As part of our commitment to supporting voluntary organizations in their vital work with volunteers, this year, Volunteer Canada is offering a series of video seminars to help organizations with their NVW planning. These seminars provide in-depth training in four areas: government relations, media r...
Food For Thought Some disturbing statistics: charitable donations in Canada dropped by $1 billion between 2007-2009, and have sunk further since; 61 per cent of us agree that food charities are in need, yet food bank donations have declined countrywide; conversely, use of the Whistler Food Bank is up drastically over the past few years. Why? Certainly economic factors are partly to blame when 51 per cent of Canadians say they'd give to charity if they had better finances, but there are other forces at play. Click link to read more.
The Amazing Crew at the Calgary Food Bank
CentrePoint Energy runs workshops for non profits all year round. Click to see their calendar
organizations is Shifting Gears and Changing Lanes in 2011.
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ATTENDED OUR AGM THIS YEAR. WE COULD NOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU.
Food Banks Depending on Fundraising Campaign Launching on Hunger Awareness Day (May 31) to Meet Record Demand
canadianbusiness.com May 2011
Catelli Helping Food Banks Stock the Shelves Edmonton Sun Sunday, May 29
Elements of Volunteer Engagement (EVE)
Prerequisite: None
Course Certificate upon completion
thanks to Volunteer Calgary
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WHAT DOES FOOD SECURITY REALLY MEAN? Whyhunger.org
Campbell’s Nourish brand tackles hunger through Canada’s food banks The Globe and Mail Saturday, Feb 26, 2011
Does your nonprofit have a Wikipedia page?
February 22, 2011 CharityVillage.com
Wikipedia, the “multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project,” was created in 2001 and celebrated its tenth anniversary on January 15, 2011. The percentage of American adults who use Wikipedia to look for information has increased from 25% in February 2007 to 42% in May 2010. This translates to 53% of adult Internet users. The collaborative encyclopedia is most popular among Internet users with at least a college degree, 69% of whom use the site. Additionally, Wikipedia is generally more popular among those with annual household incomes of at least $50,000, as well as with young adults: 62% of Internet users under the age of 30 using the service, compared with only 33% of Internet users age 65 and older. -- Pew Internet & American Life Project
A Calgary company, Dexterity Ventures Inc., has launched a new donor-centered charity search engine. Are you registered?
Donner Awards accepting applications from Canadian nonprofits
The Donner Awards, Canada's largest awards program for nonprofit organizations, is now accepting applications. A total of $60,000 is available to be won with nine awards granted.
Yes, You Can Fire Volunteers smartblog.com
Unicorns, Grassroots, and Silos: A (Brief) Look at the Perils and Positives of Using For-Profit Models in Nonprofit Organizations Charity Village Feb 15, 2011
Fifteen ways to improve your online fundraising (thanks to CharityVillage.com)
According to a recent survey1, online giving in 2009 grew significantly more than other revenue generation activities. In 2010, more nonprofits will engage in online fundraising than ever before, and they expect it to be their largest net growth area.
In honour of the 15th anniversary of CharityVillage®, following are 15 ways your organization can make it easier for your donors, advocates, and members to support and donate to your organization online.
1. Simplify your ask through multiple forms
Your donors may be confused by a single, unwieldy, donation form that tries to handle all of your potential giving options. Instead, deploy multiple, simple donation forms based on how a donor wishes to give. Tailor each form to the exact donor experience you are trying to create.
2. Place giving options in context
Place donation forms on web pages with content that inspires people to give. The act of giving online is one that is primarily driven by opportunity, passion, and convenience. Let donors fully complete a transaction while remaining on the same page that originally inspired them to give.
3. Test different versions of the forms
On one web page, for example, place your donation form as a thin panel on the right. On another web page, place your donation form in a wide section in the middle. Then measure which form attracts more donations. (This may be referred to as multivariate or A/B testing.)
4. Provide rich content
On your donation forms, include videos, surveys, message boards, petitions, or other content of interest to your constituents to help build and maintain interest in your organization and increase donor engagement.
5. Make it personal
Donors want to connect with your organization and those that you serve. Give them personal stories from people whose lives have been transformed by your organization. Show what your volunteers are doing.
