News Archive

New Thoughtleader Series Launched [2007-01-12]

With funding from the Metcalf Foundation, the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network has launched its new Thoughtleader Series which includes articles by five of Canada's leading thinkers on their views of the issues, needs and gaps in funding within Canada's environmental sector. The purpose of the Thoughtleader Series is to inform and stimulate strategic thinking, discussion and debate among environmental grantmakers and others, and to enhance their individual and collective focus on high priority and high impact grantmaking. By inviting a range of broad thinkers with a sector-level perspective who are engaged with the environment in various ways, the resulting series is intended to present a variety of approaches and diverse thinking to encourage lively discussion and debate within the environmental community. The five articles in the series will be launched one-by-one over the next five months: the first article is by Andrew Heintzman entitled "New Strategies to Confront Climate Change"; the second article is by Michael Robinson entitled "Coping with Reality: Key Issues Facing Canada's Environmental Sector in 2006".

Emerging Leaders 2006 Kicks Off [2007-01-18]

In April, the second year of Emerging Leaders: A Middle Management and Leadership Program began with 23 participants from diverse social service organizations in Toronto. This dynamic program seeks to build the management skills and capitalize on the inherent leadership abilities of middle managers in the social service sector who are the next generation of leaders. The longer-term goal of the program is to assist the entire sector with succession planning and leadership diversification. This program is offered over nine months in partnership with the United Way of Greater Toronto and the Schulich School of Business. Click here to see this year’s participating organizations, the faculty and an overview of the curriculum.

Innovation Fellowships Awarded [2007-01-18]

Four Innovation Fellowships have been awarded to individuals working to explore creative solutions to issues of poverty. In 2005, Metcalf’s Community Program initiated the Innovation Fellowships to provide individuals with vision, a passion for their issue and intellectual rigour the opportunity to investigate powerful ideas, models and practices that have the potential to positively benefit low-income communities. Our current Fellows are: Sherri Torjman, Caledon Institute for Social Policy; Gabriella Micallef, St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society; Lynn Eakin, Lynn Eakin & Associates; and Tom Zizys. Issues they are tackling range from using the concept of “resilience” to advance understanding about how to improve the quality of life in local communities; developing a new model of mixed tenancy, supportive housing; to exploring the feasibility of a social enterprise operating as a deconstruction business.

Leaders in the Field Program Launched [2007-01-18]

We are pleased to announce the launch of Leaders in the Field. This new environmental funding stream is intended to develop, strengthen and celebrate exceptional leaders working on land use issues in Southern Ontario, the Boreal Forest and Northern Appalachians through two parallel steams:

Field Fellowships will offer senior leaders, who can benefit from periods of professional development, reflection and renewal, the flexibility to pursue opportunities not available under regular workplace demands
Field Internships will cultivate new leaders by creating productive entry points to mentoring and training so that the rich experience and specialized knowledge that exist in the field will guide the development of the next generation of leaders

Building Movement in Toronto [2007-01-19]

How do community-based non-profit organizations help or hinder movement for social change? How within the current funding environment do they carve out space to work with their constituents to address systemic change as well as personal change? On October 25th and 26th, 2006 the Metcalf Foundation will be hosting a visit from the New York based Building Movement Project to explore these issues.

Building Movement has been working for the past five years to strengthen the role of US nonprofit organizations as sites of democratic practice and to advance ways nonprofits can significantly contribute to building movement for progressive social change. Building Movement will engage with a range of constituents to jointly advance learning about community building, social services and social change, and emerging leadership in the nonprofit sector. Over the course of their visit, Frances Kunreuther and Linda Campell of the Building Movement Project will meet with social service agencies, Metcalf Foundation grantees and local government and foundation funders. Frances and Linda's bios are below. For more information about Building Movement please go to www.buildingmovement.org.

Frances Kunreuther is the Director of the Building Movement Project, working to support social change organizations in the United States. Housed at Demos, the project has developed strategies for movement capacity building and has conducted a study of generational differences in social change organizations. Before bringing the project to Demos, Kunreuther spent five years at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University where she was a Practitioner Fellow. In addition to developing the Building Movement Project, her work at the Center focused on bridging the practice/academic divide such as convening a seminar series for faculty and practitioners on social change and social movements, organizing a conference on governance and accountability, and chairing a committee on teaching about the role of unions as nonprofit organizations. In 1997, Kunreuther was a fellow at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Prior to the fellowship, she was the Executive Director of the Hetrick-Martin Institute, a multi-service agency for lesbian and gay, homeless, and HIV-positive youth. For over twenty years, Kunreuther worked in nonprofit organizations in New York City addressing the needs of homeless youth, immigrant groups, domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, and crime victims and defendants in the criminal justice system.

Linda S. Campbell is an Independent Consultant providing consulting and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations in strategic planning; program planning and development; nonprofit start-up; board training and leadership development. Prior to her consulting work, Linda served in a variety of senior and executive positions in the nonprofit and government sector. She has provided technical assistance in capacity building to a variety of community and faith based nonprofit organizations. Linda served as Executive Director for one of NYC oldest AIDS service organizations, Minority Task Force on AIDS; and as Senior Director at the Michigan Public Health Institute and the National Center for Health Education. She has also served as a founding board member for several community based nonprofits beginning in 1985, and during the past two years, has provided planning assistance and to local African American health institute initiatives in Michigan. Linda holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan.

