language to makethe point.”x Michelle Regel, executive directorof the Calgary EMS Foundation:“The competition is something that’salways going to be there. Whetheryou’ve got more or less competition isso hard to gauge. It’s really a matterof focusing in on the target audiencesand working with them. I think thereis always going to be money for theorganizations that prove meaning-ful.”

Is there room amid the largeorganizations for small groups to

compete and survive?

x Hamilton: “I know that there is aperception about the university,that we’ve been seen as being like abig fishing trawler that can geteverything. We have a variety of lev-els of expertise on board, but we haveput resources behind it. We havehired fundraising staff. We do get ex-posed to very high-level donors be-cause of the kind of work that we’redoing. But that’s because this organi-zation has put money into fundrais-ing. Fundraising is an important partof the organization.”x Cherie Klassen, executive directorof the Alberta Council for Global Co-operation: “There are opportunitieswhere groups of charitable organiza-tions can work together, like theGreat Human Race, where peoplecan run for the charity of theirchoice. You need something to at-tract people to your particular cause.Celebrities work well, even localcelebrities.

“Things that provide an opportuni-ty to build community also work.When I was at Change for Children,we did something called Instrumentsfor Change, and we had a wholenight of ethnic music and silent auc-tions. Bill Bourne, Paul Bellows andother local celebrities played. It of-fered an opportunity to have peopleengaged in what we’re actually do-ing, rather than just sending in acheque.”x Regel: “Our run is unique becausewe do it at night. We line the pathwith our ambulances and we put allthe lights on, so people can run bythe lights of the ambulances. Wehave 500 to 600 people come outwith their dogs and their kids. It’s avery nice time.”

Are there fundraising strategiesthat are overrated?

x Nahirney: “In capital campaigns,where I spend most of my time, mostof the energy is devoted to solicitinggifts from individuals. Most peopledon’t appreciate that roughly 88 percent of all money that’s contributed

year to year comes from individualgifts. Too many people make assump-tions about corporations. The placeto concentrate your efforts is on indi-vidual donors, because that’s wheremost of the money comes from.”x Klassen: “I think people get reallytired of phone solicitation. I don’tknow from personal experiencewhether it works well or not, but itwouldn’t be a method of choice forme. I know the level of annoyancewith all of the phone solicitors is go-ing up.”x Stewart: “I think if you are respon-sible in the way you conduct telemar-keting, it can be very valuable. I’mnot a proponent of doing acquisitionsthrough telemarketing. I think that ifyou are using the phone to renew ex-isting relationships or to ask donorsto join a monthly giving program, Ithink you are going to see less resis-tance.”

What are some of the ethicaldilemmas that arise in fundraising?Hamilton: “The biggest factor that

we’ve been challenged with is per-centage-based compensation. Wewant to approach fundraising in away that will promote sustainabilityand encourage people to support or-ganizations and feel really goodabout the cause.

“If we get fundraisers who saythey’ll help you raise money, buttheir fee is 10 or 15 per cent of the to-tal raised, then we question whosemission is in the forefront. We advo-cate that if an organization was goingto hire a fundraiser, that personwould be on salary.

“We need to ensure that people askquestions of people soliciting funds,so that the profession isn’t under-mined but more importantly thecharitable sector doesn’t get a blackeye. We’re very focused on trying toensure that the charitable sector isstronger through our practices. Wewant to be sure that people are givingtheir money freely through philan-thropic mechanisms, that the moneyis in fact going where it is supposedto be going and that we are hon-ourable. Not everyone in the charita-ble sector is honourable, as in all sec-tors.”x Klassen: “One of the many ethicaldilemmas that charitable organiza-tions face is: do we take gaming mon-ey? That’s a really big one. Gamingmoney is easy. You can go out to acouple of bingos or casinos and makequite a bit of money. But if you’reworking in the public interest or forthe public good, and you are takingin sources of income that really harmthe most vulnerable people in our so-ciety, well, there are charitable orga-nizations that will refuse that moneybecause of the ethical dilemma. Iknow that a lot of our faith-based or-ganizations refuse gaming money.”x Nahirney: “One of the things I dowith my clients very early in the

process is to have them sit down anddeclare what their values and beliefsare, and to govern themselves ac-cordingly. If they have a problemwith being involved with gaming ac-tivities, so be it. They shouldn’t pur-sue it. It gets a little trickier whenpeople start looking at should wetherefore not accept money fromthose who have used gaming to raiseit. If you look at most service clubs,for example, many of them are in-volved in gaming activities to raisetheir funds.

“I also encourage organizations totake a look at the corporate sector.Based on their program, they mightnot be able to be affiliated with cer-tain companies. An obvious examplewould be cancer- or health-relatedorganizations accepting funds fromthe tobacco industry. You just can’tdo that.”x Stewart: “If you are going to printsomething, make sure you can sub-stantiate it. If something happens inone area, for sure it is going to cloudpeople’s suspicion. People are morecynical than they have been before.We all have to mind our Ps and Qs.”

Is it hard not to get caught up in thebusiness side of things and lose

sight of the goal of helping people?

x Nahirney: “I try not to think toomuch in terms of strategy, more interms of relationship building. If youlook at the definition of philan-thropy, translated literally it meanslove of mankind. There’s no refer-ence to money at all.

“I think sometimes we get toowrapped up in developing strategiesand being focused on the bottomline; that we’re losing sight of what isthe most important item, which is de-veloping true and genuine relation-ships with people who have ex-pressed an interest in your particularcause, and trying to nurture that rela-tionship over a period of time.”x Klassen: “If you can combinefundraising with educational efforts,you are giving meaning to why youare raising the money.”x Hamilton: “It’s not just about ask-ing people for $300. It’s about askingpeople to become part of your orga-nization in a meaningful way. Thefundraiser’s role really is connectingdonors with the causes that are im-portant to them.”

Cash-starved agencies call in the pros

E6KE6CYE6MAGE6YEL


There are 134 communityassociations registered with theFederation of CalgaryCommunities, the city’s largestvolunteer group.

Alberta’s volunteer helpingorganizations were strained whenthe Spanish Flu pandemic sweptthrough the province in 1918,resulting in 4,000 deaths.

19181917

Throughout the winter and into 1920, theAlberta Red Cross gives 46,000 articles ofclothing to 1,000 needy families in theprovince’s southern drybelt, hit hard bysuccessive droughts and recession.

1919


IAN SCOTT, THE JOURNAL, FILE

Charitable organizations can work together to raise funds, as in the Great Human Race, where people can run for the charity of their choice.

F U N D R A I S I N G R O U N D T A B L E

“ If you cancombine fundraising

with educationalefforts, you are givingmeaning to why you

are raising themoney.”Cherie Klassen

Alberta Councilfor Global Cooperation

“ If you lookat the definitionof philanthropy,

translatedliterally it means

love ofmankind.There’s no

reference tomoney at

all.”Paul Nahirney,

presidentNahirney and

Associates

“ It’s not just aboutasking people for $300.

The fundraiser’s role reallyis connecting donors with

the causes that areimportant to them.”

Julie Hamilton,Association of Fundraising

Professionals, Edmonton chapter

JOHN LUCAS, THE JOURNAL

Cherie Klassen

Government fundingcuts have spawned

professional fundraisers

ED KAISER. THE JOURNAL

Paul Nahirney

GREG SOUTHAM,THE JOURNAL

JulieHamilton

SUPPLIED

Michelle Regel

LEAH HENNEL, THE HERALD

Gloria Stewart

x In 2003-04, the provincialgovernment derived $1.2 billion ingambling revenue to support theAlberta Lottery Fund.x Charities directly earned a further$226 million from licensed gamingactivities, including $133 million fromcasinos.x More than 9,800 groups are eligibleto conduct bingos, casinos, pull-ticketlotteries and raffles in Alberta.x Between four and eight per cent ofteenagers are estimated to have aserious gambling problem. Nearly 80per cent of high school studentsgamble for money every year.x The Alberta Knights of Columbusand the Edmonton Food Bank areamong the groups that haveannounced they will no longer raisemoney through casinos due to ethicalconcerns.x Over three-quarters of Canadians(79 per cent) think charitiesunderstand the needs of Canadiansbetter than government.x Seven in 10 (72 per cent) thinkcharities do a better job thangovernment meeting the needs ofCanadians.x 57 per cent agree charities shouldbe expected to deliver programs andservices the government stopsfunding.x 70 per cent think charities have toolittle money to meet their objectives.

S o u r c e : Ta l k i n g A b o u t C h a r i t i e s2 0 0 4 , M u t t a r t Fo u n d a t i o n ,

A l b e r t a G a m i n g ;M c G i l l U n i v e r s i t y

BETTING IT ALL

E7KE7CYE7MAGE7YEL


In Calgary, the Red Cross, SalvationArmy, Associated Charities andImperial Order of the Daughters ofthe Empire regularly hold “tag days”to raise money to help the indigent.

Edmonton’s Christmasstocking for the needyreceived $1 million indonations from the city’spopulation of 65,163.

1926

The first SalvationArmy seniors’residence, or EventideHome, is opened inEdmonton.

19261920

On Oct. 29, or BlackThursday, the U.S. stockmarket crash heralds thebeginning of the GreatDepression.

1929


Can Alberta’s social deficit be tamed?CHRISTINE PEAKE BREMNER


A decade ago, the federal andprovincial governments decided toconquer the mountain of public debt.They tightened the purse strings, cut-ting programs and spending to thebone. Alberta is now debt-free andrunning surplus budgets; the federalgovernment, while still paying downthe national debt, is also in a surplusposition. The dragon of debt is cow-ering in its cave.

A hatchling was left behind: agrowing social deficit. Alberta’s vol-unteers were quick to fill some of thegaps in health care, education andsocial services. But has their willing-ness to act created the expectationthat volunteers will continue to pro-vide essential services, trading freetime for lower taxes?

The first volunteer groups to feelthe impact of income assistance re-ductions were the province’s socialservices agencies.

“When the social welfare programchanged in 1993 to ’96, we saw an in-crease in the number of people need-ing our services,” says Marjorie Benz,executive director of Edmonton’sFood Bank.

“We now have a booming economy,yet at the same time, we have an in-creasing number of people needingthe food bank. These are not onlypeople who receive social assistance,they are the working poor. We seethe best, and the worst: the public atits most generous, and the peoplewho fall through the gaps of everysocial safety net.”

Between 12,000 and 15,000 drawon the hamper program everymonth, says Benz, and 143 volunteeragencies (including churches) screenand refer those in need to the FoodBank.

The Bissell Centre in Edmonton’sinner city is one of those agencies.Ele Gibson, resource development di-rector, succinctly sums up the prob-lem: “More people, needing moreservices, more often.”

Community Development MinisterGary Mar, who’s responsible for thevoluntary sector, was not availablefor comment.

“The minister pursued increasedfunding for the voluntary sector inthe last budget, and is already work-ing towards next year’s budget,” saidspokesperson Cheryl Robb.

“As a government, we did allocatefunding to organizations in whichvolunteers work: health care, educa-tion, and aid to the disadvantaged.”

Health care certainly relies on thegenerosity of Albertans. This sum-mer, tens of thousands will walk, jog,run, swim, cycle and paddle to raisefunds for medical research. Manymore will buy lottery tickets to sup-port hospital improvements andequipment purchases and keep airambulances flying. And volunteerswill donate their time to assist andsupport patients and their families inhospitals and nursing homes.

Nearly 4,000 volunteers in Calgaryand area contributed 257,334 hoursof service in 2003-4, and throughhospital gift shops, raised $726,752,says Joan Addison, manager of vol-unteer resources for Calgary’s Alber-ta Children’s Hospital, Grace

Women’s Health Centre and Rock-yview General Hospital. Figures aremuch the same in the Capital HealthRegion, where some programs at theUniversity and Stollery Children’sHospital are so popular, they have awaiting list for volunteers.

Five years ago, Susan Beugin tookearly retirement and began volun-teering at Alberta Children’s Hospitalas a baby cuddler. She describes herwork as “very joyful. It’s enormouslysatisfying, everyone is very apprecia-tive, and you know you make a dif-ference.” Beuginusually volunteersthree days a week,three hours eachday.

A generation ago,the sight of a par-ent in the schoolsignalled a calami-ty. Today, parentschaperone fieldtrips, help in class-rooms on specialprojects, assist inthe office to checkon absentees, andserve on parent advisory commit-tees, though neither the CalgaryBoard of Education nor EdmontonPublic Schools tracks the number ofvolunteers or the hours they serve.

The Partners for Kids program, be-gun at Norwood elementary schoolin downtown Edmonton, is a part-nership between Success by 6, TheCentre for Family Literacy, and theFamily Centre, says Diane Betkowski,a retired teacher and the program’sco-ordinator.

“It’s a one-on-one program with anadult mentor, who spends 45 min-utes to an hour a week with a child,working on reading skills and build-ing cognitive skills.”

Norwood has 105 mentors, and theprogram has been expanded to Ab-bott elementary and Parkdale juniorhigh. Brea Murray, 21, was in her firstyear studying elementary education

at the University of Alberta when shestarted mentoring a young girl atNorwood three years ago.

“I love it,” she says. “My student ishappy to see me, and I feel that I’vehelped her make progress with herreading.”

The police services of Edmontonand Calgary both depend on volun-teer assistance.

Edmonton introduced its VictimService Unit, staffed by volunteers, in1979. The unit’s aim is to comfort thefamilies and victims of crime-related

trauma and assistthem in dealingwith the criminaljustice system, saysSgt. Bob Pagee,volunteer co-ordi-nator.

All applicants arerequired to under-go the samescreening as policeofficers, and areasked to commit toone year of service.The unit has 139trained volunteers

who work at least one three-hourshift a month.

Volunteers also staff the front coun-ters in community police stations andpatrol their communities as addition-al “eyes on the street,” says Const.Joe Spear, volunteer co-ordinator inthe south-side office.

Realtor Shami Sandhu spendsmany evenings with the Mill WoodsCommunity Patrol. He and fellowvolunteers use their own vehiclesand pay for their own gas, while citypolice provide a radio to link themwith a police officer.

“It’s made a difference,” says Sand-hu, who’s also president of the MillWoods’ Presidents Council.

“We keep an eye on local wateringholes and community functions, aswell as driving through residentialareas.”

Patrol members also pitch in for

special events such as Grey Cup andthe Klondike Days parade.