6. Make it easy for people to become advocates
Your supporters can promote your cause or event online — on their personal blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages, and so on. If they are willing to evangelize for you, they also might be willing to host a donation form for you.
7. Empower sponsors to fundraise on your behalf
Provide sponsors with a personalized form on their own web site. It can be as easy as a simply cutting and pasting a snippet code. Supporting organizations can proactively drive additional support through their own online audience.
8. Use online progress meters
Progress meters show your financial goal and the amount of donations received. Seeing your organization get closer to your goal will keep your participants and donors motivated and excited.
9. Use widgets to increase sharing
Widgets are additional pieces of HTML code that can be placed on a web site to add functionality. Examples of widgets are donation forms, a progress meter, a web page banner about your event, or a YouTube video clip. Your supporters can place these widgets on their web pages to provide their audience with a way to easily engage with your organization.
10. Keep visitors on your site
As soon as your donor clicks a Donate button that takes them away from your site, you risk losing them.
11. Minimize the clicks
When you increase the amount of time and number of actions required in the donation process, your results may suffer.
12. Reconsider the Donate Now button
Donate Now buttons are links provided by third party companies that host a web page to collect donations, process credit card transactions, and issue tax receipts on your behalf. The low per-transaction cost makes this an attractive option. The tradeoff is that donors are directed away from your site, possibly to a generic donation page, or to a page that doesn't offer the branding and content of your site. When this happens, your number of donation opportunities is limited, and the number of steps that supporters must take to make a donation is increased. The risk is that donors abandon their attempt to give at this stage.
13. Choose a feature rich online fundraising tool
If you are planning on growing revenue from online giving, choose a system that will support that growth. Think beyond just collecting donations and issuing receipts. For example, consider event registration, volunteer recruitment, membership, personal fundraising, and advocacy.
14. Test your web site
Make sure your web site meets a few basic requirements:
- You may not have much time to get your donor's financial support. You have about 3 seconds to get a donor's attention.
- You have less than 60 seconds to get a donor to where they need to be to make a decision.
- Donors should have to make no more than two clicks to get to the core offering.
15. Consider the following questions when choosing an online fundraising tool
- Will it work with your web site, or will you need to change how your web site is designed or hosted?
- Will it integrate with your donor management or CRM or accounting system?
- How long will it take to initially deploy?
- How easy is it to add a form for your next campaign or event?
- What are the setup fees, monthly fees, per transaction fees?
1 Economic Pulse of the Not-for-Profit Sector (2010), August 2010, prepared for Canadian Fundraising & Philanthropy. Survey conducted by Canadian Fundraising & Philanthropy and Innovative Research Group. Copyright 2010 Civil Sector Press & Innovative Research Group, Inc.
Annette Balgord is a principal of Affinity NFP, assisting nonprofit organizations to implement fundraising, constituent relationship management (CRM), and accounting software systems. Contact Annette directly at 877-222-7229, email annette.balgord@affinitynfp.com, or visit www.AffinityNFP.com for more information about their services.
Top ten ways to get your proposal read (thanks to CharityVillage.com)
Barbara Hedjuk has read thousands of proposals and requests for funding. As the president of the Imperial Oil Charitable Foundation and an active volunteer board member, she's highly qualified to dole out advice. Here are ten common-sense tips to get your proposal read:
- Make sure you know something about the company before you submit a request, since some companies limit their giving to certain dollar amounts, or certain sectors like health or education. Call to ask for a copy of their guidelines.
- Individualize the proposal. "To Whom It May Concern" indicates you haven't done your homework.
- Be sure to include all the information they request, like audited financial statements and a list of the board of directors.
- Don't overwhelm them with support materials. Videos, for example, don't file well, and are rarely viewed. The ideal length of a proposal should be a maximum of three to five pages.
- Be sure to call and follow up on your request 3-4 weeks after sending. With larger requests, give it even more time.
- If an organization supported you in the past, make sure you've said thank you. Keep in touch with them and let them know how the funds were spent.
- If this is your first time requesting funds from a particular organization "don't ask for the moon," said Hedjuk. Start small. $5,000-$10,000 is an average gift.
- If you are turned down, don't be disappointed. Organizations get 10 times the number of applications they can fund. Call the organization to find out why they turned you down.