Advancing the Nonprofit Sector [2007-02-16]

Metcalf Innovation Fellow Lynn Eakin recently released a report, Advancing the Nonprofit Sector, that explores promising strategies for creating change in the regulatory and financing of nonprofit organizations in Ontario. Eakin argues that the challenges facing the nonprofit sector's health are so critical that those interested in its long-term viability must explore new ways to act to influence shifts in the financing and regulatory environment. She provides a pragmatic approach to organizing the sector in Ontario based on a review of nonprofit organizing efforts in regional, national and international contexts.

Environment Program Changes [2007-02-16]

The Foundation's Environment Program has been focused on ensuring the ecological health and integrity of our natural and working lands through people and organizations pioneering new, creative, inclusive approaches to tough land use issues. Over the past 5 years, we have made 135 grants totaling approximately $8,300,000 to a wide variety of projects in the Boreal Forest, Northern Appalachians and Southern Ontario regions from the development of ecosystem-based conservation plans to the promotion of coordinated and comprehensive regional policy development to agricultural land preservation and food system reform.

Throughout this period we have struggled with the disjunction between the quality and quantity of requests for support and our limited grants budget. We have continually assessed: organizational uptake of the program; the collective impact of our grants; our place on the funding landscape; and our ability to take advantage of opportunities to add value to our grant-making beyond providing financial support. After review and much consideration, the Board has concluded that due to issues of scale, approach and proximity, we can be a more dynamic, informed and useful funder by narrowing the focus of our grant-making to a single region.

We are extremely proud of the tremendous work undertaken by those whom we have supported across our geographic areas of interest and would like to emphasize that this change in strategic direction is in no way a reflection of the laudable efforts of organizations working in the Boreal Forest and Northern Appalachian regions. The people and organizations we have supported have secured protected areas, advanced provincial policies, strengthened their organizations, provided invaluable planning assistance to communities and brought greater coordination and collaboration to conservation efforts. We are honoured to have been a helpful partner in those endeavours and wish them continued success.

While we regret that we will no longer be direct supporters of these groups, we look forward to the opportunities proffered by our new emphasis. By making this shift, we are able to make a more significant and sustained investment with our limited dollars in the work that we are seeding and encouraging in Southern Ontario. We will be able to use the Intern and Fellowship Programs to reinforce the vigour and innovation of the region. It will also result in better leverage of both our staff expertise and advisory networks, and more cogently integrate the work of the Environment Program into the Foundation's overall goals.

Town Hall on Viable Urban Agriculture [2007-04-07]

In partnership with Ryerson University, The Metcalf Foundation is pleased to announce the 3rd in its City-Builder-in-Residence series. City-builders Will Allen and Erika Allen from Growing Power (Milwaukee and Chicago IL) will be here during the first week of April to talk to Toronto about urban agriculture as a vehicle for social and ecological change.

"From the Ground Up: How Viable Urban Agriculture Can Empower Citizens and Feed Them Too" will be the subject of a Town Hall on Tuesday 3rd April at 7:00 PM at Innis Town Hall located at 2 Sussex Avenue, University of Toronto. At this public talk Will and Erika will share their experiences using urban agriculture as a tool to advance food security and to build stronger, more inclusive, sustainable communities. All are welcome.

For more information about our city-builders Will and Erika or about Growing Power please visit www.growingpower.org. For more information about this event, please contact Pamela Robinson, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, 416-979-5000 ex. 6762.

Winterizing Growing Power [2007-05-01]

Will Allen and his daughter Erika, a Chicago art therapist-turned community garden organizer, beat back the winter blues with winter greens when they gave several public lectures and workshops for Toronto food, planning and community agencies at the invitation of the Metcalf Foundation.

To grow coldly where none have grown before is the new mission of Will Allen, the basketball star-turned urban agriculture visionary who's increasingly paying attention to the opportunities of growing winter salads in greenhouses that go "beyond carbon-neutral" in the ways they reduce global warming.

Will Allen and his daughter Erika, a Chicago art therapist-turned community garden organizer, beat back the winter blues with winter greens last week when they gave several public lectures and workshops for Toronto food, planning and community agencies at the invitation of the Metcalf Foundation.

The winterizing opportunities that the Allens create will give a major assist to localistas, who recognize that concern about going without basic fruits and vegetables gives most people cold feet about moving toward strictly local food purchases. Say what you want about learning to wait for food treats in that one month when they're in prime form, or rediscovering neglected turnips and other root veggies that store well through the winter, or gaining skills in preserving, the idea of living without basic salad greens for six months leaves most people cold. Thanks to the Allens, and four-season pioneers such as Elliot Coleman of Maine and David Coldmeyer of Cookstown, Ontario, locavores can jump that wintry hurdle with a wide range of cold-hearty arugula, spinach, kale, corn mache, bok choy and cabbage - dark greens that are packed with nutrients and distinctive taste.