In Calgary last year, 828 volunteerscontributed over 67,000 hours to po-lice programs.

“If you counted the number of gov-ernment departments who dependon volunteers to help them do theirjobs, you’d be hard-pressed to find adepartment that doesn’t,” says ValMayes, executive director of the Ed-monton Chamber of Voluntary Orga-nizations.

The chamber is a member of theFramework for Action Group, whichcomprises a number of leaders fromthe voluntary and not-for-profit sec-tor who meet almost monthly withrepresentatives of the Ministry ofCommunity Development.

“The fact that there is such a groupis progress, and that they meet withus regularly is a good thing,” Mayessays.

“But it takes time to build a formalrelationship between the govern-ment and the voluntary sector, andthis group is trying to work out across-departmental understanding ofthe impact of the voluntary sector.”

In a speech to the Calgary Chamberof Voluntary Organizations in Febru-ary, Gary Mar acknowledged thepressures facing voluntary organiza-tions.

“However, even an enhanced roleas a funding partner will never takethe place of committed individualsand voluntary organizations workingin their communities,” he said.

“We do not want your job. We wantto help you to do it.

“One answer to rising demand maywell be more money, and I know youwill be creative in attracting it. Youwill need to be. There is only a finiteamount of money out there.”

Albertans have been amazinglywilling to give their time and theirmoney when they perceive a need.The question that remains is this: willthe social deficit dragon devour Al-berta’s volunteers?

Government’s determination to conquer the public debt left volunteers to step in and fill the gap in services

JIMMY JEONG, THE JOURNAL

Shami Sandhu runs a volunteer community patrol in Mill Woods. The full-time realtor useshis own car and pays for his own gas to help keep the streets of his neighbourhood safe.

Chrysalis clients give back to their community

JAC MACDONALDJo u r n a l S t a f f W r i t e r

EDMONTON

Stan Fisher has seen plenty of heart-warming transformations occur withmentally handicapped and develop-mentally disabled clients at Chrysalis:AnAlbertaSociety for Citizens withDis-abilities.

But the society’s president and chiefexecutiveofficer has also seenChrysalisclients create heartwarming transfor-mations in other people.

“Thesekinds of stories willbring tearsto your eyes,” he says.

Chrysalis helps mentally handi-capped adults integrate into the work-force or places them in volunteer posi-tions in not-for-profit organizations.Some clients with multiple handicapsattend life skills programs.

A common job is assisting seniors in

long-term care centres and nursinghomes. They help perform simple butvaluable tasks like escorting seniors tomedicalappointments or to thehair sa-lon. They also chat and kibitz withthem. It brings seniors out of theirshells, Fisher says.

For example, “Mary, who was neverconcerned about her personal appear-ance,now looks forward togoing to thebeauty parlour andgets dressedfor theoccasion.”

Last year, Chrysalis clients donated70,000 hours in127 different volunteersites, from helping seniors at St.Michael’s LongTermCareCentreinEd-monton, to feeding the animals andcleaning cages at the Calgary SPCA.

The society was launched in Edmon-ton in 1968 as the Western IndustrialResearch and Training Centre to helptrain mentally handicapped adults togive them a role in the community.

Vocational services, job trainingin thecommunity, and employment wereadded in the mid-1980s.

“We want to show that our clients cangive back to the community,” Fishersays.

Chrysalis serves 450 clients a year in

Edmonton and 200 a year in Calgary,helping them get into jobs as varied asthelaundry at Dow Chemical, recyclingat aFortis warehouse,or packagingma-terials at an auto parts distributor.

TheChrysalis CharitableFoundationassists the Chrysalis Society by raisingmoney to support its programs.

The foundation holds two major an-nual fundraising events, Spring Inspi-

rationinCalgary and theWesternMar-di Gras in Edmonton.

The society has also ventured into itsown entrepreneurial activities. Thewoods division builds custom palletsandcrates,and theplastics divisionpro-duces plasticbottles in various sizes.Allsales support Chrysalis programs andservices for citizens with disabilities.

j m a c d o n a l d @ t h e j o u r n a l . c a n w e s t . c o m

Citizens with disabilitiesventure into workforceand volunteer efforts

‘Everybodyknows about

Brooks in Kenya’DINA O ’MEARA

S p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a lBROOKS

Daba Beranda fled his home coun-try of Ethiopia in 1996, seeking asy-lum as a 26-year-old student from apolitical regime that had impris-oned, tortured and killed many ofhis compatriots. For six months heshared scant food supplies andprimitive shelter with 20,000 othersin an East African refugee camp be-fore being sponsored to Canada bythe International Red Cross.

Volunteers with immigrant aidesocieties in British Columbia helpedBeranda acclimatize, showing himhow to find a place to live, go formedical help, even how to use a to-ken when changing buses. The over-whelming support from perfectstrangers touched Beranda, who, onmoving to Alberta, started workingin the public sector to help immi-grants like himself.

“As a new Canadian, it’s my obliga-tion to help others and counselthem, help them integrate intoCanadian society,” he says, fromBrooks’s Global Friendship Centre.

Today, Beranda acts as liaison offi-cer at the centre, working with agroup of approximately 150 volun-teers to provide information andsupport to a continuous flow ofnewcomers to the small prairietown. The centre organizes orienta-tion programs, provides English as aSecond Language courses, and oth-er projects to explain the often baf-

fling differences between southernAlberta and African culture.

“Once you start volunteering withpeople of other cultures, it justopens up the world,” Doreen Med-way, centre executive director, saysof her work.

Immigrants represent more than aquarter of Brooks’s population, anestimated 3,500 people out of12,000 residents. Almost three-quarters of the newcomers are fromAfrica, 48 per cent of those from Su-dan. The change to southern Alber-ta from the Dark Continent consti-tutes much more than living in a dif-ferent country, one refugee said.“It’s like moving from one planet toanother,” he told Medway.

Many suffered through terrifyingordeals before reaching the sanctu-ary of Canadian soil. They come tothe centre numb, shell-shocked sur-vivors with horrifying tales that canburn out the brightest volunteer ifnot vigilant against being caught upin the sadness, Medway says.

One program that has provenhighly successful at bringing the dif-ferent cultures together in a healingway has been a community garden.“We try to educate both sides,” shesays. “Immigrants get to plant theirfood, we introduce them to ours, it’sreally a good way of mixing Canadi-ans and newcomers.”

Immigrants flock to Brooks be-cause of readily available jobs atLakeside Packers, a beef-processingplant on the outskirts of town.When asked how he had heardabout the town, one refugee said,somewhat incredulously: “Every-body knows about Brooks inKenya.”

Another bonus is the establishedAfrican community, which Medwaysays has brought the town alivethrough its vibrant cultures. Newbusinesses have started opening,catering to newcomers but that allresidents can enjoy, like grocerystores catering to African tastes, andnew restaurants.

Town council has been mindful ofhow the influx of new culturescould impact residents, but racist in-cidents are much more of an issuewithin the immigrant communitythan with white Canadians, Med-way notes. Refugees come to Brooksfrom both sides of warring coun-tries, bringing with them deeply in-grained prejudices and conflictsthat often spill out on the prairielandscape.

The volunteers at the centre worktoward instilling a sense of toler-ance and acceptance among thenewcomers as part of Canada’s mul-ticultural society.

“I was used to living in fear,” Be-randa says.

“Now I have a place to work, live,study. Canada is a free society, so it’sreally, for me, I’m born again.”

“We now have abooming economy, yet

at the same time, we havean increasing number of people needing the

food bank.”Marjorie Benz, executive director

Edmonton’s Food Bank

JOHN LUCAS, THE JOURNAL

Tamara Favaro with Chrysalis president and CEO Stan Fisher

“ It’s like moving fromone planet to another.”African refugee resident of Brooks

E8KE8CYE8MAGE8YEL


Drought, grasshopperinfestations, windstormsand fires leave much ofsouthern Alberta abarren wasteland.

The Calgary Salvation Army, inan appeal for funds, reports itprovided 29,776 free mealsand 10,900 temporary jobs inthe previous year.

1930

SecondWorldWarbegins.

1939

Volunteer initiatives include victory bond sales,and community drives to collect paper, rubberand scrap metal for the war effort. Women’sauxiliaries form to collect donations for hospitals,the armed forces and European war victims.

1940s1930s


Professionalathletes step up

to the plate


EDMONTON

Alberta’s professional athletes makea common man’s wage, but they havean uncommon commitment to thecommunity.

Salaries for football players start at$35,000. A rookie on a lacrosse teamearns as little as $8,000. (The NewYork Yankees are paying third base-man Alex Rodriquez $25,705,118.)

It might seemspecial to somepeople that ath-letes drawingmodest salariesare willing to do-nate time to chari-table causes — butthey don’t thinkso.

“We’re all put ina position to helpout anyway wecan with any char-ities that we can,and I think being a professional ath-lete you are thrust into the position ofbeing able to do things,” says JamieCrysdale, a Calgary Stampeder offen-sive lineman who has played in theCFL for 12 seasons. “You can basical-ly become involved in as many thingsas you want because the opportuni-ties are there.”

“I’m a Christian man and I believein giving back and helping out a tonwhere I can and when I can,” agrees

Rocky Thompson, the popular en-forcer for the Edmonton Road Run-ners hockey club. “I have a family ofmy own, and I want to be a positiverole model. I want the young com-munity to look up to me in a sense.Not to be narcissistic or anything likethat, but I want to help out and I’m inthat position.”

It’s a position that became more im-portant last season, when a labourdispute shut down play in the NHL.Several Oiler players left for Europe,

leaving localgroups with adearth of celebri-ties.

“Whether there’sa lockout or thereisn’t, I’ve alwaysbeen involved inthe community,”Thompson says.“This is a great op-portunity for mein Edmonton toperhaps get outeven more, be-

cause there has maybe been more ofa need.”

The Calgary-born defenceman wasone of the most visible contributorsto the 2004 Christmas Bureau cam-paign.

“I actually got some hands on, wasable to give out the gift certificates tothe people that needed them. Thatwas a really rewarding feeling, to seethe look when they got the stuff. Thatwas really awesome.”

For Edmonton Eskimo quarterbackJason Maas, getting involved in theteam’s Stay in School program was away of integrating into the communi-ty. Before signing his first CFL con-tract in 2000, he played college foot-ball at the University of Oregon.

“I wanted to have a home and stayin a place year-round. I like Edmon-ton so much that it made it very easyfor me to do that,” says Maas, whogrew up in Arizona.

He finds time to meet with studentsat about 40 schools during the wintermonths.

“You want to leave them with thelasting impression that school is im-portant, that leading is importantand that being a good person in thecommunity is important. I feel this isthe most important thing I do, get-ting out in the community and talk-ing to kids.

“I try to do just about anything peo-ple ask me to do. I’m really open to it.I don’t say no too often. In the off-season, I’m pretty much fair game.”

Tracey Kelusky’s volunteer activitiesalso include speaking to the childrenabout the importance of school. Ascaptain of the Calgary Roughneckslacrosse team, he says it is criticalthat his teammates be seen helpingout where they can.

“We’re trying to build the sport tothe next level. The guys know thattheir job is not just to play but to pro-mote the game,” says Kelusky, whoalso contributes to Right to Play, anorganization that brings sports tochildren living in refugee camps.

Crysdale, the brawny Stampederlineman, has a special motivation forhis efforts as a fundraiser on behalf ofthe Kids Cancer Care Foundation ofAlberta.

On May 20th, 2004, he had a hell ofa day.

He was getting ready to go seeAerosmith in concert at the Saddle-dome when his wife told him that shewas pregnant with their third child.

Five hours later, he was at the Al-berta Children’s Hospital with his

three-year-old daughter, Grace. Shehad just been diagnosed withleukemia.

Last September, Crysdale and hiscolleagues on the Stampeders raised$15,128 for the hospital’s cancer unitthrough a Shave Your Lid for a Kidcampaign. After her father’s appoint-ment with a set of clippers, Gracewasn’t the only one in the familywithout hair.

“I didn’t even have to ask guys toparticipate,” he remembers. “Theywere more than willing to step upand show their support that way.”

After several months of chemothera-py, Grace’s leukemia seems to be un-der control. She and her brother,Thomas, have a new sister: Annabella.

Daddy’s hair is not growing as fastas his family.

“I’ve kept it short,” reports Crys-dale, who also serves as a spokesmanfor the Calgary Urban Projects Soci-ety. “It’s easier to manage that way. Iwas losing it, so this gave me an ex-cuse to get rid of it all.”

Players believe their role in their communities goes beyond their modest paycheques

Community league movement facing new challengesCHRISTINE PEAKE BREMNER


They have different names acrossthe country: community associa-tions, residents’ associations, neigh-bourhood associations and commu-nity leagues. Nowhere do they flour-ish more strongly than in Edmontonand Calgary.

Edmonton was the first city inCanada to form a community league:the 142 Street District (now Crest-wood) in 1917. It was described asnon-sectarian and non-political(meaning non-partisan) “open toboth sexes on equal conditions,” withthe aim to better the communitythrough social and recreational op-portunities. By 1921, there were ninecommunity leagues and the Edmon-ton Federation of CommunityLeagues was formed to provide sup-port. Today, 147 community leaguesserve the citizens of the city.

The first Calgary community associ-ations were formed in the 1920s tocreate recreational programs and fa-cilities, such as outdoor skating rinks.The Federation of Calgary Communi-ties has served the city’s communityassociations for over 50 years,though it was not officially incorpo-rated under the Societies Act until1961. There are currently 134 regis-tered community associations in Cal-gary, created from 183 communitydistricts.

All these leagues and associationsare operated by volunteers. Whilebookkeepers, ice makers or rink at-tendants may be paid for their ser-vices, the executive board and com-mittee members donate their timeand energies to run the programs,

community halls, skating rinks andsports fields. As in many volunteerorganizations, fundraising absorbsmuch time and effort. It’s affectingthe viability of some leagues and as-sociations and their ability to attractand retain volunteers.

Programs at riskAccording to Russ Dahms, execu-

tive director of the EFCL, “About athird of the leagues are doing well,with the community engaged and in-volved; another third are doing okay,and the final third are struggling.This can be attributed to a number offactors but, primarily, they are theage of the neighbourhood and its vol-

unteer base, the age of its infrastruc-ture, and the programs they’re ableto offer.” Adds Don Kuchleyma, im-mediate past president of the EFCL:“The successful ones have financialstability.”