- Illustrate the benefits of supporting your cause to the organization. Will their support of your project lend added value to their products or services or enhance their reputation? Does it benefit their employees in any way?
- Finally, be passionate about your goals and objectives and make your enthusiasm clear in the proposal
Food Safety For Higher Risk Canadians
Eat Safe! is brought to you by the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) in partnership with Maple Leaf Foods
Ms. Cheap: Penny Drive reminds us no donation is too small With Canada considering discontinuing the penny, this may be a great fundraising opportunity.
The Volunteer Citizen of the Year Award
The Volunteer Citizen of the Year Award is an extension of Direct Energy’s employee volunteer programs that encourages company employees to volunteer their time and energy to causes and organizations in their local community. The award itself will consist of:
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$1,000 cash prize to the winner; |
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$5,000 cash grant to the winner’s organization/cause of choice in their community; |
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Recognition of the winner’s achievement through a commemorative award, article and photo to be published in AWNA newspapers across Alberta; |
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$1,000 cash grant to the four semi-finalists’ organization/cause of choice in their communities; |
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Recognition of the four semi-finalists through a commemorative award, article and photo to be published in their respective AWNA community papers. |
Expiration Dates: Should You Pay Attention? This is a great article from Stilltasty.com
Social Media Success Stories: 5 Tips to Take Away
Charityvillage.com
By Sumac Research
November 22, 2010
Nonprofits are using social media to effect change in many extraordinary ways. Sumac Research began looking at dozens of incredibly successful examples and started to see some trends; some things that these many ventures into social media had in common and seemed to make them successful. Based on those trends, here are the top five tips for making your social media effort a success:
1. Make it easy and fun to participate.
Your goal in using social media should be to engage as many people as possible so that you increase visibility and support for your cause. For that reason, making it fun and easy to participate is very important. If it’s too difficult or complicated, people just won’t bother. A good example is Oxfam America’s Flickr Photo Petition. Participants were asked to submit a picture to put pressure on Starbucks to give poor coffee farmers in Ethiopia a chance to earn more. 573 photos were submitted and Starbucks and Ethiopia finalized a trademark agreement as a result.
2. Engage people with questions.
People like to be engaged. Chances are, if you ask people for their opinion, they will be happy to give it! In fact, many of the successes we saw were successful because they asked participants for something: advice, a vote, a story, a picture, etc. A perfect example is Lupus Foundation of America’s Facebook Cause Page. This page is used to engage members constantly by sharing news and asking for their help, and it has been incredibly successful. In six months, they increased cause membership 584% and increased online donations in Facebook by 790%.
3. Integrate campaigns across multiple social media sites and offline.
Since each medium caters to a different crowd, the value in cross-promotion is that you are able to get your message out to several targeted audiences. A lot of the successes we saw cross-promoted their campaign across several media as well as offline. The American Red Cross, for example, used Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and a YouTube video to promote their Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign. The video itself, which features card samples, has over 40,000 views.
4. Adapt to your audience.
If your venture into social media is going to be successful, you have to know your audience and be willing to give up control to adapt. So, even if you have never used Twitter before, for example, you have to be able to say: "Okay, so now everyone wants to tweet, well let’s start tweeting then!" Epic Change used Twitter to raise over $11,000 in just 48 hours to help build a classroom in Tanzania. The Tweetsgiving campaign tapped into a whole new group of supporters, with 98% of donors never having donated to Epic Change before.
5. Experiment!
In most cases, success comes after some time is spent playing around with a particular medium to find out what works. So, if your first couple of Tweets don’t seem to be getting the desired effect, don’t give up! Try something new and pay close attention to the results. Social media is still very new. It will take a while to get it just right. A good example comes from The National Wildlife Federation. They used digg.com to increase internet traffic to their website. They posted several different kinds of stories before they found the "sweet spot" and knew what kinds of stories would be voted up. 10 Extraordinary Animal Tactics for Surviving the Cold, for example, made it onto the digg.com homepage and drove 29,000 views to the NWF blog in one day.
Sumac is a complete, integrated software solution that can integrate your online campaign with your in-house database. For information on Sumac or to see additional articles published by Sumac Research, visit sumac.com.
How to take your proposals from "Trash it!" to "Fund it!"