Allen came to the rigors of winter late in his life. Son of a South Carolina sharecropper, he was the first Afro American to break the color line in Florida college basketball during the 1960s, and went on to play professionally in Europe, where Belgian farmers introduced him to the joys of small farms linked to nearby communities. Many years after retiring from basketball to take up farming near Milwaukee, he developed a national reputation during the 1990s as the founder of Growing Power, with a Milwaukee greenhouse that's fast becoming a shrine to the ways urban ag can link community development, leadership training for minority youth and environmental stewardship. (For purposes of full disclosure, Will and I have worked closely together for several years on the board of the Community Food Security Coalition.)

Growing Power recycles waste - standing 6 feet seven inches tall, Allen delights in cuddling his "millions of employees," tiny red wiggly worms that convert leftovers from restaurants and brewers into nutrient-rich castings - a symbol of his grassroots strategy for growing transformational power from humble and overlooked assets within dispossessed communities. With his new winter focus, Allen will soon be using food waste to grow electrical and motor power to fuel his own operation while eliminating a major source of pollution and global warming.

Winterizing food production is central to the new community-based food system Allen envisions.

First, Allen argues, transporting food from areas with warm winters to areas with cold winters adds thousands of refrigerator truck miles to everyone's daily commute. Reducing winter food commutes could take a major slice - likely in the area of ten per cent -- out of global warming emissions.

Second, Allen feels, a local food system can't be built on fair-weather friendships. Local food systems, unlike a long-distance supply chain that moves massive amounts of food commodities through an anonymous but predictable infrastructure, depends on personal relationships, so relationships with suppliers and retailers need to be ongoing and reliable. I can't tell the guy from the local organic beer company who delivers me waste mash that I can only take it in summer, Allen says. Ongoing year-round relationships are just as important for retaining loyal customers, and even more important for growing consistent and reliable relationships with the youth who work and do internships on urban ag projects.

Third, local food, almost by definition, has to be grown in or near the cities where the local customers live. High land prices in and near cities means that land can't be left idle for half the year, with no production or cash flow. There has to be a steady stream of products, activities and cash flow for urban and near-city farming to flourish.

Allen already has experience turning year-round necessities into opportunities, and has long grown year-round at his 2.2 acre headquarters and greenhouse in Milwaukee.

Not that we should let anyone get away with doing a snowjob on winter hardships and impossibilities. Most highly-populated cities in wintry climes of North America are at a latitude closer to southern than northern Europe, which means that access to light, a severe limit on food production, isn't a huge problem. Winter sunlight carries warmth, and can usually heat the daytime air in greenhouses to well above freezing levels. And the earth always acts as a huge storage battery for heat. Fairly simple barriers, such as low-cost plastic sheets and low-lying leafy plants, can prevent the escape of that heat into the open skies and help plants make it through the night. None of these elements will work for coconuts, oranges or bananas, but they're all grist for the mill of many herbs and veggies.

Whenever possible, Allen works with natural systems to turn up the heat. First, he takes full advantage of the natural heat that's generated as compost breaks down, a process that can bring some compost piles close to the temperature for spontaneous combustion. A two-foot thick bedding of woodchips and wormy food scraps acts like a 24/7 toaster oven for the roots of winter salads. A pile of compost at the end of each bed row gives off 24/7 heat, which is trapped at night by a pup tent that's put tight around the crop to keep the heat in. It's not as toasty as a sleeping bag, but it's warm enough.

There's one use of fossil fuel, and that's natural gas to heat the water for the 4000 tilapia that provide fish manure (if that's what it's called) for the greens, as well as high-value and nutritious sales to local restaurants. The heat from the fishing pools is also used to heat the greenhouse.

That's the fossil fuel and $35,000 a year cost that Allen wants to get rid of. And he's just got himself a $400,000 anaerobic digester as a research pilot that will let him take even more food scraps from the city; without access to oxygen, the rotting scraps give off methane, which can be burned as a natural gas equivalent. He'll not only provide clean and renewable heat and other products from this gassy digestive system; he'll eliminate the need to use fuel to truck food waste away to landfills, where the organic material rots and gives off methane, 22 time more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming gases.

That's a variety of winter green benefits that long distance imports will find hard to beat.

Adapted from NOW Magazine, April 12-18, 2007

Rethinking NonProfit Ontario [2007-06-14]

Metcalf Innovation Fellow Lynn Eakin recently released an update to her report, Advancing the Nonprofit Sector. Eakin discusses further recommendations and observations based on her consultations within the sector.

Environmental Priorities for Ontario [2007-06-25]

With Metcalf Foundation support, 13 of Ontario's leading environmental organizations have come together to develop a set of key environmental policy priorities that can help steer Ontario in a new and healthier direction. These interconnected priorities cover a wide range of issues including boreal forest protection, toxics, energy, Great Lakes protection, waste and recycling, urban sprawl and the Greenbelt. These priorities point Ontario in another direction - toward smart decisions that make respect for the environment the basis of good decision-making. They are outlined in detail at www.prioritiesforontario.ca. The 13 groups are: Environmental Defence, Pollution Probe, Greenpeace, Conservation Council of Ontario, Sierra Legal Defence Fund, Great Lakes United, Wildlands League, Forest Ethics, Pembina Institute, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Ontario Nature, Sierra Club of Canada and Ontario Clean Air Alliance.