For many leagues, rising utility andinsurance costs mean a constantcampaign to keep the doors of theircommunity halls and skating rinksopen. “This reduces the ability ofleagues to offer programs, whenfundraising efforts go to basic operat-ing costs,” notes Shane Bergdahl,EFCL president. “We may still be ableto offer skating or soccer and keepthe lights on, but we may have to sac-rifice the dance classes.”

Brenda Brown, executive director ofthe FCC, concurs: “Many associationsare struggling to meet operatingcosts. Many of them are using casinosand bingos, and they’re heavily re-liant on gaming funds to keep going.”Both cities provide funding, butgrants seldom keep pace with costs.

“Money for specific projects is easyto get,” Kuchleyma explains. “Youcan sell that you’re putting a brick ina wall, but it’s difficult to get peopleto commit to keeping the lights onand the buildings warm.”

Says Edmonton mayor StephenMandel: “I agree that we need tocome up with better ways to free upour volunteers to do the work theyneed to do rather than paying for op-erating costs.” City departments arereviewing this issue, and will reportto council on June 4.

Bob Lang, president of the FCC,states: “Communities deal with gen-eral issues, as opposed to specialneeds, and this often doesn’t fit need-specific funding. All levels of govern-

ment have to recognize while not-for-profit organizations can provide ser-vices cheaper, it still costs money.While corporate Canada has steppedin to help, it hasn’t replaced the fund-ing that was available.”

Shane Bergdahl feels that raisingthe profile of the community leaguescan help to attract new funding andmore volunteers. “Communityleagues do a lot of things that the ma-jority of Edmontonians don’t knowabout.

“The leagues were the foundationfor the School Patrol. The majority ofplaygrounds in the city were builtand paid for by community leagues.Without leagues, we would not havemany of the city’s recreational facili-ties — Millwoods Recreation Centreand the skateboard park, for exam-ple.”

In both cities and across theprovince, minor hockey, minor soccerand zone baseball grew out of themovement. In a changing landscape,the community movement has re-mained constant, thanks to the ef-forts of generations of volunteers.

Community leagues and associa-tions are well-placed to address themost immediate needs of the com-munities they serve. While recre-ational and social activities have beenpart of the movement’s mandate,community leagues and associationsare becoming more involved in socialissues, such as community develop-ment and planning, and communitypolicing.

Russ Dahms concludes: “Leaguesare a vehicle for residents to havetheir say in the way their communitywill develop. In terms of participatingin democracy, it’s the closest to homeyou’re going to get.”

Having served their neighbourhoods as long as 88 years, today’s leagues suffering under weight of increased operating costs

CALGARY HERALD, FILE

Jamie Crysdale’s daughter Grace, 3, checks out her dad’s new haircut after he shaved his head to benefit the Kids Cancer CareFoundation in September 2004. Grace was diagnosed with leukemia earlier that year. Many of the Stampeders players and staff

volunteered to raise funds for cancer research by having their heads shaved as well.

THE JOURNAL, FILE

Crestwood Community League president Rod Matheson stands before the newlyreconstructed Crestwood community league hall and playground in Edmonton.Crestwood was the first community league established in Canada in 1917. The

majority of playgrounds in the city were built and paid for by community leagues.

“ I didn’t even have toask guys to participate.They were more than

willing to step up and showtheir support that way.”

Calgary StampederJamie Crysdale

“Leagues are a vehiclefor residents to have their

say in the way theircommunity will develop.

In terms of participating indemocracy, it’s the closest

to home you’re going to get.”Russ Dahms,

Edmonton Federation ofCommunity Leagues

executive director

DIDYOU

KNOW?

VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES IN ALBERTA: WHAT MOTIVATES VOLUNTEERS?

x Organizing or supervising events:52%.x Serving on a board or committee:41%.x Consulting or office work: 30%.x Information or education: 29%.x Canvassing or fundraising: 29%x Teaching or coaching: 27%.

x Providing care and support: 27%.x Collecting or delivering food orgoods: 25%.x Driving: 20%.x And: repairing, health care, self-help groups, yard work, shopping,etc.S o u r c e : w w w. v o l u n t e e ra l b e r t a . a b . c a

x Believing in the cause supported byan organization.x Being a supportive parent.x Using skills and experience.x Personally affecting the cause theorganization supports.

x Exploring one’s strengths.x Fulfilling religious obligations orbeliefs.x Volunteering with friends.x Improving job opportunities.

S o u r c e : w w w. v o l u n t e e ra l b e r t a . a b . c a

E9KE9CYE9MAGE9YEL


Oil is discovered at Leduc, spawning a generation ofoil tycoons who will establish charitable foundationsto benefit their communities and the province,including Sam Nickle, Maxwell Bell, Charles Allard,Fred C. Mannix, Eric Harvie, and Francis Winspear.

1947

The Muttart Foundation isincorporated as a privatecharitable foundation byEdmontonians MerrillMuttart and Gladys Muttart.

1953

The Junior League of Calgaryestablishes Volunteer Calgary. In2005, 50 years later, more than 400not-for-profit organizations in Calgaryand area are members.

1955


Sector’s unique management needs spur specialized trainingJAC MACDONALDJo u r n a l S t a f f W r i t e r

EDMONTON

Some not-for-profit organizationshave multimillion-dollar budgets andemploy hundreds of volunteers, yettheir executives lack training specificto the field.

The relatively new domain of vol-untary sector management trainingaims to address that gap, says WendyMacDonald, chair of the program atEdmonton’s Grant MacEwan Col-lege.

“While excellent management andleadership are critical in the publicand private sectors as well, non-profit organizations have someunique features that warrant furtherattention in addition to general man-agement skills,” she says.

For example, not-for-profit organi-zations often use volunteers morethan paid staff, unlike business andgovernment, she notes. They providecritical community services and havecomplex accountabilities to multiplestakeholders.

“Using inappropriate goals, mea-sures, and processes not suited to thenon-profit environment will be inef-fective.”

Managers in the voluntary sectorare facing some particularly toughchallenges these days, says KeithSeel, director of the Institute for Non-profit Studies at Mount Royal College

in Calgary. Recent studies show overhalf of all not-for-profit organizationsin Canada have problems planningfor the future, recruiting the types ofvolunteers needed, and findingboard members.

The sector can also expect a “mas-sive exodus” of executive directors,Seel warns. Research from the Cal-gary Centre for Non-Profit Manage-ment shows over 80 per cent of exec-utive directors will be leaving and notreturning to their posts in the nextfive years.

The workforce is aging, he pointsout, and faced with a lack of flexibili-ty in some positions and excessivework loads, many executives arechoosing retirement or jumping togovernment positions where salariesare typically much higher.

Mount Royal College offers an ap-plied degree in non-profit manage-ment, as well as certificate programsin fundraising and non-profit man-agement.

While the first degrees at MountRoyal will be awarded this year, somecourses in voluntary sector manage-ment have been around for at least25 years.

MacEwan College offers one-yearcertificates in voluntary sector man-agement, and arts and cultural man-agement. An applied degree in non-profit studies takes four years of post-secondary education.

j m a c d o n a l d @ t h e j o u r n a l . c a n w e s t . c o m µ

Colleges offer new courses for voluntary sector managementprofessionals, focusing on skills suited to not-for-profit operations

Charities findgala fundraisers

a winning formula

ROBIN SUMMERFIELDC a l g a r y H e ra l d

and JAC MACDONALDE d m o n t o n Jo u r n a l

Charity galas put the fun and glam-our into fundraising, with swishyblack-tie events that attract bigspenders and corporate support.

And so it will be at Edmonton’s Fair-mont Hotel Macdonald next weekwhen 220 people paying $300 apiece don tuxedos and ball gowns toraise about $300,000 for the KidsKottage Foundation.

The money represents about a thirdof the foundation’s annual budget,which goes to help prevent childabuse and neglect, and to keep fami-lies together, says Pam Miller, devel-opment director.

Organizers will transform the ho-tel’s Empire Ballroom into a south seaparadise, to transport guests — inspirit anyway — to an evening oftropical delight. A dinner, dance andauction will follow, with big-ticketitems like a private jet to a B.C. golfresort and dinner for 100 donated bythe Hardware Grill.

Galas like this one have proven tobe a winning formula for many chari-ties and not-for-profit organizations,who compete for people’s time andmoney in the highly volatile andcrowded business of fundraising.They’ve become a staple in Alberta’ssocial scene, forcing organizers toramp up the fun and glitz to attractpartygoers.

In Calgary, Alberta College of Art &Design’s Artrageous 2004, for exam-ple, included Cirque de Soleil-inspired wall walkers, body-painteddancers and a soprano singing from aseven-metre-high perch overlookingVIP guests.

One of Calgary’s biggest shindigs is

The Big Rock Eddies. Centredaround an amateur ad competitionfor Big Rock Beer, this year’s Vegas-themed event aimed to bring inabout $40,000 for the CalgaryWomen’s Shelter and One YellowRabbit Theatre.

Tickets were relatively cheap at $55plus fees. And they were popular: all4,000 sold out within five hours. Theyear before, 2,000 tickets werescooped up in eight minutes.

The annual party started out as arelationship builder between therestaurant and bar industries and hasevolved into a must-be-seen-at spec-tacle for non-industry types. It’s sohot, organizers moved it from Cal-gary’s Jubilee Auditorium, whichwas under renovation, to StampedePark’s Corral Centre this year anddoubled capacity.

“Fifty per cent of the people don’teven know it’s a fundraiser — that’sthe beauty of it,” says Jim Button,event marketer with Venture Com-munications, the company behindthe party’s planning and marketing.

Keith Seel, director of the Institutefor Non-profit Studies at Mount Roy-al College says these events have tobe inventive, imaginative.

“It’s got to be fun, a meaningfulcause, and that’s really the skill setpeople in fundraising need to focuson.”

Even at that, those behind theevents face tough challenges.

“It’s a pretty saturated market,” saysJocelyn Flanagan, the planner be-hind the Calgary Cares fundraiser forthe past four years.

“Word on the street is that Calgaryhas more fundraising events per capi-ta than any other city in Canada.”

That tough competition forfundraising dollars and increasedprofile forces organizations to offer a

dazzling, not-to-be-missed eventevery year while balancing costs andticket prices.

“You’re constantly reinventingyourself,” says Flanagan, CEO ofe=mc2 Event Management in Cal-gary.

Button agrees and has taken on thecredo the Eddies must change slight-ly every year and go through a bigchange every five years to keepthings fresh.

“The whole gala fundraising eventhas changed,” adds Kathi Sund-strom, general manager of DecidedlyJazz Danceworks. Their Black andWhite Ball, a black-tie fundraiser for19 years, morphed in 2004 into Pos-sessed, a less ritzy but equally assplashy do with a Cuban theme at theUniversity of Calgary’s MacEwanHall.

“It’s much more competitive,”Sundstrom says. “It’s more challeng-ing to do that 1,500-ticket event.”

DJD “was probably the first to dothat kind of event — a black-tie eventthat wasn’t a big, stuffy dinner party,”she adds. Now, that kind of party,which was traditionally the domain

of arts groups, has expanded to in-clude different causes and organiza-tions.

Even with competition, DJD hasnever hired professional party plan-ners or fundraisers, but relies on a30-person in-house and volunteercommittee to map out a plan.

When DJD decided to change itsevent and its location after nearly 20years, the committee conductedsome research — its place in thefield; what time of year it should bethrown so as not to compete withother marquee events; and who wasbuying tickets. The goal was to throwan exciting and successful eventwhile keeping tickets in the $75range, because “that’s where we feelour market is,” says Sundstrom.

Fundraisers must offer reasonablypriced tickets that translate into goodtimes for the money. Those ticketsgenerally range from $65 to upwardsof $1,000 or more for pre-event VIPreception tickets.

It also takes money to raise money.Fundraisers must balance the cost

and time it takes to raise dollars ver-sus how much awareness is built for

the cause or organization, says Seel.“The work that goes into everything

to make that come off is just phe-nomenal,” Seel says.

This year’s Big Rock Eddies wouldcost about $500,000 to throw if orga-nizers were paying out of pocket. In-stead, in-kind donations of goodsand services cover much of the cost.

While the Eddies have doubled insize, Button says this year will be agrowth year, where they evaluateand fine tune the event as they lookto the future.

Events are bigger and many organi-zations hire event managers because“there is a need to deliver goodevents,” says professional fundraiserAndrea McManus, with The Develop-ment Group in Calgary.

“We’re far more strategic in how weraise money,” McManus says.

“We’ve become far more profes-sional because donors demand it.”And organizations, she adds, “needto approach fundraising as a piece ofbusiness.”

To that end, the fundraising indus-try has had to change and becomemore sophisticated, argues Mc-Manus, who is also on the board forthe Association of Fundraising Pro-fessionals, an international organiza-tion with 176 chapters around theworld.

Organizations have to plan strategi-cally and realistically; they need tohave a fundraising plan; and theyneed to think beyond this year ornext, she says.

Events add badly needed cash to the coffers, while raising the profile of organizations’ goals

x Calgary Cares, the AIDS Calgaryfundraiser and awareness bash, tookon a bedroom theme this April. CalledPillow Talk, the “world’s largestboudoir party” was held at a secretlocation. More than 1,000 partygoerswere shuttled to the event, whereslinky sleepwear was the dress ofchoice.

x Edmonton’s Snowflake Gala is afundraiser for the Stollery Children’sHospital Foundation. Set for Dec. 12,it distinguishes itself as one of thefew, if not only black-tie galas thatwelcome children, many of whomcome adorably attired in little tuxesand party dresses.Tickets for the dinner, silent auctionand entertainment range from $50for kids 12 and under to $250 foradults. About 1,300 attended lastyear, bringing in $375,000.

x Grant MacEwan College raked in$350,000 for bursaries, scholarships,and other projects at this year’s MadHatter’s Gala, its biggest in 20 years.“It’s a tradition here at GrantMacEwan,” says spokesman DavidBeharry of the party where guests donfunny hats. “We seem to attract a fairnumber of influential Edmontonians.It’s one of those fun fundraisers.”

BRUCE EDWARDS, THE JOURNAL

Wendy MacDonald, chair of the voluntary sector management training program at Grant MacEwan College,says managers in not-for-profit organizations need extra skills like volunteer recruitment and management.