Charityvillage.com
By Rachel Foster
March 23, 2009
According to a survey conducted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the number one complaint from foundations is that applicants submit proposals that do not match their guidelines. Not following guidelines will almost always ensure that your proposal is one of the nine out of ten grant proposals that does not receive funding. You might be tempted to twist the contents of your proposal to appear to meet the needs of the foundation, but the evaluators will see right through you.
Here are four effective steps to help take your proposals from "Trash It!" to "Fund It!"
- Conduct preliminary research. Start by reading the foundation's guidelines and latest annual report to gain an understanding of the types of projects they will and won't fund. This information is usually easy to find on the foundation's website. Background research will also help you identify the tone and buzz words you can use to "speak the foundation's language," when you write your proposal.
- Gain inside information. Schedule a meeting or a phone call with a foundation representative to discuss what they are looking for and determine if your project is a fit. A brief conversation can give you the inside information that you need to tailor your proposal to speak to their interests. If you determine that your project is not a match, the foundation representative might be kind enough to suggest other foundations that would be more likely to fund your project.
A foundation representative will also tell you if you must write a letter of intent. Many foundations will no longer accept unsolicited proposals and require you to first submit a letter of intent.
Another way to gain inside information is to register for a foundation's free application seminar. Attendance at one of these seminars is often mandatory to be considered for funding. Always take advantage of these seminars, even if it is not mandatory and you have previously received funding from the program. You will learn about changes in the program and have an opportunity to ask specific questions.
- Follow the application's directions. My experience as a grant panel moderator has taught me that panels hate nothing more than digging through a large application for required information and then having to guess when the information either isn't there or answered poorly. The last thing you want is for a foundation to make guesses about how you intend to spend their money! That is why you must include everything that the foundation asks for in your proposal. One good way to check your application is to compare it side-by-side with the foundation's questions. Highlight any areas where you did not answer their questions thoroughly and be sure to address them in your next revision.
- Recycle to help the environment, not to help fund your program. Evaluators can always tell when an applicant recycles an old proposal, changing little more than the name of the addressee. Although it is okay to save time by using existing information, you should customize your proposal to show why your program is in line with the foundation's guidelines. For example:
- Use what you learned in your preliminary research to appeal to the foundation's interests. For example, if the foundation cares about children, explain how your program will provide enrichment opportunities for inner city youth.
- Review a draft of your proposal and ask yourself, "If I worked for XYZ Foundation, would this interest me?" If the answer is "no," either remove the extraneous information or modify it to capture the reviewer's interest.
- Never address the proposal "To Whom It May Concern." Always find out the appropriate contact's name and title.
- Mention any personal connections with the foundation in your cover letter.
- Condense your proposal wherever possible (i.e. staff bios, general organizational profile and attachments). Only include information that interests the foundation and shows your organization's unique qualifications for solving the problem addressed in your needs statement.
Apply some of these tips the next time you write a proposal for your organization, and you will increase your chances of receiving funding.
Rachel Foster is an award-winning copywriter and owner of Fresh Perspective Copywriting. She helps nonprofit organizations improve the results of their campaigns by providing them with compelling fundraising copy that motivates donors to give. Visit www.freshfundraising.ca to subscribe to the free Fresh Fundraising e-newsletter. You will receive monthly advice on creating grant proposals, fundraising letters, web copy and other vital communications.
L.A. Effort Matches Leftover Food With The Hungry
by KAREN GRIGSBY BATES NPR
January 6, 2011
On any given day in Los Angeles, more people than ever are wondering not only when, but whether they'll have a meal. The economic downturn, a shrinking corporate presence that used to provide philanthropic contributions, and a growing population of poor in the region are straining the resources of local food banks to the utmost — all of which makes Helen Palit a little crazy, because she feels the problem doesn't have to be as acute as it is.
"There is so much good food in Los Angeles that goes to waste every day," she moans.
Fifteen years ago, Palit decided to do something about that. She founded Angel Harvest, which acts as a modern gleaning operation: It makes the rounds of corporations and businesses that have good, edible leftover food and swiftly delivers it to shelters, food pantries and other organizations around the city that can use it.
Building on that model, L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar introduced an initiative last year that urged city agencies to look for places to donate edible surplus food. Last month, the council unanimously passed what's known as the surplus food ordinance, which mandates that city agencies and the businesses that have contracts with them donate usable leftovers. Huizar says some branches of the city, such as the Los Angeles Convention Center, already do this.