CEGN Thoughtleaders Series Continued [2007-08-08]

With funding from the Metcalf Foundation, the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network has released its fourth article in its Thoughtleader Series, "Future Directions for Funding: Environmental Challenges and the Need for Integrated Problem Solving" by Dr. Frances Westley, which includes articles by five of Canada's leading thinkers on their views of the issues, needs and gaps in funding within Canada's environmental sector.

The purpose of the Thoughtleader Series is to inform and stimulate strategic thinking, discussion and debate among environmental grantmakers and others, and to enhance their individual and collective focus on high priority and high impact grantmaking.

By inviting a range of broad thinkers with a sector-level perspective who are engaged with the environment in various ways, the resulting series is intended to present a variety of approaches and diverse thinking to encourage lively discussion and debate within the environmental community.

The five articles in the series are being launched one-by-one over a twelve-month period, beginning last October 2006. Previous articles in the series include:

"Bridging Gaps: Building Diversity, Resilience and Connectivity" by Dr. Ann Dale

"Coping with Reality: Key Issues Facing Canada's Environmental Sector in 2006" by Michael Robinson

"New Strategies to Confront Climate Change" by Andrew Heintzman

Articles in the Thoughtleader Series are available on CEGN's website at http://www.cegn.org/thought_main.html (English) and http://www.cegn.org/francais/thought_main_fr.html (French).

food [2007-10-18]

Alphabet City, with the help of the Metcalf Foundation, has launched the FOOD festival. FOOD is one in a series of Healthy City Festivals which provide a "platform for thinking" by tackling a single word each year dealing with the long-term issues facing Toronto's health through their flagship anthology series with the MIT Press as well as through works of visual art, literature, music, and other forms, all in an effort to engage the entire city in a discussion about the best ways to imagine Toronto's future and to migrate the city towards comprehensive ecological sustainability.

FOOD addresses new patterns of food production and consumption that implicate us in world-wide systems of transport and trade; reflects upon our expanding tourist and immigrant-influenced palettes; and challenges our notions of food politics, science and ecology. It captures how essential food is to our sense of self, community and belonging. FOOD is available through the MIT press and select local retailers.

Food Connects Us All [2007-10-18]

An open letter to the citizens of Ontario, big city, small town, rural and in-between.

Once upon a time everyone thought the world was flat. Figuring out that it was round changed how we saw everything. Now the next revolution in perspective has taken hold – the world is not just round, it is connected. The Global Village – Marshall McLuhan’s phrase for the connected world created by new communications technologies – has arrived, and not just in communications but also with food and foodways. We think this global food village must be connected by conscience and fairness – to the other villagers, to our environment.

The way we grow, market, process, manufacture, and distribute our food here in Ontario reveals connections across the global village. Ontario’s working landscapes, farms, rural communities, and cities are linked in a web of complex exchanges. But our food policies to date have usually ignored that web, dividing rather than connecting. If we are going to build a healthy and sustainable village, we have to make the connections.

This letter is supported by, and represents the initiatives of, a network of organizations working on many aspects of food policy in Ontario. We are working together because we believe that food is connected to every major problem being raised in the current provincial election campaign –rising medical costs, poverty and hunger, declining farm incomes, the paving-over of farmland, wildlife protection, urban sprawl, youth unemployment, and communities at risk.

These problems will only be solved when we connect the dots.

Local farmers’ markets, community and school gardens, food co-ops, urban gardens, food access centres – all of these emerging possibilities support healthier, tastier food for all villagers. As this happens, everyone benefits and communities become stronger and more inclusive.

Provincial politics have become increasingly stuck in a frustrating gridlock. We have separate ministries for agriculture, health, economic development, community development and the environment, as well as a multiplicity of non-governmental organizations, each focused on a single piece of the problem. We are at risk of missing many of the potential connections and the benefits they could generate.

This letter invites you to help us propose elegant solutions to the complicated problems embedded in today’s food system. It takes food to raise a better village.

Connect to us and a month of local food events at www.alphabet-city.org and share your ideas by joining the conversation at www.walrusmagazine.com/alphabetcity. Ideas that will call on everyone’s talents, abilities, and resources. Ideas that are financially viable, ecologically responsible, and socially equitable.

This is not about partisan politics: We’re asking each of the political parties to respond to this imperative. This Open Letter asks for an open mind from all of Ontario’s citizens and its politicians. We ask you to engage with these issues, and to work together to find long-lasting solutions to our food policies.