TED JACOB, THE HERALD, FILE

Dancers doing decidedly jazz dancesteps at Calgary’s 2002 Black and White Ball

TED RHODES, THE HERALD

The Big Rock Eddies Vegas-themed gala on May 9 aimed to bring in about $40,000for the Calgary Women’s Shelter and One Yellow Rabbit Theatre.

TED JACOB, THE HERALD, FILE

Decked out in Sgt. Pepper gear at the Big Rock Eddies 2004

FANCY FINANCING

E10KE10CYE10MAGE10YEL


The Federation of CalgaryCommunities is officiallyincorporated after more than 50years of co-ordinating the services ofthe city’s community associations.

On November 15, a meal service provided by Calgary ChurchWomen’s Community Care started serving eight clients. In 1976, thegroup’s name was officially changed to Calgary Meals on Wheels. By1982, the number of clients had increased to more than 380 per day.In 2004, it served 1,905 clients and delivered over 600 meals a day.

19651961

Alberta’s firstcharitable casinoopens at Edmonton’sannual KlondikeDays fair.

1967


Immigrants take up challengeas volunteer numbers slowly fall


EDMONTON

Jennifer Vasquez came to Alberta20 years ago from El Salvador. Todaythe 30-year-old is a volunteer recep-tionist at Changing Together: Centrefor Immigrant Women, an immigrantassistance program in Edmonton.

“I always wanted to give somethingback to the community. Canadabrought us here and opened its doorto us and helped my family when weneeded it,” Vasquez says.

With the overall numbers of volun-teers in decline in Canada, charitiesand not-for-profits will need to de-pend more than ever on immigrantslike Vasquez, say the experts in thefield of voluntary sector manage-ment.

That’s because Canadians aged 30to 50 are the prime givers of time andmoney in this country. Yet they areincreasingly strapped in both depart-ments as they raise families, care foraging parents and work for a living.

Formal volunteer involvement de-clined from 7.5 million Canadians to6.5 million from 1997 to 2000, saysWendy MacDonald, program chair ofthe voluntary sector managementprogram at Edmonton’s Grant MacE-wan College.

Keith Seel, director of the Institutefor Nonprofit Studies and Calgary’sMount Royal College, says one of thesolutions is to turn to the growingpopulation of immigrants who willconstitute 20 per cent of the popula-tion within five years.

Statistics Canada figures show theoverall numbers of people born inanother country at over 18 per centin 2001. In Calgary, the number was20.9 per cent, and in Edmonton itwas 17.8 per cent.

“That means that the non-profitsector as a whole is going to need tobe able to connect and communicateeffectively with the diverse culturalcommunities thatare coming intothe province,”Seel says.

MacDonaldsays it’s also im-portant for not-for-profit organi-zations to consid-er immigrants’assets and theneeds of thechanging com-munity, if theywant to remainrelevant.

Organizationsshould include immigrants if theywant to be effective in representing theneeds and wants of the community.

“Organizations that do not developthe potential of all citizens will de-cline,” she says.

The 2000 National Survey of Giv-ing, Volunteering, and Participatingsuggests there may be mixedprospects for not-for-profit organiza-tions in the immigrant population.

It found immigrants were some-what more likely to donate, thanwere Canadians generally: 82 percent versus 78 per cent respectively.They also tended to make larger an-nual donations on average: $313 ver-sus $259, the survey found.

On the other hand, immigrantswere somewhat less likely to volun-teer than Canadians generally: 21per cent versus 26 per cent volun-teered respectively.

They also tended to volunteer lesson average: 144 hours versus 162hours per year, respectively, the sur-vey says.

That could be because many immi-grants are concerned with gettingjobs and establishing themselves in anew land before they have time tovolunteer, says Vasquez.

Immigrants are encouraged to par-ticipate in Canadian society through

volunteering and giving as part of thecitizenship course offered at the Cen-tre for Immigrant Women, says exec-utive director Sonia Bitar.

“We tell them when they do volun-teer work, they will be making lifebetter in the community and at thesame time, they’re gaining Canadianexperience, so it’s a win/win situa-tion,” Bitar says.

Bitar, who came from Lebanon 26years ago, alsovolunteers out-side of her job atthe centre, includ-ing with theHeart and StrokeFoundation andthe Kidney Foun-dation.

“By doing this,my staff and mystudents will seehow important itis. You have to bea role model. Youhave to walk thetalk,” she says.

Hadassah Ksienski is the chief exec-utive officer of the Calgary Immi-grant Aid Society, where immigrantsare also urged to volunteer after theyhave settled in and met their basicneeds in Calgary.

Ksienski also studied new immi-grants’ volunteer participation whereshe found them very motivated tovolunteer. “They understand theyhave been helped and they want togive back,” she says.

She found their pattern of volun-teering is different than someoneborn in Canada. New immigrantstend to splinter their efforts, volun-teering at seven different jobs, ratherthan just one. Then their productivityis not as high, she says.

“The challenge for organizations isto ensure they are motivated enoughto contribute more in fewer organiza-tions,” she says.

For new immigrants there are alsobarriers, like low incomes often un-der $20,000, which makes it difficultfor transportation to volunteer jobs,as well as to purchase suitable cloth-ing and grooming, she says.

MacDonald says immigrant com-munities support their own culturesthrough volunteering and philan-thropy, but they also support societyat large.

“Many new immigrants understandthat volunteer involvement is ameans of becoming a part of a widercommunity and a very direct meansof participating in a democratic soci-ety,” she says.

Voluntary action is often restrictedin other countries. So the right to as-semble, to form organizations andsupport personal interests and valuesthrough voluntarism is very impor-tant to them, perhaps more so thanother Canadians, who sometimestake these privileges for granted, shesays.

On the other hand, some culturesfocus service and charitable activityless formally than in Canadian soci-ety, and often extended family is astrong focus.

As well, the term “volunteer” is notuniversally positive. Sometimes it isconnected to mandated military ser-vice or forced labour in some coun-tries from the former Eastern Blocand Central America.

“This often confuses immigrantswho are not aware of the context andmeaning of the term in Canada,”MacDonald says.

The greatest barriers to immigrantparticipation are not being asked, notknowing how to get involved, andvolunteer roles that conflict withearning a living and supporting fami-lies, MacDonald says.

Connecting with immigrants is alsoimportant for giving. Volunteers give$10 for every $1 a non-volunteer willgive. “If we don’t engage people thatare immigrants in the province, itmeans that we’re going to be missingout on a huge philanthropic base forfinancial resources as well,” Seelsays.

In terms of giving, immigrantssometimes have difficulty under-standing the financial needs of non-government organizations like immi-grant-serving agencies or culturalagencies, when they come fromcountries where governments do itall, Ksienski says.

“The knowledge and understand-ing and information at times doesnot exist,” she says from her ownanecdotal experience.

On the other hand, when the needis transparently clear, such as thetsunami in December, she saw immi-grants donate heavily, regardless ofwhere they were from.

In Bitar’s experience, immigrantsare more than happy to help out.They just need to be made to feel wel-come and to be given the propertraining.

“They are really open. When peoplefeel they belong and are acceptedinto the community, they do somuch.”


Citizenship has duties,and many are eager to

give back to community

Globaltranslationsof the act of

volunteeringChina

Older Chinese see volunteering asa courtesy and an obligation to thecommunity. They prefer the term“giving a helping hand” to “volun-teering” because volunteering is as-sociated with social work. YoungerChinese volunteer to gain vital workexperience and to have fun.

PhilippinesFilipinos interpret the word volun-

teer to mean community spirit orcommunity involvement. Volunteer-ing is an informal activity built ontrust and friendship.

Ismaili MuslimIsmaili Muslims experience volun-

teering as a religious requirementand therefore it is a part of daily liv-ing. As a community, every IsmailiMuslim is involved in volunteering.

Latin AmericaLatin American people see volun-

teering as something privilegedpeople do. Volunteering is per-ceived, especially by recent immi-grants, as an indication of class. InChile or Argentina, volunteerism islinked with socialist politics. Volun-teering is generally seen as a privatevalue and not to be advertised on aresume.

AboriginalThe Aboriginal community lends a

helping hand when asked. Volun-teering is very acceptable when itmeans learning new skills or thepromotion of Aboriginal culture.

PolandPolish immigrants come from a

country where many people wereforced to volunteer as a way of pro-moting government ideology.Therefore, there may be a negativeattitude towards volunteering, par-ticularly among recent immigrants.Many older, established communitymembers volunteer with the Polishcommunity.

SikhThe Sikh community translates

volunteering to mean “service,”their third religious commandment.In India, Sikhs engage in communi-ty volunteer work as a part of dailylife.

JapanIn Japan, the concept of volunteer-

ing is not well known. Volunteer ac-tivities must be congruent with theneeds of the group. Motivation tovolunteer is often connected to asense of obligation: people who re-ceived help feel obliged to repay itwith their labour and time.

EcuadorThe word voluntario was intro-

duced to Latin America by the Span-ish. It often refers to foreign volun-teers. Ecuadorians today prefercompanero, meaning someone tobreak bread with. A long traditionof Christian charity and the desireto serve God motivates Ecuadoriansto volunteer today.

AustraliaIn Australia, the term “volunteer-

ing” has certain historical, sociologi-cal and class connotations and is anovert or implicit disparagement. Bycontract, expressions such as “com-munity involvement,” and “lendinga hand,” are positive statements.

GermanyIn Germany, ehrenamtliche is the

term most often used to refer to vol-unteers. The word, which means“honorary position,” carries conno-tations of duty and formally held of-fices. Many volunteers prefer to de-scribe their work than to identifythemselves as ehrenamtliche.

S o u r c e : P r o j e c t K a l e i d o s c o p e ,Vo l u n t e e r C e n t re o f C a l g a r y, 1 9 9 2

THE HERALD, FILE

Hadassah Ksienski of the Calgary Immigrant Aid Society works with her staff to help immigrants like Sasha Raimova, who movedto Calgary two years ago from Uzbekistan, to settle in to life in Alberta. Raimova is enrolled in the youth industry internship

program which helps train young immigrants to enter the workforce.

DIDYOU

KNOW?

VOLUNTEERS OF ALL AGES VOLUNTEERING ON THE NET

Volunteers can be found in allcommunities, and are of all ages andraces. Albertans aged 30 to 44 aremost likely to volunteer, while seniorsand youth also contribute thousandsof hours to various causes every year.Albertans aged 35 to 54 were more

likely to volunteer than those in otherage groups. The average number ofhours volunteered increased steadilyuntil the age of 54, dropped offslightly, and then peaked at 200 hoursfor volunteers 65 and older.

w w w. v o l u n t e e r c a l g a r y. a b . c a

Volunteer Calgary’s mission is “buildingcommunity through leadership involunteerism.” Not-for-profit memberorganizations with volunteer programsaccess ongoing recruitment and referralof more than 15,000 volunteersannually.

w w w. v o l u n t e e r c a l g a r y. a b . c a

YouthVOLUNTEER! is Edmonton andarea’s online volunteer hub designedspecifically for youth, by youth. With aclick of the mouse, young people (looselydefined as 13 to 24) can search througha database of dynamic volunteeropportunities to connect withorganizations in need.

w w w. y o u t h o n e . c o m / v o l u n t e e r

“We tell them when theydo volunteer work, they willbe making life better in the

community and at the sametime, they’re gaining

Canadian experience, so it’sa win/win situation”Sonia Bitar, executive director,Centre for Immigrant Women

SUPPLIED

Jock Jock Tang and Canadian Forces Capt. Graham Longhurst are partneredin the Calgary Immigrant Aid Society’s youth industry internship program.



The Victorian Order of Nurses takesresponsibility for developing a meals onwheels program in Edmonton. In 1969,volunteers deliver the first meals to threehomes for a fee of 65 cents each.

The Heritage Festival in Edmontonis inaugurated. By 2003, it willrequire the efforts of 6,000volunteers from the city’smulticultural communities.

19761968

Volunteers organize andproduce theCommonwealthGames in Edmonton

1978


‘Perfect storm’ threatens not-for-profitsCHRISTOPHER SPENCER


Keith Seel has been watching theclouds forming over the not-for-profitsector. He’s advising his colleagues tobatten down the hatches.

The sizzling economy is making ittough to compete for paid workersand Albertans aren’t volunteering asmuch time as they used to. Mean-while, government cutbacks andchanging demographics portend amassive thunderstorm on the hori-zon. It’s like one of those hot, muggydays in July that always seem to endbadly.

“You’ll have a double-negative hap-pening, if you won’t have the volun-teer labour available to you and youwon’t be able to pay for or attractpaid employees,” says Seel, the direc-tor of the Institute for NonprofitStudies at Mount Royal College inCalgary. “That’s the worst possiblesituation, the perfect storm.”

At the Developmental DisabilitiesResource Centre of Calgary, the rainis already starting to fall.

“We have the advantage and thedisadvantage of being in a provincewhere the employment rate is suchthat there are a lot of opportunitiesfor people,” says executive directorPatty Morris. “That’s reflected in ourturnover rate. For me, where there isa really troubling disparity is at thefront lines, where people are doingreally critical work and where thewages are particularly low. We some-times have turnover rates that are ashigh as 50 or 60 per cent.”

Often employees are apologeticwhen they hand in their notice. Withthe cost of living on the rise, thesalaries offered by not-for-profitgroups are not competitive.

Says Seel: “You’ve got to think, ifyou are doing the same job and youcan shift from doing it in the not-for-profit sector to government and earna third more on your salary, you’d beinclined to do it. You bet. At the frontlines of some of these organizations,you’ve got employees that have towork two or three jobs just to makeends meet.”

“We cannot hold on to staff mem-bers that really want to work with usand provide support to people sothey can live quality lives,” notes GailDavis, CEO of the Alberta Associationof Rehabilitation Centres. “While thegovernment has for years asked us tobe more efficient and more economi-cal, plan differently and provide dif-ferent kinds of supports to staff sothey will stay, I believe we’ve gone asfar as we can in that.”

The AARC has undertaken severalstudies to document the gap betweennot-for-profit workers and govern-ment employees who have similarjobs. In Calgary, for example, the topwage for a community residencemanager employed by an AARCagency is $17.66 per hour, while gov-ernment rehab practitioners with thesame level of experience make$25.28 per hour. The gap increaseswhen factors such as shift differentialare included in the research.