"They're very efficient, and they often donate thousands of meals a week. That means a lot in a city that has the number of hungry people we do," Huizar says.
In addition, notes the councilman, the demographic of who's hungry in L.A. has changed radically in the past couple of years.
"It's not just the chronically homeless, which was enough of a challenge," he sighs. "What we're seeing more and more are whole families. They have a roof over their heads, but in order to keep their place, they might be choosing between rent and food."
Bad Economy, New Customers
The food pantry at St. Augustine's Catholic Church in Culver City illustrates his point. In the church parking lot, under a makeshift shelter, steel shelves are stocked with fresh bread, piles of produce, fresh meats and cheeses that have been donated by local businesses. Many of the people shopping from the shelves don't look poor; they are well-dressed — and pressed to provide for themselves. An out-of-work disabled actor named Thomas is in a neatly pressed button-down shirt and a good storm jacket.
"The rent is due, and that has to be paid first, so if I didn't get something here," he explains, "I wouldn't be eating today. That's just the way it is right now."
At the entrance to the pantry, a slender, pretty woman hesitates and consults a piece of paper that has sent her to this address. Her name is Marina — she's too embarrassed to give us her last name — and this is her first time at a food pantry.
"I had a job at a data-entry company," she said, as tears quietly slide down her cheeks. But she just lost it. "My daughter and her two children just moved in with my husband and me because their family restaurant just closed."
Marina says if it was just her and her husband, they'd probably manage to struggle along, as he still has his job. "But if that goes, we are sunk," she says.
But the addition of their grandchildren make provisioning harder.
"They eat fruits and vegetables like nobody's business," Marina says. "And since my daughter doesn't have a job anymore, she has no health insurance. None of us do. So the only thing we can do is try to keep healthy by putting good food in our bodies." She leaves with a bag of fresh produce she says will be a huge help in trying to give the children balanced nutrition.
To Michael Flood, president of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, stories like Marina's are the crux of the crisis. "I can't tell you how many people say to me, 'I used to be a donor. I used to be on the other side of this line. I never thought I'd be standing in line in a food pantry, needing assistance,' " Flood says.
Going For Lasting Change
Organizations like the L.A. Food Bank and Angel Harvest may get even more help later in the year, if Huizar has his way. He'd like to expand the effect of the surplus food ordinance beyond city agencies into the private sector. Already his office is distributing pamphlets that will explain that the state and federal Good Samaritan laws shield businesses that want to donate food from potential litigation. (Angel Harvest's Palit says that in the 15 years they've been recycling prepared food, "nobody's gotten sick, and nobody's sued. Ever.")
Huizar is also working on a sticker that restaurants and caterers can place in their windows that announces they recycle usable food. He hopes this will be a value-added draw for diners, who may choose a restaurant not only for its menu but for its practice of donating food to people in need.
Eventually Huizar hopes businesses will donate usable edibles as automatically as they now recycle paper, glass and plastics — something considered innovative when it was introduced. He knows the strained economy has meant contributions to food banks are down, but he believes the bigger problem is distributing those contributions in a timely manner so none of them go to waste.
"Yes, the demand has increased. Yes, the supply has diminished," he admits, "but there's still enough supply. We just have to make a better connection between people who have it and people who need it."
Operating a registered charity, what you need to know
Bill C-470, which in effect proposes a salary cap for nonprofit employees, is a controversial piece of legislation. read more
Facebook Co-founder starts JUMO, a social network for charities.
http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/12/facebook-co-founder-starts-jumo-a-social-network-for-charities/
The Seven Deadly Sins of Recruiting Volunteers
Aviva Community Fund competition now open
November 1, 2010
The Aviva Community Fund competition is back again this year, with registration and voting open now. This year, Aviva Canada is doubling its 2009 pledge of $500,000 by offering $1 million to lead, empower, and support community initiatives across the country.