Signed by:

Alphabet City

Alternative Grounds

Alternatives Journal

The Brick Works Farmers’ Market

Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy

Canadian Personal Chef Association

Canadian University Press

Cava – Doug Penfold

Cava – Chris McDonald

Centre for Urban Health Initiatives

City Bites Magazine

Community Action Resource Centre

Contact Photo

Culinary Historians of Ontario

Delta Waterfowl Foundation

Drake Hotel

Dufferin Grove Farmer’s Market

Dufflet – Dufflet Rosenberg

Edible Toronto Magazine

Evergreen

FarmStart

Food Secure Canada

FoodShare Toronto

Friends of Riverdale Farm Farmers’ Market

Grape Growers of Ontario

Green Living Magazine

Green Thumbs / Growing Kids

guerrilla gourmet

Hamilton Eat Local

Health Providers Against Poverty

Local Food Plus

Meal Exchange

Metcalf Foundation

Mountain Equipment Co-op

murmur

Multistory Complex

Ontario Farmland Trust

The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association

Ontario Nature

Ontario’s Greenbelt

PlanLab Ltd.

Pound Magazine

Quince – Michael van den Winkel

Real Food for Real Kids

Rouge Park Alliance

Rouge Park Alliance – Gord Weeden

School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University

Shameless Magazine

Slow Food London

Slow Food Toronto

The Stop Community Food Centre

Tamarack Community

This Magazine

Toronto Environmental Alliance

Toronto Food Policy Council

Toronto Green Community

The Walrus Magazine

Women’s Healthy Environments Network

Culture and Politics - January 30 [2008-01-07]

In conjunction with a variety of arts funding bodies, the Metcalf Foundation is pleased to present a special presentation by John Holden on January 30. Admission for this exciting presentation is free, and all are encouraged to attend.

Culture and Politics: Creative Change

Wednesday, January 30, 2008; 4:00 pm
OCAD Auditorium; 100 McCaul Street, Toronto

In order to establish support for culture at the political level, the arts must first create a greater legitimacy with citizens and find new ways to build democratic consensus about its importance. John Holden, author of Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy, asserts that establishing a different alignment between culture, politics, and the public will require courage, confidence, and radicalism. Drawing on his recent publications, Holden will show how different groups in society value culture in different ways, and he will examine how the changing role of the arts and culture in contemporary society can influence public policy.

For more information about John Holden and his work, visit http://www.demos.co.uk/people/johnholden.

RSVP to sbrand@laidlawfdn.org.

This event has been supported by: Business for the Arts, Canadian Heritage/Patrimoine canadien, The City of Toronto Culture Division, Laidlaw Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario College of Art and Design, Ontario Ministry of Culture, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Toronto Arts Council, and Toronto Community Foundation.

Opening Doors Published by Foundation [2008-02-04]

Opening Doors: The First Five Years of the Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Program is now available for download. This document summarizes the evaluation process that the Foundation undertook in 2006 of its performing arts program.

Grant-makers all make choices about what to support and how best to deliver that support. We want to understand the impact of these choices – to determine if the decisions were well-made, and what resulted from our intervention. Are we making the difference we hope for? If not, what could we do to realize the full potential of our commitment and resources? These are challenging questions.

In 2001, the Metcalf Foundation launched a new and innovative performing arts program. Five years later, we undertook a review of this program – it was the first time that our Foundation had ever embarked on a formal evaluative process. The review was completed between January and June 2006.

Opening Doors: The First Five Years of the Metcalf Foundation’s Performing Arts Program describes the context for the arts program and the review process that we undertook. It also includes a brief summary of the evaluators’ report and recommendations, and what we learned about the Foundation’s work in the performing arts sector.

A full pdf copy of the document can be downloaded here.

Report Launch: Food Connects Us All [2008-02-25]

Food Connects Us All: Sustainable Local Food in Southern Ontario is now available for download. This paper aims to contribute to a broader understanding of food system dynamics in this province. It is intended as a backdrop for discussions on how Ontario could move toward a truly local sustainable food system through collaboration and the identification of key leverage points for food system change.

Three key findings of the paper are: there is a need to connect the dots between the key actors and to capitalize on the pool of energy available in southern Ontario to bring about system-wide change; with a food system as large and complex as Ontario’s, change will come about by pushing simultaneously and incrementally in a number of directions and discovering “unexpected realignments and new synergies;” and, while we are starting to see the long-awaited fruition of the efforts of those who have been working for years and even decades on advancing a local sustainable food system, this is not enough. Now is the time to seize the moment.

The paper is based on open-ended interviews with 39 people working in the area, as well as a survey of recent research and policy papers on the subject. The paper is organized into two parts. Part One is a general introduction to the landscape of sustainable local food in southern Ontario – the issues, the policy gaps, and the potential for collaborative efforts. Part Two contains a sampling of some current initiatives, drawing on the experience of the participants in the original meetings, and those of people in their networks.

A full pdf copy of the document can be downloaded here.

Metcalf Foundation seeks Grants Manager [2008-03-07]

The Foundation is currently searching for a part-time Grants Manager. See below for position description and contact information.

Grants Manager, Metcalf Foundation

Application Deadline - March 21, 2008

The goal of the Metcalf Foundation is to enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society. Our work is focused in three specific areas:
•   sustaining the vibrancy of the professional performing arts,
•   ensuring the ecological integrity of our natural and working lands, and
•   developing lasting solutions to issues of poverty.