Unionized government employeesalso recently won raises of nearly 10per cent over three years.

Davis says some of the rehabilita-tive services offered by not-for-profitgroups are no longer adequate to theneeds of the com-munity.

“At this point, wecan no longer pro-vide quality sup-ports to individualswith disabilitieswhen we don’t havethe capacity to re-cruit good, quali-fied staff.

“We have tochange the priori-ties,” she adds. “Itcan’t be that theyjust want to give thefunding to us. We need to say, rightup front, that we are no longer ableto provide quality supports unless wecan ensure that people have qualitystaff to serve them. With the new

AUPE settlement and the economicclimate in Alberta, we just don’t havethat capacity.”

Lack of funding is just one issuecontributing to the labour crisis inher organization, Morris says.

“There is also an is-sue of changingroles and requisiteskills and competen-cies. In some cases,staff within commu-nity agencies are be-ing required to domore complex workthat requires a verysophisticated skillset, making the dis-parity even greater.”

Seel notes thereare two possible out-comes if agencies

don’t receive the funding they re-quire to hire new employees.

“If we can’t recruit staff because wedon’t have the money to pay decentsalaries, and if we still have the work

to be done, we’re either going to seenot-for-profit organizations closedown or have to find an alternativehuman resource pool, and the onlyone open to them would be volun-teers.”

Unfortunately, fewer people are do-nating fewer hours to communitycauses. Alberta used to lead thecountry in volunteerism, but that’snot the case anymore.

“As lives become more complex,many people are finding that theycan’t invest in long-term volunteercommitments,” says Wendy Mac-Donald of the Voluntary Sector Man-agement Program at Grant MacEwanCollege. “If organizations don’t ad-just do the changing demographicsand lifestyle of prospective volun-teers, I think that formal volun-teerism will continue to decline.”

Anne Smith, president and CEO ofthe United Way of the Alberta CapitalRegion, says the trend away from vol-unteerism is terrible news for groupsthat depend on free labour.

“There’s been some really good re-search identifying what the currentstatus is in terms of the number of or-ganizations, which has increasedover time, the needs of these organi-zations, which has certainly in-creased, and a concern that the abili-ty to generate voluntary resources tosustain these organizations may notbe there in the system’s currentform.”

The large number of organizationsmeans that corporate and govern-ment grants have to be split moreways. Often voluntary groups getcaught up in trying to generate rev-enue instead of delivering services.

MacDonald says volunteers gener-ally are becoming pickier about thetasks they are willing to perform.

“Most of the predictions show thatthe baby boomers probably havehigher expectations for the kinds ofvolunteer roles they are willing totake on than previous generations.They are expecting mutual benefit inthe relationship.”

Meanwhile, the demand for socialservices is increasing as people getolder.

“As the baby boomers age, therewill be a need for specific kinds ofservices like long-term care,” saysMacDonald. “Research shows thatpeople are unlikely to get involved involunteer activities in their retire-ment if they have not already madethose kinds of commitments whenthey were younger. We’ve got amighty big challenge ahead of us interms of encouraging boomers to getinvolved at the same rate that will re-quire services.”

Lavoie says she’s hearing frommembers of her chamber that uncer-tainties about staffing and fundingare making it impossible for them toplan for the future.

“Particularly when governmentpolicies are announced, we are react-ing to them. One of the purposes ofgroups like ours is to be at the tablewhen the policy is being developed,so we are not taken off-guard and wecan help shape things instead of justreacting to them.”

Despite the labour and fundingshortage facing some groups, Mac-Donald is confident that not-for-prof-it organizations will become evenmore indispensable in the future.

“Quite often the voluntary sectorperceives needs and trends and canrespond to them more quickly, be-cause it is more flexible and nimble.It doesn’t always have the necessaryfinancial and material resources toaddress issues in the same way thepublic sector might, but it does havethe freedom and capacity to advocatefor change.”

Lower wages mean higher staff turnover and tough recruitment prospects


EDMONTON

Hockey and lacrosse are officiallyCanada’s national sports, but morekids get a kick out of soccer.

In Alberta alone, 129,864 peoplesigned up to play on teams registeredwith the provincial soccer associationduring the 2001 season. Managingthat level of interest requires thecommitment of thousands of volun-teers.

Les Duxbury has been involved inthe game as a coach for more than 30years. He got his start helping outwith his son’s community leagueteam. Now the two of them volunteertogether.

“The boys that we have right noware just wonderful, and my son and Iare having a ball,” Duxbury says.Their current squad, made up ofplayers 13 and 14 years old, repre-sents the Southwest United SportsClub in one of Edmonton’s elite

leagues.“I just really enjoy being with kids.

That, for me, is it. It is really nice towatch kids grow from hardly beingable to pick up a ball to being far su-perior and far more accomplishedplayers than I ever was.”

Duxbury has seen a lot of changesover the past 30 years. “When I firststarted coaching, there were no in-door games at all,” he recalls.

One of the biggest improvementshas been the quality of the volunteersteaching the game, he says.

“The calibre of coaching and play-ing has gone up tremendously fromwhen I started. There are some ab-solutely wonderful coaches.”

Soccer, which is not played profes-sionally in most Canadian cities, hasmanaged to avoid some of the prob-lems involving unruly spectators thathave beset other sports.

“We have some parents that get alittle carried away in soccer, too. Butyou don’t see the kinds of outburstswhere parents are being charged

with assault as you might in hockey.“Our parents generally are wonder-

ful. They want the best for their kidand they have a high expectation forthem and us. But it’s not a pressuresituation, where you are underscrutiny every minute.”

In addition to volunteering as acoach, Duxbury has contributed to

the game as an administrator. Whenhis son Michael was playing,Duxbury coordinated the soccer pro-gram for the Riverbend CommunityLeague. More recently he served aterm as director of the EdmontonSoccer Federation.

He coached Michael for more than10 years, but eventually decided it

would be better to look for a newteam. “I wasn’t sure how objective Icould be. The players were getting tobe like sons to me.”

Duxbury’s day job is principal ofForest Heights elementary school, sothere’s no doubt he enjoys beingaround kids.

“I get a real bang out of it.”

MIKAEL KJELLSTROM , THE HERALD

Patty Morris, executive director of the Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgary

Soccer volunteersget a kick out of kids

Thousands of parents, teachers make it possiblefor Alberta’s youth to play their favourite sports


Long-time volunteer soccer coach Les Duxbury watches as his team works on a corner kick drill.

“We sometimeshave turnover ratesthat are as high as

50 or 60 per cent.”Patty Morris,

Developmental Disabilities Resource Centre of Calgary

Government39%

Fees48%

Philanthropy12%

Sources of nonprofit and voluntaryorganization revenue in Canada,excluding hospitals, universities

and colleges.



Edmonton’s Folk Festivaltakes the stage for thefirst time. By 2003, it willrequire the efforts of2,000 volunteers.

Alberta’s firstpermanent,privately operatedcharitable casinoopens in Calgary.

19801979

Alberta’s secondpermanent,privately operatedcharitable casinoopens in Edmonton.

1981


‘Virtual volunteers’ fill the digital void

CATHERINE CARSONS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

EDMONTON

In off-hours from her job as a recep-tionist in a busy real estate office, PatSiemens likes to e-mail a friend — a12-year-old girl she’s never met.

Siemens is an e-mentor for BigBrothers/Big Sisters, which operatesthe program through a secure web-site for the Edmonton public schoolboard. Some 80 e-mentors are in-volved.

E-mentoring is much like a BigBrothers/Big Sisters relationship ex-cept that the two people never meet;they communicate strictly by e-mail.Yet the friendship they develop is asdeep and they learn as much abouteach other as if they did get together,says Siemens.

Siemens is a “virtual volunteer,”someone who carries out her volun-teer activities with little or no directcontact with the recipient. She’s part ofa growing trend, particularly among ITprofessionals — website designers,database managers, computer special-ists, etc. — who prefer to work in theirhomes, home offices or offices wherethey have access to all the technologythey need.

Small not-for-profit agencies thatturn to these volunteers for help maynot have such equipment on site.

You might call Siemens a memberof the Big Brothers/Big Sisters family.Her husband has been a Big Brothersix times; she does other volunteerwork for the organization.

Siemens usually e-mails her studenttwice a week. “She may have some-thing she wants to tell me and she’llsend one off. Other times I mighthear from her just once a week.”

She sees the electronic contact asan effective means to help a child.“Sometimes I’m able to help her with

some of the things she brings up.Sometimes I’m not sure I’m sayingthe right thing. I think they need toknow that there is somebody specialwho can be their special friend too.”

Digital Heroes is similar to e-men-toring with one key difference — thefocus is on a school subject. This yearthe subject is science, with specialemphasis on the Telus World of Sci-ence Edmonton, which is involved inthe project. Big Brothers/Big Sistersruns the program, and other partnersinclude the public school board and

the Science 2000 project.The topic is science but the e-mail

discussion may range far afield as thematches learn more about each oth-er, says Connie Graves. A mother offour grown children and cosmeticsales associate, Graves is workingwith her second match and says therelationships keep her young.

“I love to talk to the children.“It’s a wonderful program. When

you start you don’t see this child, youdon’t know anything about them sothere are no preconceived notions.

You learn everything by communica-tion, by asking questions back andforth. You learn so much about theirfamily, their friends.”

She found herself reading HarryPotter one whole summer thanks toher previous match, a Grade 4 stu-dent. “She kept telling me all abouther favourite music, her favouritebooks. I thought I’d better find outwhat this is all about.

“This year I have a very bright stu-dent who’s filled with enthusiasm,loves to tell me about what she’s tak-ing in science, who always leaves mewith a question about science.”

Since Graves has no background inscience, this sends her scurrying tothe Internet to research the question.

Graves says the students learn somuch more than science. “They’re

learning wonderful communicationskills like writing, getting to knowsomebody. A two-way conversation— when it’s digital — has to go backand forth.”

Heather Hastie is a longtime virtualvolunteer. She lives and works in Cal-gary as communications managerwith Volunteer Calgary, which sup-plies volunteers for not-for-profitagencies.

Her after-hours volunteer job is for aVancouver-based environmentalgroup, the Outdoor Recreation Coun-cil of B.C. An IT professional, she hasmaintained the council’s website anddatabase since 1998, when she livedin Vancouver. “I like to go into thebackcountry; I like to ski. I’m passion-ate about the outdoors.”

When she moved to Calgary in1999 she maintained the connection.

“In the five years since I’ve been inCalgary, I’ve met with them twice.Most of the communication is by e-mail. They tell me what they wantdone and I do it from my end.

“It’s a job where you don’t need tobe in the same physical world be-cause everything, in a sense, is in thisworld that technically doesn’t exist.”

Hastie figures she puts in four tofive hours a month on her virtual vol-unteer job.

Online volunteersdon’t need to be onscene to help out

Volunteer groupsfind their voice


EDMONTON

Business has long been accustomedto pushing for its interests throughthe Chamber of Commerce.

Now Alberta’s voluntary and chari-table sector has decided it needs astrong voice to speak to the manyburdens it has shouldered in the pastdecade, like government cuts, in-creasing needs and expectations andthe retirements of experienced staff.

The result is the Edmonton and Cal-gary chambers of voluntary organi-

zations. They aim torepresent many ofthe 19,000 charitiesand not-for-profitgroups in Alberta,who employ 176,000people and bring inannual revenues top-ping $10 billion.

Catherine Cole, anEdmonton-basedheritage consultant,

says charitable groups and societiesneed to band together. Arts and her-itage organizations must ally them-selves with more traditional volun-tary groups like the Edmonton Fami-ly Centre and Big Brothers and BigSisters, says Cole, who was re-electedto the board of directors of the Ed-monton chamber earlier this month.

“It’s important for arts and heritageorganizations to realize this is part ofthe scene. We have had a lot of pres-sure placed on our organizations.

“Our work has become more impor-

tant and necessary than before. Atthe same time we have less money todo it and less senior people to do it.”

Charities and volunteer societieshave quickly discovered the benefitsof working together, says Val Mayes,executive director of the Edmontonchamber.

For example, as a result of a presen-tation the chamber made to citycouncil last year, community grantsfor not-for-profit organizations wereincreased by $500,000 on an ongo-ing basis, with funding from an in-crease in the tax levy.

“The amazing thing was that wehad requested an increase of$450,000 for the program and coun-cil actually approved more than therequest,” Mayes says.

The Calgary chamber was officiallylaunched in March 2004 and nowhas 120 members. The Edmonton or-ganization achieved charitable statusin late 2002, and has 53 memberswho are connected to thousands ofnot-for-profit organizations in theprovincial capital.

Mayes says her group acts as an in-formation conduit, with a mission-control kind of function.

“There are all kinds of people work-ing in the not-for-profit sector andthere are lots of common issues, butpeople don’t have time and resourcesto work on them,” she says.

Funding is another important issue,says Janet Lavoie, director of mem-ber development for the Calgarychamber.

For the past 10 years, the trend hasbeen for funders to move from core

or operational funding to projectfunding, Lavoie says.

“That means that overhead costsare either underfunded or not fund-ed at all, and that organizations havelittle predictability in their financialpicture.”

Part of the Calgary chamber’s job isto help donors and the public under-stand that overhead is not a dirtyword; it’s essential, she says.

As well as lobbying governments forincreased funding, the chambers alsotackles other issues, like escalatinginsurance premiums and compensa-tion for people employed in the vol-unteer sector.

“Over a million people in the coun-try work in the voluntary sector andvery often those people are paid lessthan their counterparts in the publicsector,” Mayes says.

“Very often, they aren’t hooked intoa benefits program.”

Often the voluntary sector is lookedupon as a place for people to learn.Then employees get scooped up byprivate industry or the public sector.

“With wages at an average of 30 percent below comparable jobs in gov-ernment and business, few if anybenefits and few permanent jobs, it isbecoming difficult to attract and re-tain the talent we need,” Lavoie says.

The implementation of a $5 fee forpolice information checks of volun-teers in Calgary is a recent issue forCalgary volunteer organizations. It’sa particular problem for not-for-prof-it groups with large numbers of vol-unteers, and the impact is now beingmonitored by the chamber.

In Edmonton, the chamber is linkedwith the University of Alberta to help

place students in not-for-profit orga-nizations to do volunteer work. Stu-dents in a specific course, such asglobalization studies, work for theGlobal Visions film festival or the or-ganization Food Not Bombs.