Celebrity sighting in Oyen Shelia and Jim Davidson
One of the great pleasures of my job is going to visit our members and see their food banks in action. This weekend I (along with my husband) ventured to the far reaches of Alberta to meet with Shelia Davidson of the Oyen Food Bank. Oyen is a lovely little town but it is the last place I would expect to meet a celebrity but meet one I did, in fact, I met two! Shelia Davidson is the coordinator and treasurer for the Oyen food bank. She and her husband Jim are the parents of Mel Davidson who just happened to be the head coach of the 2010 gold medal winning women’s hockey team at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. How exciting can you get? Shelia and her husband provided us with signed photos of the team and allowed me to take a photograph of the proud couple holding up an Olympic Gold Medal. I always knew that Food Bank Alberta had wonderful members but I did not expect to meet Canadian Royalty! Thank you Shelia and Jim for a fantastic visit.
Are you looking for a resource to help you decide when food is no longer Ok to be put in a food hamper? Go to www.stilltasty.com and find out. This web site bills itself as "The Ultimate Shelf Life Guide", check it out and see if you agree.
Award Programs and Fellowships for Individuals, Volunteers and Organizations Are you looking for a way to recognize an exceptional volunteer? CharityVillage.com posts a listing of awards to honour individuals(click on link) that not only give your volunteer well deserved recognition but in some cases monetary rewards as well. The Build-A-Bear Huggable Heroes Awards offers $7,500 in the form of an educational scholarship and $2,500 will be donated to the charity of the winner’s choice. In addition, they will also each receive a 3-day, 2-night trip to the United States, where the winners will be honoured for their good deeds. The site lists many other awards worth taking a look at. NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY!
HUNGER HEROES
What can be better than getting a large shipment of dairy products? If you are Mark Winkelman of the Calgary Food Bank the answer would be sharing it with others. That’s just what happened in October when Mark worked with the wonderful people at the Red Deer Food Bank to distribute ten skids of dairy products to 14 food banks in and around Red Deer. The response was tremendous and all recipients give a heartfelt thank you to everyone involved. Three cheers to our Hunger Heroes.
The Buck Starts Here Annual Funding Conference
Lethbridge, Alberta
The 4th Annual Funding Conference was held on November 4 & 5 at the Lethbridge Coast Hotel. In addition to FBA co-chairs Lori McRitchie (Airdrie Food Bank) and Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba (Lethbridge Food Bank), Shirley Strange (Claresholm) and Kathleen McAloon (FBA Coordinator) were also able to attend.
The conference included many helpful sessions; I will attempt to give you the highlights.
Norma Cameron, CFRE gave an impassioned presentation on "The Power of Story". Her suggestion is that the next time you meet with perspective donors you leave the facts and figures for the end of your appeal and start with a story. Why a story? The human brain is hardwired to remember a story and it also presents an emotional context for your organization. Facts and figures can be very dry but everyone loves a story. There are several types of stories you can tell. You may want to start with an "impact story". This is where you would relate how your organization met the needs of a particular individual or met the needs of the community as a whole. You can also tell a "maps and measures" story. This is where you would relate how a particular donor came to contribute to your organization or how an individual came to volunteer for you. Be specific; let your audience really get a feel for the human side of your organization. Remember to inform your audience that you are about to tell a story so that they can settle down and listen. This can be as easy as saying, "I'd like to tell you a story about...". The attendees found this information very helpful. Try it next time and see if it makes a difference.
For more information on this topic, please consult the following:
The Way of the Storyteller by Ruth Sawyer
Improving Your Storytelling by Doug Lipman
Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins by Annette Simmon
I also had the pleasure of speaking to the folks from TD Friends of the Environment. They have funds available if your food bank wants to start a recycling and/or a composting program. Contact them at www.tdfef.com
Have you applied for an Alberta Culture and Community Spirit grant? Alberta Culture and Community Spirit (through Lottery Funding Programs) administers two major grant programs: Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) and the Community Initiatives Program (CIP) to support community and charitable initiatives throughout Alberta. For more information contact Maggie Low-On at Maggie.low-on@gov.ab.ca or www.culture.alberta.ca.
Looking for "free money"? According to conference attendees you need to apply for the Alberta Community Spirit Program. This program provides a proportional grant to eligible charities that demonstrate they have received a minimum of $1000 in cash donations. The maximum grant is $25,000 or $50,000 over three years and can be used for operations, programs or capital projects. Contact Pam Boutilier at pam.boutilier@gov.ab.ca or www.communityspiritprogram.ca
organizations is Shifting Gears and Changing Lanes in 2011.