The Foundation has an immediate opening for a Grants Manager. This individual will provide administrative assistance to the Directors of the Foundation’s funding programs in community, environment, and performing arts. The position of Grants Manager is a part-time role, three days per week, working primarily with the Foundation’s community and environment programs.

Relationships
The Grants Manager:
•   is responsible to Program Director(s); and
•   works in a collaborative manner with all Foundation staff.

Specific Responsibilities
The Grants Manager:
•   acts as initial contact for program applicants, including responding to applicants who do not meet the minimum criteria;
•   manages the grants administration database, including entering data from all applications, creating and monitoring tracking lists for progress of grants, and requisitioning payments for grants as required;
•   facilitates all correspondence with grantees;
•   prepares summaries of grants for inclusion in various Foundation publications;
•   provides detailed financial information related to grants as required by other Foundation personnel;
•   organizes meetings, including issuing invitations, creating and circulating advance materials, arranging catering and other facility needs, taking notes during meetings, and conducting appropriate follow-up with materials from meetings;
•   assists with the production of print material related to the specific funding programs, including program guidelines and general Foundation documents like website articles or annual reports;
•   scans newspapers and flags relevant articles for Program Directors;
•   researches and prepares summaries of materials requested by Program Directors as needs arise;
•   supports and undertakes other Foundation-wide projects as needs arise; and
•   performs other administrative duties as required.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate possesses:
•   a post-secondary degree;
•   demonstrated interest or experience working with not-for-profit organizations;
•   strong computer skills, including demonstrated ease and familiarity with database programs and MicroSoft Office functions (Mac platform);
•   strong verbal and written communication skills;
•   ability to coordinate complex and interrelated data and to present it in an organized manner; solid research, writing, and editing skills;
•   strong organizational skills;
•   strong interpersonal skills; and
•   the ability to take direction and to work independently.
Experience and/or interest in at least one of the Foundation’s program areas would be considered a strong asset.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and résumé to:

Metcalf Foundation
c/o Julie King
112 Bernard Ave, #4
Toronto, ON M5R 1S3
email: metcalf_jobs@yahoo.com

Metcalf Foundation seeks Office Manager [2008-04-11]

The goal of the Metcalf Foundation is to enhance the effectiveness of people and organizations working together to help Canadians imagine and build a just, healthy, and creative society. Our work is focused in three specific areas:
•    sustaining the vibrancy of the professional performing arts,
•    ensuring the ecological integrity of our natural and working lands, and
•    developing lasting solutions to issues of poverty.

The Foundation has an opening for an Office Manager/Executive Assistant. This individual will provide administrative assistance to the President of the Foundation, run the day-to-day operations of the office and assist, as needed, with special projects. The position of Office Manager/Executive Assistant is a temporary, full-time, position of one year, filling a maternity leave.

Specific Responsibilities
The Office Manager/Executive Assistant is responsible for:
•    general office management and maintenance;
•    bookkeeping (bank reconciliation, payroll and accounts payable);
•    secretarial work;
•    travel arrangements;
•    organizing meetings, including issuing invitations, circulating advance materials, arranging catering and other facility needs, taking notes during meetings, and conducting appropriate follow-up with materials from meetings;
•    website management and maintenance;
•    on-site trouble shooting of computer network;
•    supporting other Foundation-wide projects as needs arise; and
•    performing other administrative duties as required.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate possesses:
•    3-5 years experience in office management and/or executive level assistance;
•    demonstrated interest or experience working with not-for-profit organizations;
•    strong computer skills, including demonstrated ease and familiarity with database programs, MYOB accounting software, and MicroSoft Office functions (Mac platform);
•    strong verbal and written communication skills;
•    strong organizational skills;
•    strong interpersonal skills; and
•    the ability to take direction and to work independently.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter and résumé to:

Metcalf Foundation
c/o Julie King
112 Bernard Ave, #4
Toronto, ON M5R 1S3
email: metcalf_jobs@yahoo.com

Transforming from Social Service to Social Change [2007-01-16]

Neighbourhood based organizations can play a vital role in building healthy communities. They are on the front-lines of ameliorating the worst effects of poverty such as hunger, unemployment and homelessness. Yet, given the growing complexity of tough social issues, how do these organizations contribute to creating systemic, long-term change? Through a multi-year grant three North York organizations, Jane/Finch Community & Family Centre, North York Community House and Delta Family Resource Centre are working together to explore how individually and collaboratively they can integrate social change strategies such as resident leadership, community mobilization into their organizations in order to take collective action on issues of poverty in their neighbourhoods.