“What a great way for students tolearn what it’s like to be a small not-for-profit organization and what itmeans to put into practice what youbelieve,” Mayes says.

There’s a growing awareness that ifthe Chamber of Commerce can meetregularly with city council and beasked its opinion on bylaw changes,then the chambers of voluntary orga-nizations could be the “go-to group”for the not-for-profit sector.

“There’ll now be a credible voicethat will be able to take a position,”she says.


Chambers speak up for not-for-profit sector

ED KAISER, THE JOURNAL

Connie Graves says her e-mail relationships with children keep her young.

RICK MACWILLIAM, THE JOURNAL

Through e-mail, Pat Siemens is a mentor to a 12-year-old girl.

“This year I have a verybright student who’s filledwith enthusiasm, loves totell me about what she’s

taking in science.”Digital Heroes mentor

Connie Graves

ONA

MISSION

CHAMBERS OF VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS WEBSITES

x Provide leadership and mobilize thecollective resources of the voluntary sectorto enhance programs, services, operationsand governance of not-for-profitorganizations.x Increase the credibility, recognition andprofile of the sector.

x Build the sector’s capacity and raise issuesthat have the greatest impact on memberorganizations.x Develop a voice on important issues andpromote the value of volunteerism and theimportant contribution made by thevoluntary sector.

x Strengthen not-for-profit organizationsthrough research, education, dialogue andprofessional development.x Build leadership capacity; act as aclearinghouse, broker and informationconduit for the region; and help connectmembers.

Edmonton Chamber of VoluntaryOrganizations: www.ecvo.ca

Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations:www.calgarycvo.org

COURTESY: CHRYSALIS CALGARY

Barry Langford volunteers at Devonian Gardens through Chrysalis, a member of the Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations

Lavoie


EDMONTON

The paradox hasn’t changed. Thesolution has.

Young people have always com-plained they can’t get a job becausethey have no experience and can’t getexperience because they don’t have ajob. Similarly, people who step out ofthe workforce for a time find theirqualifications and experience be-come dated.

The answer? Volunteering in a pur-poseful way tobuild a resumewill open the doorto a career.

Lucille Lysy ofMedicine Hat pon-ders the past sevenor eight years, andsays, “Volunteer-ing not only im-proved the qualityof my life buthelped me to re-cover from beingvery ill. I am nowworking part time,a result of the cu-mulative work, thepeople I’ve gottento know, and the wellness I developedworking as a volunteer. I overcame alot of barriers and a lot of fears.”

Her horizons narrowed by a healthcrisis, confidence shattered by post-traumatic stress disorder, Lysy wasunwilling to accept that she could notwork. “I’m a fighter, so I kept pushingthe boundaries of fear. For my beingso severely ill, (volunteering) was theonly option I had.”

Lysy began by joining a mentalhealth advisory committee. “That ex-posure was highly educational,something I’d never done before,”

she says. “I met individuals who en-couraged me to volunteer in other ar-eas, and became a public speakerwith my story. It gave me the oppor-tunity to learn about a lot of mentalhealth issues that people face here inAlberta. That led to a couple of initia-tives for mental health consumers.Volunteering put me in contact withpeople I would never have met (oth-erwise). I was surrounded by peoplewho gave me support, and room togrow and develop.”

As each opportunity led to more,Lysy learned to work around the bar-

riers posed by thepost-traumaticstress. “It intro-duced me back intothe workforce inbaby steps,” shesays. “Accomplish-ment brings affir-mation.”

“Not-for-profitsare mainly wherevolunteering willtake place,” saysKim McClymont,executive directorof the MedicineHat Volunteer Cen-tre. She haswatched Lysy blos-

som, and is excited by the potentialthat unfolds each time she matchesvolunteers to organizations whichcan offer opportunities and trainingin exchange for some help.

“I’ve been here three years; I loveit,” McClymont says. “I can’t think ofanything I’ve ever done in my lifethat’s more important than what I’mdoing now.”

“If there’s something people havealways wanted to do, volunteeringwill give them a chance,” she says.“There’s so much opportunity, andyou can’t fail. Either you like it or you

don’t. You can testsomething out,then move on andtry somethingdifferent.”

For years Mc-Clymont hadsoaked up leader-ship training andnew skills throughvolunteering widely. When the Vol-unteer Centre position came open,she realized her passion had becomethe key to a career change from com-munity rehabilitation.

Karen Lynch, Edmonton-based ex-ecutive director of Volunteer Alberta,is another who is building a new ca-

reer based on her volunteer work.“After 10 years of being home, I

couldn’t go out and market myselfbased on my economics degree andthe work I had done in government,for the legislative assembly,” she says.

The not-for-profit sector pays lessthan either government and corpo-rate work, but that is offset by agreater degree of flexibility and theintrinsically rewarding nature of thework, Lynch says. “Certainly that iswhat attracted me.

“I have always volunteered,” sheadds, “but my interest in political is-sues and campaigns and my family-based volunteering brought me tothis sector for employment. It was

just a natural fit.”

Not everyone who parlays volun-teering into a new career stays in thenot-for-profit sector.

After 20 years as a land developer,Janet Riopel, campaign chair of the2005 Capital Region United Way,started her own company a decadeago.

Through Treyl CommunicationsInc., Riopel can use her professionalskills to inform her volunteer workand vice versa.

She has found her niche as presi-dent and CEO of Careers: the nextgeneration — a public-private part-nership geared to building a skilledworkforce for Alberta by guidingyoung people into suitable careers.

Purposefulcareers built

on volunteeringYoung workers and those re-entering the workforce

gain valuable experience that can open doors

E13


The Charter or Rights and Freedoms isentrenched in the constitution. Victims’rights and services groups, and women’sshelters are launched, all largely staffedby volunteers.

Edmonton Meals on Wheels becomes anindependent not-for-profit organization, delivering51,000 meals in its first year. By 2005, thevolunteer organization produces approximately 200to 400 meals every weekday.

19821982

Volunteers help makethe World UniversityGames in Edmonton aresounding success.

1983


Leaving a legacy for future generationsSTORIES BY


EDMONTON

When they found Margaret Chap-pelle’s body several weeks after shedied, a neighbour referred to her asthat “crazy cat lady.”

Chappelle was a childless widowand occasional artist, and the run-down condition of her large homeoverlooking an Edmonton ravineproved that she cared more for thecompany of animals than people.

A fortnight later volunteers clean-ing out her garage came across somepersonal papers. Among them wasChappelle’s will: $25,000 set asidefor a friend, an incredible $3.7 mil-lion allocated to create a legacy forthe Edmonton Humane Society.

In 2004, Chappelle was named oneof the top 100 Edmontonians of thecentury. Not bad for a crazy cat lady.

Do you know how you are going tobe remembered when you die?

“Surprisingly, it is not a morbid dis-cussion,” says planned giving expertKen Ramsay. “I know that becausemy company does campaigns forcharities across Canada, and we’veasked 240,000 Canadians for be-quests. We get virtually no com-plaints.”

With legacies, you don’t give until ithurts. You give when it no longerhurts.

Ramsay pitches planned giving thisway: “It’s a way to leave your mark.It’s a way to make a difference for thefuture. It’s what you leave to futuregenerations.”

Research conducted by the South-ern Alberta Institute of Technology

shows that 40 per cent of Canadianssay they would like to include a char-ity in their will, but only 12 per centdo. “I call it the underdeveloped areaof fundraising,” Ramsay says.

“In every other type of fundraising,we’re asking people to write a chequeright now. In planned giving, we’rereally asking for gifts of assets, themost common one being the bequestin the will.”

You don’t have to be rich — or likecats — to leave a portion of your es-tate to charity.

“Bequests to charities are done onaverage by people of average wealth.Wealth is not an indicator for mostplanned gifts.”

Ramsay is president of LegacyLeaders, a Toronto-based consultingfirm. He spoke at a conference offundraising professionals earlier thismonth in Calgary.

With the population aging, plannedgiving has become a priority for not-for-profit sector, says Paul Nahirney,an instructor at MacEwan College.

“It’s often cited that in the next ap-proximately 10 to 15 years, there willbe an estimated $3 trillion dollarschanging hands one generation tothe next in this country. As a result ofthat, all charitable organizations aredoing what they can to attract theirshare of legacy gifts from the oldergeneration.”

Ramsay notes that smart fundrais-ers don’t seek out old ladies in nurs-ing homes, because that approach isnot likely to be effective.

“Bequest decisions are made bypeople around age 50. People pastthe age the age of 75 are not going tochange their estate plans.”

‘Underdeveloped area of fundraising’ not just for the rich or eccentric, consultant says

LEAH HENNEL, THE HERALD

Ken Ramsay, president and CEO of Legacy Leaders addressed fundraisingprofessionals at a conference held in Calgary earlier this month.

PHOTOS: ED KAISER, THE JOURNAL

Grade 11 students Janet Kwong, left, 16, and Wafaa Hajar, 16, check out one of the display booths at a volunteer fair at M.E. LaZerte high school in May 2005.

EDMONTON

Less than a quarter of Albertanswho donate money to not-for-profitorganizations decide in advancehow much they will give, accordingto the National Survey of Giving,Volunteering and Participating.

Spontaneous donations —whether it’s depositing a quarter ina Salvation Army canister at Christ-mas or sending a cheque to the RedCross for disaster relief — arewarmly welcomed by charities, butrelying on them makes it difficult todraw up accurate budgets.

“Monthly giving programs havebecome more popular because theyare more predictable for organiza-tions,” says Jane Potentier-Neal,manager of annual giving at theUniversity of Alberta.

“In our organization, we suggest$8 per month, which is just $2 perweek. You really don’t feel it in thesame way but over the course of theyear the donation adds up to morethan $100.”

Loyal donors who give regularly tothe same charity tend to make larg-er contributions. They also consumefewer resources.

“It’s very easy,” says Potentier-Neal. “Once you’ve signed up, themoney is coming off automatically.You don’t need to think about it toomuch, and we can just concentrateon giving you information on howyour gift is helping instead of askingyou again. We’re not sending youappeals all of the time.”

The retention rate for monthlydonors is 90 per cent, whereas only50 per cent of people who donatespontaneously to an organizationchoose to do so again.

x A bequest is a gift of cash or propertyleft to a charitable organization in a will.Making a posthumous donation canreduce the amount of taxes paid by yourestate.x A gift-in-kind may include securitiesand real estate as well as jewelry,artwork and other collectibles. In somecases, you can continue to use your giftuntil you die while receiving immediatetax benefits.x An endowment fund is a cashdonation which is invested as directed in

your will. Interest on the principal goesto support a specific charity.x A charitable remainder trust allowsyou to continue receiving income untilyour death. The remainder in the trust isthen transferred to a benefitingorganization.x A life insurance policy can also beused to support good works by naming anot-for-profit agency as the beneficiary.The premiums you pay qualify for a taxcredit.

L E A V I N G A L E G A C Y

Monthly givingmakes charities’

jobs easier

P L A N N E D G I V I N G

Several volunteer groups and agencies took part in a May 2005 volunteer fair at M.E LaZerte high school.

Riopel

“There’s so muchopportunity, and you can’t

fail. Either you like it oryou don’t. You can test

something out, then moveon and try something

different.”Kim McClymont,executive director,

Medicine Hat Volunteer Centre

Provincial government websitesprovide a wealth of information onlaunching a career by volunteering:x Alberta Human Resources andEmployment and Alberta Learningpublish a booklet called Volunteering:How to build your career by helpingothers. Go to www.alis.gov.ab.ca andenter “volunteering” in the searchfield.While the step-by-step workbook ismainly aimed at young people, it alsoworks for adults new to volunteeringand explains the career benefits ofvolunteering.x Service Alberta also listsconsiderable resources atwww.servicealberta.ca. Enter“volunteering” in the search field.

VOLUNTEER WEBSITES



The Wild Rose Foundation, a lottery-fundedagency, is created by the Government ofAlberta to promote charitable, philanthropic,humanitarian, or public-spirited acts or toassist those who perform them.

A massive tornado, spawned in the foothills near RockyMountain House, hits Edmonton hard on July 31, 1987. Inits wake, it leaves 27 dead and 1,000 homeless. Volunteersrespond with search and rescue efforts and with donationsof food, clothing and furniture for the survivors.

19871984

The 15th Winter Olympiad is held inCalgary, the first time the winterOlympics are held in Canada. TheGames are produced largely thanksto the efforts of Albertan volunteers.

1988


Foundations the lifeblood of overworked not-for-profitsCATHERINE CARSON


Foundations — public, private orcommunity foundations — are ab-solutely critical to the survival of not-for-profit organizations.

They provide the lifeblood that sus-tains the organizations throughgrants for programs, administrativeexpenses, even paid downtime for se-nior executives who are in danger ofburning out.

Foundations have become more vi-tal over the past decade as govern-ments have cut back or barely main-tained funding in the face of growingneeds, says Martin Garber-Conrad,CEO of the Edmonton CommunityFoundation.

“Many non-profit organizations arein need of additionalfunds to carry outthe work they do onbehalf of the govern-ment that isn’t fund-ed. Communityfoundations can beimportant pieces infilling that gap.”

Community foun-dations like Garber-

Conrad’s were established to holdand invest large pools of money col-lected via donations ranging fromthree figures to seven. The ECF got itsjump start with donations from localphilanthropic entrepreneurs such asJohn and Barbara Poole and the Holefamily. It now has nearly $164 mil-lion in assets.

The Muttart Foundation was estab-lished in 1953 by Merrill and GladysMuttart, local philanthropists andbusiness people, to support charita-ble causes in Alberta, Saskatchewan,Northwest Territories and Yukon,where their businesses were located.

The Wild Rose Foundation distrib-utes government lottery funds,raised primarily by not-for-profit or-

ganizations through bingos and casi-nos. Local soccer clubs, school coun-cils, community leagues, seniorsgroups, service clubs, arts groupsand others provide staff for bingosand casinos in exchange for a shareof the take. The foundation’s off-shoots — the Alberta Arts Founda-tion, Alberta Sport, Recreation, Parksand Wildlife Foundation and the Al-berta Historical Resources Founda-

tion — provide grants for groups inthose areas.

It’s a foundation’s role to make thework of not-for-profit organizationseasier, says Allan Wells, executive di-rector of the Tegler Trust and its spin-off, the Tegler Foundation.

“So often, the staff and volunteersspend all their time fundraising andthey burn out. They don’t have timeto do the work of the agency.”

The Muttart Foundation, for in-stance, provides a one-year sabbati-cal for executives in the voluntarysector, says executive director BobWyatt. The executive can use thetime for rest, travel or study but atthe end of the year is expected to pro-duce a report on an issue in the socialpolicy area that can be used by othervoluntary agencies. The material ismade available through the Internetor published in book form.

Larger foundations are sometimesin a better position to support riskierventures. Wyatt calls it “venture phil-anthropy” — funding worthwhile,innovative projects that may not de-velop as expected.

Dan Thorburn, director of grantsfor the Calgary Community founda-tion, explains further: “It could be avery important initiative but it’s sub-ject matter or client group might be arisky group. Or we think, ‘Here’s aninteresting idea,’ but we don’t know ifthe organization really has the capac-ity to carry it through. Or it’s a goodorganization but it’s a project that’srisky for them.”

Smaller foundations don’t com-pletely shy away from risk, says NeilManning, executive director of the

Lethbridge and District CommunityFoundation.

“Our board has been very clear thatit wants us to consider funding somerisky projects. They just want to beinformed.”

Foundations don’t sit around andwait for charitable organizations tocome to them with grant proposals.If a foundation sees a need in thecommunity that is not being met, itmay approach an organization andask it to submit a proposal. Or it mayconvene a meeting of interestedgroups and individuals. One of theadvantages of foundations is thatthey know who’s who in the commu-nity, what their interests are and whoto bring together to deal with issues.

“We can’t always bring dollars tothe table,” adds Jan-ice Wing, executivedirector of the RedDeer and DistrictCommunity Founda-tion, “but we canbring other valuablethings, like ourknowledge of com-munity resourcesand needs.”

Foundations will of-ten originate programs. The MuttartFoundation, for instance, is complet-ing a three-year pilot project whichput human resources specialists towork with several agencies in Cal-gary and Edmonton. “Most agenciesdon’t need a full-time human re-sources professional,” Wyatt says.

The foundation has already had re-quests to start a similar program withIT professionals and accountants.

The Muttart Foundation is alsolooking at how it can provide morestable, long-term funding to agen-cies, Wyatt says.

“Agencies may get five differentgrants. One grant runs out. What dothey do? Close the office for one daya week while volunteers scramble toraise money?”

Support isn’t just financial funding; foundations also pull together diverse resources to tackle needs not being met in the community

One woman’sidea brings hope

to thousands

DINA O ’MEARAS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

CALGARY

Debbie Baylin walks brisklythrough the halls of Calgary’sFoothills Hospital, a framed land-scape print under one arm, and a bagof tools, including a jewelled andfeathered hammer, hanging from theother.

She stops often to chat with peopleon her way to thedoctors’ lounge,where the printwill be placed onthe wall just out-side. Life is tooshort to be self-absorbed, Baylinbelieves, and justa moment’s con-versation — or aposter of a prairielandscape — can make a difference.

And what a difference Baylin, recip-ient of last year’s Global TV Womanof Vision award, has made. Since1994, she’s brought beauty andchoice to cancer patients through Arta la Carte, a lending library ofposters, paintings and photographsfor patients in long-term care.

“Choice is a luxury in an institution,an absolute luxury, and I wanted tonot only give them something backand something to hold on to, but I

wanted them to be able to personal-ize their environment in order to fos-ter their own healing,” Baylin says.

From a humble beginning with 75posters donated by museums acrossNorth America, Art a la Carte nowboasts more than 700 pieces of art. Itoperates in eight facilities in Calgary,including the Alberta Children’s Hos-pital and Rosedale Hospice, as wellas in Victoria and Toronto.

The not-for-profit charitable organi-zation has no paidstaff, and is run en-tirely by volunteerswho have mademore than 30,000visits in the past 10years.

Patients andcaregivers say theart gives themsomething to focuson other than the

illness that brought them to the hos-pital. It gives them choices, when somuch is out of their control. The im-ages take them away from wherethey are, or bring them back to whothey used to be.

“It really makes a difference whenyou’re in a room that’s just blah, hos-pital walls,” Shana Zimmer says. “Itgives you something to focus on thatisn’t yourself. The art brightensthings up and makes you feel differ-ent.”

Zimmer was one of the original vol-unteers to schlep art into patients’rooms at the Foothills a decade ago.An active volunteer with the Hip HopHurray Run for bone and joint re-search, Zimmer thought the idea ofArt a la Carte was “brilliant,” andpushed posters for six years beforededicating her time to her agingmother.

Then, last year Zimmer found her-self on the other side of the cart. About of pneumonia and subsequentX-rays led to a diagnosis of lung can-cer, and surgery.

Zimmer chose posters of hot air bal-

loons for her 12-day sojourn at theFoothills, to visualize sending hercancer cells up into the atmosphere,away from her. “Once that picturewent up on my wall, I felt so much

better,” she says.The idea for Art a la Carte came to

Baylin when she brought in posters toher friend Patti Hronek’s hospitalroom as she lay dying of cancer. Theimages of rural landscapes helpedHronek reconnect with a world sheloved, and brought her peace.

Today, donations from Art a laCarte also line hospital hallways, pro-viding moments of tranquillity andrepose.

In an environment filled withanxiety, a little bit of beauty, especial-ly a la carte, can nurture hope andhealing.

Art a la Carte volunteers have made over 30,000hospital visits since the program began 10 years ago

COLLEEN DE NEVE, THE HERALD, FILE

Debbie Baylin brings art into hospital rooms through her art-lending service called Art a la Carte. With no paid staff,Baylin and her volunteers deliver art from a collection of over 700 pieces donated by museums across North America.

“… I wanted them to beable to personalize their

environment in order to fostertheir own healing.”Debbie Baylin, Art a la Carte

DIDYOU

KNOW?

CHARITABLE FOUNDATIONS VOLUNTEER HOTLINE

Foundations are federallyregulated. They must befinancially self-sustaining inperpetuity. They can donateonly a limited amount oftheir capital. Until this year,that has been limited to 4.5per cent. For 2005, Canada

Customs and Revenue Agencydropped it to between 2.5 and3.5 per cent in anticipation ofa slowdown in the economy.Most foundations have chosento stay at 4.5 per cent for thisyear.

S o u r c e : M u t t a r t Fo u n d a t i o n

211 is an easy-to-remember, 3-digittelephone number that connects you tohuman services, community programs,and volunteer information.Outside Edmonton, call 780-482-4636.

S o u r c e : w w w. v o l u n t e e ra l b e r t a . a b . c a

“Agencies may get fivedifferent grants. One grantruns out. What do they do?Close the office for one day

a week while volunteersscramble to raise

money?”Bob Wyatt, executive director,

Muttart Foundation

JOHN LUCAS, THE JOURNAL, FILE

Muttart Foundation executive director Bob Wyatt

Garber-Conrad

Wing

“Once that picture wentup on my wall, I felt so

much better.”Shana Zimmer, volunteer

and former patient

The Heritage Community Foundation will launch acomprehensive online history of volunteerism inAlberta at the Vitalize conference in Calgary, June9-11. The site is part of the Alberta OnlineEncyclopedia, the Foundation’s Centennial Legacyproject.

S o u r c e : w w w. a b h e r i t a g e. c a / v o l u n t e e r

VOLUNTEERISM ONLINE


EDMONTON

It’s scummier than stealing candyfrom a baby.

Sometimes money donated to acharity ends up lining the pockets ofa dishonest person. Fraud can occurwithin an organization, as when anemployee or volunteer embezzlesfunds.

There are also agencies that existonly to collect money and hardly doany charitable work at all.

Governments are constantly revisit-ing legislation governing charities,trying to shut down the latestfundraising scam. As well, legitimatenot-for-profit organizations have in-troduced new sets of principles de-signed to reassure donors their con-tributions are being used as intend-ed.

Imagine Canada, a national organi-zation that explores issues facing thenot-for-profit sector, recently devel-oped an ethical fundraising code forcharities that emphasizes the right ofdonors to truthfulness, privacy andfair treatment. The voluntary pro-gram proscribes commission-basedfundraising and requires groups toprovide detailed financial informa-tion, if requested.

Michael Hall, vice-president of re-search for Imagine Canada, hopesthe code will lead to charities beingmore up front about the specific in-tended uses for the money they col-lect.

Good practices, he notes, benefit or-ganizations in the long term. Existingdonors who are satisfied their moneyis being put to good use are morelikely to contribute to future cam-paigns.

“A relationship gets built on trust,accountability and transparency,” hesays.

One trend in fundraising that hasHall worried is the increasing use oflarge-scale lotteries.

“Charities have always to an extentdone things like 50-50 draws and raf-fles. What’s started to become promi-nent in recent years is things like big-ticket lotteries, where organizationsgive away houses and cars. The con-cern we have around some forms oflottery-based fundraising is, ‘Are youbeing very clear about the amount ofmoney raised that will be going tothe charity in question?’ I’ve seensome examples where as little as athird or a quarter of the money raisedgoes back to the charity, and the re-mainder goes to fund the prizes forthe lottery.”

Hall says it is important to keep inmind that fraud within the not-for-profit community is relatively un-common.

“There are around 80,000 charitiesin the country, so the size of the sec-tor is massive. If you look at the one

or two cases that do become promi-nent during the year, you’ve got totake them in context. Just becausethere are a few cases of businessfraud in a year does not mean thatpeople stop investing in the stockmarket or stop buying products.”

Some recent cases of fraud inAlberta:x Sharon Bracegirdle embezzledmore than $175,000 from the Ed-monton Cystic Fibrosis Foundationwhile serving as the charity’s officemanager.

x Paul Charbonneau used $1.1 mil-lion in funds invested by Catholiccharities based in St. Paul to sustain apyramid scheme.x Clem John Pendlebury was con-victed of keeping money he raised tosupport a series of bogus children’scharities in Calgary.x Elisabeth von Hullessem raisedfunds for a fake charity concert inBanff that was supposed to featureCeline Dion, Elton John, Rod Stewartand Barbra Streisand.

Bracegirdle, Charbonneau, Pendle-bury and von Hullessem all went tojail for their crimes.

E15


Community Lottery Boardsare established by theAlberta government tooversee the distribution of$50 million in lottery funds.

According to Statistics Canada’s 2000National Survey of Giving, Volunteeringand Participating, 39 per cent ofAlbertans volunteered, the secondhighest rate in the country.

20001998

The Community Lottery Boardprogram is discontinued. TheCommunity Initiatives Program isintroduced and commits $30 millionper year for the next three years.

2002


Officials on lookout for fundraising fraudNational group develops

code of ethics

Volunteers revived dying hamlet with arts school, theatreDINA O ’MEARA

S p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a lROSEBUD

Thirty-five years ago, the only dra-ma to happen in Rosebud (popula-tion 30 and dropping at the time) hadto do with when the next emptybuilding would be demolished.

Residents were surrounded byboarded-up shops, derelict restau-rants, even an old opera house, left-overs from its heyday as the centre ofa strong farming and ranching com-munity.

Today, thanks to the vision and per-severance of hard-core volunteers,the hamlet is renowned across theprovince for its thriving fine arts highschool and year-round dinner theatreproductions.

Almost all of Rosebud’s residents(now numbering 60) are involved inthe school or theatre, either as staffor donating their retirement hours tobuild sets, sew costumes, or staff theart gallery and gift shop.

“What enables it to function today isvolunteer time, ideas and money,”says Bob Davis, executive director ofRosebud School of the Arts.

“It was through the support of vol-unteers in local committees that theywere able to obtain funds and dona-tions and buildings and equipment toallow the school to take root.”

Rosebud Theatre’s dinner-and-a-play program originated as a one-time fundraiser for the school duringthe hamlet’s centennial in 1983.

Volunteers provided the sweat equi-ty to build the stages, sew the cos-

tumes, play the music and cook thedinners offered with the theatre tick-et.

The concept proved so popular, theschool threw another event in thewinter, and the rest is history.

More than 40,00 people a yearnow visit the rustic hamlet, tuckedin a lush river valley at the edgeof Canada’s stark Badlands, withRosebud Theatre as the main attrac-tion.

“It allows the bed and breakfaststo operate, generates businessthrough the art gallery and giftshops, and we all have to co-operateto make this a go,” says LaVerneErikson, founder of the RosebudSchool of the Arts. “It takes a wholenetwork of volunteers working tomake this happen.”

Erikson, a former arts and musicteacher, brought the first theatre indecades to Rosebud in the early1970s when he launched a summeroutreach program for drama stu-dents from Calgary. And back in1973, not everyone in the communitywas gung-ho over the idea of bring-ing a bunch of student actors to town

for something that had no provenrecord.

The community seemed a perfectfit for the program; at about 100kilometres northeast of Calgary,Rosebud was accessible and afford-able. Beyond the abandoned build-ings of Rosebud, and against thebackdrop of the Badlands, Eriksonsaw huge potential and galvanizedthe hamlet residents into adoptinghis dream.

By 1977 the Rosebud fine arts highschool was running full time, and bythe early 1990s, Rosebud Theatrehad carved a niche in the regionalcultural landscape.

“One of the key things to revitaliz-ing a downtown core is having cultur-al identities like theatres and gal-leries,” Erikson says. “If it could workin an urban centre, I thought it wouldwork in a rural centre.”

The concept proved to be a winner,with the school and theatre providingsteady employment for many of theresidents of Rosebud, as well as mak-ing Rosebud a tourism destination.

And all because a few volunteersfollowed up on a vision.

Rosebud Theatre’s latest productionis the sweetly appropriate play TheKite, by W.O. Mitchell. Set in ruralWestern Canada, the play exploreslove and friendship, and how the hu-man spirit can soar to great heightsdespite being tied by earthly con-straints, like age.

The Kite runs until June 18 at theRosebud Theatre. For ticket informa-tion, go to rosebudtheatre.com, orcall 1-800-267-7553.

Thriving arts scene draws 40,000 tourists a year to Rosebud

Charities are off the hook when itcomes to new rules designed to con-trol the growth of telemarketing.

Pending federal legislation wouldcreate a “do-not-call” registry forpeople fed up with rushing out ofthe shower to take a telephone call,only to find a salesperson on theother end of the line.