Building Connections [2007-01-18]

The Institute in Management and Community Development will be holding its 14th annual Summer Program at Concordia University, in Montreal, from June 11th to 16th, 2006. The Summer Program offers an opportunity for people and organizations from across Canada, United States and the global south to come together to share skills, strategies, and resources to advance work in the areas of community development, community organizing, and community economic development. To learn more about the Institute and the Summer Program agenda please go to http://instdev.concordia.ca

Emerging Leaders 2006 Kicks Off [2007-01-18]

Emerging Leaders Accepting Applications for 2007 [2007-01-18]

The next generation of nonprofit leaders will come from a diverse group of managers in the social services sector. To strengthen the skills and scope of these exceptional individuals, the Metcalf Foundation and United Way of Greater Toronto have created a unique certificate program called Emerging Leaders.

Offered in partnership with the Schulich School of Business at York University, the program focuses on leadership development, core management skills and sectoral analysis. Offered over 23 days through a combination of retreats, in-class sessions and off-site learning activities.

We are now accepting applications for the 2007 Emerging Leaders program. Information sessions about the program will be held on Monday, October 30, 1:30-3:30 pm at North York Seniors Centre, 21 Hendon Avenue (Yonge St./Finch Ave) and on Tuesday, October 31st, 1:30-3:30 pm at United Way of Greater Toronto, 26 Wellington Street East 11th Floor.

For further information please contact the Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program at the Schulich School of Business at (416) 736-5092. You can also visit the "What's New" section at www.schulich.yorku.ca/nmlp.nsf to download an information brochure and application.

Shared Space: The Communities Agenda [2007-01-18]

Metcalf Innovation Fellow, Sherri Torjman of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy has recently published a new paper called Shared Space: The Communities Agenda. This paper is the first chapter in a forthcoming book that explores the application of the concept of 'resilience' in order to develop a framework to build strong and vibrant communities. Sherri identifies key factors in individuals and communities that enable them to cope and thrive in the face of tough problems and continual change.

She adapts the concept of economic cluster based development to the social dimension of communities, explaining there are four inter-connected resilience clusters that together comprise the substance of the Communities Agenda. They include: the sustenance cluster which comprises the foundation for human security such as adequate income an and affordable housing; the adaptation cluster, concerned with basic coping skills such as empathy, problem-solving, literacy proficiency and early childhood education; the engagement cluster which is concerned with active participation in society; and the opportunity cluster which focuses on the building of robust livelihoods through asset and work-related investments. Within each cluster there are a wide-ranging set of actions that fall into two different streams - individual capacity and community capacity. Sherri argues that investments must be made in both strengthening individual and community infrastructure within each cluster as well as to ensure that there are strong interconnections between all of the clusters in order for societies to thrive.

To receive a copy of this paper please go to caledoninst.org

Strengthening the Voice of Community in Regent Par [2007-01-18]

Ensuring that communities have strong voices and vehicles to participate in issues affecting their lives is important for positive community change. In Regent Park, this is a priority for residents, particularly in light of the redevelopment of the neighbourhood over the next 10 years. Regent Park Neighbourhood Centre is therefore undertaking a project to train 36 local residents in the areas of data collection, workshop facilitation, story-telling and documentation. Youth, adults and seniors from diverse ethno-cultural and linguistic communities will participate, building leadership across generations and cultures. The project will help ensure that there are opportunities for engagement and participation in local social planning, the redevelopment process and in other issues that are of importance to local residents.

2006 Renewal Fellowship Awarded [2007-01-19]

The Metcalf Foundation is pleased to announce that Bill Worrell, Program Manager at LAMP Community Health Centre has been awarded a Renewal Fellowship. The purpose of the Renewal Fellowship is to support, celebrate and strengthen senior leaders in Toronto's community based sector by offering a sabbatical opportunity for professional development, reflection and respite.

Bill has worked for over twenty years in community development within the nonprofit sector in a variety of positions including at the National People First Project and Beat the Street. Bill will use his sabbatical to engage in research and reflection on the state of the community development field and in particular, self-advocacy for people who are labeled as disabled. He will undertake a literature review and connect with colleagues involved in the self-advocacy movement in such places as Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

Bill states, "My progression through the nonprofit sector has been driven by a desire for inclusive communities and social justice. Having worked in management and senior management, reconnecting to my roots of community development will enable me to reflect on my past practice, update myself on the state of community development today, and work with other practitioners on developing new lessons learned from recent practice. My connection to my passion will re-energize and focus me as a leader in the nonprofit sector."

Innovation Fellow John Stapleton [2007-04-02]

The Somali Community Centre of Etobicoke in partnership with Innovation Fellow John Stapleton are working on an initiative to generate ideas and practical solutions to key problems facing lone parents and persons with disabilities who try to attain self sufficiency while in receipt of multiple social benefit programs or subsidies. They are focusing on adults who receive Ontario Works, ODSP, other subsidies and who live in public housing.

As John states "Working age social assistance recipients and public housing residents in Ontario live with disincentives - the more they make, the more they lose; when they tell the truth they are punished. The programs within the social assistance and housing systems don't work together well - they often charge more rent or reduce their support based on the same dollar of earned income... All of the programs have understandable rules considered in isolation one from the other. It is their interaction "on the ground" that often results in the unintended consequence of reducing or eliminating incentives to reduce dependency on the programs."