But exceptions will be made for

not-for-profit groups, polling firmsand political parties. They will nothave to abide by the list.

Some mechanisms are already inplace to limit telemarketing by char-ities. In Alberta, not-for-profit agen-cies that earn more than $25,000annually are required to removenames from their contact files, if re-quested. As there is no centralmechanism to accomplish this, eachagency has to be notified separately.

Calls to potential donors can bemade no earlier than 8 a.m. and nolater than 9 p.m.

Fundraising by telephone hasproven vulnerable to fraud.

The federally registered Parkin-son’s Support and Research Societyraised more than $500,000 byphone in 2002, but less than threecents on every dollar — a total of$14,180 — went to charitable uses.

Another group, the Canadian As-sociation for the Blind, collected$1.5 million but only spent $11,000on programs.

About 270,000 Canadians work astelemarketers, making it a multibil-lion-dollar industry.

Do-not-callregistries won’t apply

New telemarketing rules won’t curb charities

WHAT YOU SHOULDKNOW BEFORE YOU

DONATE

The provincial government’sCharitable Fundraising Act applies to organizations thatexpect to receive more than$25,000 yearly in contributionsfrom Albertans, or which enter intoa contract with a private solicitingagency.

The law requires anyone raisingfunds on behalf of a registeredcharity to be able to answer thefollowing questions:x How much is your organizationspending on fundraising, and whatis your target for financialcontributions?x What percentage of grosscontribution is spent directly oncharitable activities, notfundraising and administration?x What is the charitable purposefor which the money will beused?x How and where will you spendmy contribution?x Do you work for a privatefundraising business?x If so, are you being paid aflat fee or do you receive aspecified percentage of the moneyraised?x When can I receive a copy ofyour charity’s most recent auditedfinancial statement?x What arrangements do I need tomake to have my name removedfrom your donor list?x How do I ensure that you willnot provide my name to anotherorganization?x What arrangements will youmake to contact me to obtain mypermission if you want to spendmy contribution on a differentproject?

SUPPLIED

Rosebud Theatre’s latest production is the The Kite by W.O. Mitchell. The theatre isthe main tourist attraction in Rosebud, which has a population of about 60.

“What enables itto function today is

volunteer time, ideasand money.”

Bob Davis, executive director,Rosebud School of the Arts

STORIES BYCHRISTOPHER SPENCER


Leo Wong proudly calls himself abusinessman with a conscience.

A doctoral candidate in marketingat the University of Alberta, Wongplans to put his education to use inthe not-for-profit sector, as a socialentrepreneur. Charities, he says, canlearn a lot from private enterprise.

“There’s such a void in knowledge.Social entrepreneurship is basicallylooking at the kind of resources andcapacities that an organization hasand thinking of ways to generate rev-enues from it like a for-profit woulddo it. The only difference is that youare taking the profits and funnellingthem back into the organization. Youare positioning yourself like a busi-ness, only with asocial mandate.”

In 2000, Wongused entrepre-neurial principlesto help launchYouth One, a web-site providing cri-sis information toteenagers in Ed-monton. He is cur-rently part of aproject that wouldsee computer-savvy volunteersdevelop softwarefor corporations in exchange for do-nations to the site.

Social entrepreneurship — whichcan loosely be defined as a move-ment to break down barriers be-tween the private and not-for-profitsectors — is getting a lot of attentionin academic circles these days. GaryMcPherson, executive director of theCanadian Centre for Social Entrepre-neurship, argues that the currentmodel of people donating money tosupport good works may not be vi-able over the long haul.

“For lack of a better term, there is ahuman resource tsunami coming outof (the charitable) sector,” he says. “Ithink that one of the possible, partialanswers is students coming out ofbusiness schools.”

McPherson proposes that changingdemographics and increasing eco-nomic uncertainty are already limit-ing the pool of resources available toagencies that provide social services.He believes that Wong and otheryoung business people can help fillthat void by taking an entrepreneur-ial approach to administering chari-ties and finding new sources of rev-enue by implementing practices tra-ditionally associated with the privatesector.

For that to happen, agencies that

currently rely on donations andgrants will have to accept that theprofit motive and the aspiration to dogood things are not necessarily in-compatible. Business people, afterall, are trained to generate revenue.

Says McPherson: “We can engageyoung business students in their de-sires to make their communities bet-ter places as well as their desires tomake money.”

He acknowledges that the conceptof making a buck delivering socialservices raises a red flag for manypeople.

Anne Smith, president and CEO ofthe United Way of the Alberta CapitalRegion, is specifically concerned thatmore emphasis on the business sidecould distract some charities fromtheir core work of helping people inneed.

“It is always important that youkeep your eye onmission and ensurethat is protected atall times. As we be-come more innova-tive and creative inlooking at newways of financingour work, manyideas come to thetable that maybehave to go off thetable because theyare not in keepingwith mission.”

McPherson sayshe doesn’t believe that social entre-preneurship can solve every prob-lem, but he would like to see more ofan American approach, “where is-sues have to be addressed by individ-ual initiative, because their govern-ment isn’t going to come to the res-cue.”

He adds that some of those voicingconcerns about social entrepreneur-ship have a stake in resisting new ap-proaches.

“People that are of the old mindset,who have grown up in the philan-thropic model and the belief that yousupport your community throughgifts, are heavily invested in thatmodel.

“Anytime there is something new orwhich may be interpreted as a threat,people are going to be nervous aboutit. The voluntary sector in this coun-try is a huge industry. There’s a fearthat maybe government will be leftoff the hook. There will no longer bea safety net there.

“We’re not saying that this is theonly way. We’re saying that it is away. We need to examine those ele-ments and administrative capabili-ties that make individuals, organiza-tions and creative projects success-ful.”

McPherson says one of the prob-

lems with relying so much on thecharitable sector is that there are toomany groups, brimming with toomuch bureaucracy, competing fortoo few resources. Only one country,Holland, depends more upon not-for-profit organizations to provide socialservices than Canada.

“It’s like there’s so much noise, youdon’t hear the voices.

“Organizations are like rabbits,” headds. “They proliferate when theydon’t die off.”

That can serve as a disincentive toyoung people trying to form agenciesto deal with new problems. “Thesebig players have a lot of muscle. Youlook at their boards and their influ-ence and their galas: they are alwayson a grand scale.”

McPherson says university studentsare willing to embrace entrepreneur-ial solutions because they’ve beentaught that self-reliance is an impor-tant value.

“Starting about seven years ago, themantra to high school students wasthat you’re not going to be able torely on an employer for life. You can’texpect institutions or corporations totake care of you forever. The pensionplans will probably be gone. So youbetter figure out a way to be an entre-preneur of sorts.

“Well, for people who are motivat-ed by human desires as opposed tomoney desires, you find them goinginto business because that’s how theyfigure they are going to take care ofthemselves and their families. Youare getting people who normallywould be more interested in the so-cial sciences looking at business as abit of a salvation for them.”

Smith says she’s not necessarilyagainst the idea of introducing cor-porate practices into the not-for-prof-it sector. Many groups, she adds, al-ready have something of the entre-preneurial mindset.

“I don’t think the distinction iswhether you are business-like or not.I think that not-for-profits do operatein a business-like manner in terms ofrunning a good solid organizationwhich includes governance and fi-nancial planning and things like ac-countability.

“When I think about the UnitedWay, I certainly think about us gener-ating a profit or a performance. Thedifference is that the profit is re-turned to the community, to theagencies and organizations thatstrengthen the way of life for peoplewho live here.”

Smith also disputes some of the as-sumptions that are giving rise to so-cial entrepreneurship, particularlythe notion that there are too manynot-for-profit organizations and theperception that the charitable sectoris facing imminent disaster.

“Philanthropy is on the rise in Cana-da. It is certainly not decreasing. Thequestion is strictly whether it is grow-ing at great enough rates to sustainall of the efforts and good works thatpeople are trying to do.”



Volunteer Cold Lake, acommunity initiative designedto increase and enhancevolunteerism, opens its doorson Jan. 1.

Alberta communities large andsmall respond to the needs ofvictims of the Dec. 26 tsunami inIndonesia with volunteer reliefefforts and fundraising campaigns.

20052004

Lois Hole, lieutenant-general ofAlberta, dies on Jan. 6. Holeembodied the spirit ofvolunteerism prevalentthroughout the province.

2005


Business with a conscienceSocial entrepreneurs position their ventures as for-profit businesses with a social mandate

Institutetackles

modernchallenges


LANGDON

For nigh onto a century the mem-bers of Langdon Women’s Institutehave been doing whatever needsdoing to weave strength into theircommunity, a hamlet of 2,500about 16 kilometres east of Calgary.

They entertain seniors, bake cook-ies for cancer patients, collect itemsto tide over a family burned out oftheir home.

They sell handicrafts, serve coffeeand homemade pie at Sports Day,and host garage sales and card par-ties to raise funds for good worksand to maintain their hall, whichhas been a community hub for 76years.

The group has operated continu-ously since 1920, a powerful forceagainst the isolation of rural life, es-pecially in the early years. Now eachMother’s Day Tea is designed to at-tract new members from amongCalgary’s real estate refugees, whohave opted to commute from thehamlet’s new developments.

“We’re doing a service by havingthe hall,” says Langdon Women’s In-stitute president Shirley Thomas.“It’s really a valuable asset to thecommunity. Getting together has al-ways been important. Lunch is partof (our regular meeting), but it’s notjust a visiting session. We have edu-cational reports, and there are theprojects we’re involved in.”

“The women’s in-stitute has enduredbecause it’s a veryeducational pro-gram,” says Mil-dred Luz, presidentof the umbrella or-ganization, the Al-berta Women’s In-stitute Association.

An outgrowthfrom Ontario, theprovincial association was foundedduring the First World War to en-courage social activism and educa-tion among rural women. In the be-ginning, branches helped with theRed Cross War Relief effort, and or-ganized women to speak up for re-forms.

These days, the focus is more onpersonal development throughcommunity action, and learningpublic speaking and leadershipskills, Luz says from her home inCamrose.

“Members throughout the provincestudy health and home economics,citizenship and legislation, interna-tional affairs, environment and con-servation, agriculture and Canadianindustry. We have a classroom agri-culture program, going into schoolsand teaching children about agricul-ture and farming.”

Each branch meeting includes areport on topics ranging fromNAFTA to BSE to fire safety on thefarm. One institute organized anagricultural tour of Cuba. Othershave supported water wells inKenya and nutrition education pro-grams in the Pacific.

Automatic membership in the na-tional Federated Women’s Institutesof Canada and the global AssociatedCountry Women of the World giveslocal women the opportunity totravel to conventions as far away asAustralia and Finland.

But the vitality of the organizationremains with the 700-plus membersat the grassroots level, despite theglobal framework. Groups supportfood banks, maintain cemeteriesand knit garments for prematurebabies. They clean up roadsides,collect used eyeglasses and donateto women’s shelters.

Four branches run clubs for girls inGrades 4 to 6, where they learn tocook and bake, quilt and sew. Theyalso have a writing contest.

“We hope the girls clubs are a po-tential source of future members,”Luz says.

In February, the provincial organi-zation presented a quilt celebratingAlberta’s 100th birthday to mem-bers of the Legislature, and variousinstitutes made another 19 quilts toraise money to host next year’s fed-eral convention in Red Deer.

Health problems and age are forc-ing branches to close, but those whocan carry on, do.

A new project has them sendingmoney and baby clothes to familiesin two Innu communities inLabrador.


Leo Wong, a graduate student in marketing at the University of Alberta, founded Youth One, an organization that provides resources to troubled teenagers using the Internet.

Luz

If the Stampede City had a BusinessAvenue, and it intersected withPhilanthropy Drive, you’d have apretty good idea where to find theCalgary Dream Centre.Located in a renovated hotel, thecentre serves as a temporary home forsingle men trying to escape life on thestreet. Residents have access to a widerange of educational, psychologicaland spiritual programs.Donations and grants provide much ofthe funding for the facility, butadditional revenue is generated byoperating a series of small enterprises.The centre includes banquet andmeeting facilities that were once partof the rundown Nite Inn.“We’ve started a whole cateringdivision,” says Jim Moore, the centre’sexecutive director. “We use men asservers and hosts and chefs. We’ve gotexcellent food and excellentpresentation … . At the same time,we’re mentoring and training. ”Every Sunday, the centre hosts anelegant brunch. There are no fixedprices. Instead, customers are askedto make a donation based on thequality of the service they receive.“Somebody might write a cheque for acouple hundred dollars,” says Moore.“Somebody might put in five bucks.”Wednesday nights there’s an openstage downstairs in the cafeteria.Residents serve coffee, pop and pizza.Alcohol is not allowed in the building.The catering services make a profit ofabout $5,000 monthly, which is usedto keep the centre up and running.Men staying in the facility enjoyaccommodations that are either freeor low-rent. They are expected to helpout with such tasks as cooking food,washing dishes and sweeping thefloors.“The Dream Centre is like a home,”Moore explains. “Therefore, there arechores.”The Nite Inn was purchased by thecongregation of the First AssemblyChurch for $3.4 million in 2001. Thecentre officially opened three yearslater and currently has about 70residents.

W H E R EB U S I N E S S A V E .

M E E T SP H I L A N T H R O P Y

D R I V E

DIDYOU

KNOW?

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN SOLICITED

The provincial government’s Charitable Fundraising Act applies toorganizations that expect to receive more than $25,000 yearly incontributions from Albertans, or which enter into a contract with aprivate soliciting agency.The law requires anyone raising funds on behalf of a registered charitybe able to answer the following questions:x How much is your organization spending on fundraising, and whatis your target for financial contributions?x What percentage of gross contribution is spent directly on charitableactivities, not fundraising and administration?x What is the charitable purpose for which the money will be used?x How and where will you spend my contribution?

x Do you work for a private fundraising business?x If so, are you being paid a flat fee or do you receive a specifiedpercentage of the money raised?x When can I receive a copy of your charity’s most-recent auditedfinancial statement?x What arrangements do I need to make to have my name removedfrom your donor list?x How do I ensure that you will not provide my name to anotherorganization?x What arrangements will you make to contact me to obtain mypermission if you want to spend my contribution on a differentproject?

“For lack of a betterterm, there is a human

resource tsunami comingout of (the charitable)

sector.”Gary McPherson,Canadian Centre

for Social Entrepreneurship

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