Together they hope to make a significant contribution to a pervasive problem by:

Highlighting and making understandable to policymakers and the public that the uncoordinated removal of subsidies in Ontario creates a major barrier to self-sufficiency of recipients of these programs
Developing a process of documenting this issue that can be replicated in other communities
Acting as a change agent to reform governance models within governments to pay more attention to the effects of their overlapping policies and procedures that create disincentives
Changing individual policies that create unnecessary barriers and unintended consequences.

Networks and Community Change [2007-07-19]

Networks are emerging a promising strategy to create change. Networks help us look beyond formal organizations and arrangements to understand the value and importance of informal relationships. Networks can be flexible and adaptable, build connections between people with diverse ideas and perspectives and enable many small overlapping projects and experiments around common purposes.

We are learning that to support networks that work across sectoral or organizational boundaries requires conscious thinking and resources to ensure they do not languish for lack of attention and input. Recently the Foundation has had the opportunities to participate in a series of conversations about how to nurture effective networks. At one event, Lisa Kimball shared five ways to strengthen self-organized networks:

•    Make the WHOLE visible to everyone – to ensure people have a sense of who is part of the network (such as through photos)

•    Create LINES of Site to every part of the system – to enable people to be more aware of possibilities and ways they can connect with others (for example through network maps, newsletters, or electronic bulletin boards)

•    Leave TRACKS and FOOTPRINTS everywhere – to anchor and ground the work of the group, and make it visible to others (such as through documenting stories)

•    Catalyze rich CONVERSATIONS – to help generate new ways of people thinking and interacting with each other

•    Amplify ENERGY – support people to recognize patterns and promising practices to affect change

At yet another event June Holley spoke about the role of a “Network Weaver”, a person who is willing to take responsibility for making the network more effective by increasing the quality and quantity of connections and relationships between people. This is done in part by bringing in new ideas, resources and perspectives into the network and helping people to do something together.

To learn more about Lisa and June’s ideas about networks go to:

http://www.groupjazz.com
http://www.networkweaving.com

Pat Thompson - New Metcalf Innovation Fellow [2007-07-25]

As a Metcalf Foundation Innovation Fellow, Pat is exploring the renewal patterns and practices of leaders engaged in social change work. She is also identifying ways to help leaders sustain their professional vitality and capacity for innovation over the course of their careers.

Pat’s focus on the ‘person in the profession’ is new to many of us interested in organizational and civic renewal. It emerges from evidence that many nonprofit leaders are becoming less able to creatively negotiate the divide between original ideals and current realities. A growing number are experiencing the progressive loss of energy, commitment and sense of purpose commonly described as burnout. Information about how organizations adapt to an increasingly complex environment and related skills are not necessarily preventing this slide into cynicism, frustration and ineffectiveness.

Is disillusionment in social change work inevitable? Is there more to professional renewal than replenishing our stores of energy and acquiring information or skills? You are invited to contribute your experience and views on these and other questions about renewal. For more information on ways to participate or stay connected to this work, contact pat@patriciathompson.ca

Street Health Report 2007 [2007-10-11]

The Street Health Report 2007 is a community-based study on the health of homeless people in Toronto conducted by Street Health. It presents findings of a survey of 368 homeless adults in Toronto on their health and access to health care. This study was conducted in the winter of 2006/2007 by Street Health, a community-based health care organization working with homeless and under-housed people in downtown Toronto with funding in part from the Metcalf Foundation.

The report reveals a picture of homelessness in Toronto that is troubling and speaks to the need for changes to policy and practice to improve the health of homeless people and to ultimately seek long term solutions to homelessness and inequality.

How Might We See the World Differently? [2007-11-30]

“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn” – Mary Catherine Bateson

Over the last several years the leadership landscape in the nonprofit social services sector has experienced significant changes. These changes have resulted in a series of different initiatives intended to nurture new leaders. In a recent article published by the Philanthropist, staff of the Metcalf Foundation and United Way of Greater Toronto ask: what does nonprofit leadership for a change look like in a city as diverse and dynamic as Toronto? How can we support new forms of leadership for change in the social services sector? What shifts in our present practices are required to support leadership for a change?

They approach answers to these questions through an experience with the Emerging Leaders Program, a nonprofit management training and leadership development initiative of the Metcalf Foundation, United Way of Greater Toronto, and the Schulich School of Business at York University. To learn more click here.

Ralph Thornton Community Centre builds networks [2007-11-30]

In fall 2006, Ralph Thornton, a community centre located in downtown east Toronto launched the Riverdale Community Action Project with the goal of encouraging local networking and leadership in finding solutions to emerging issues and problems related to poverty reduction, social marginalization, and environmental threats. Using a series of creative techniques including conversation circles, community sweeps, Playback Theatre, and community forums, Ralph Thornton engaged a wide range of residents and organizations in a dialogue about the changing neighbourhood and barriers to building an inclusive community.

To learn more about the process they undertook click here.

Shared Space: The Communities Agenda [2007-11-30]

Shared Space: The Communities Agenda is a new book that seeks to capture the essence of the profound changes taking place in communities across the country and around the world. Community interventions to promote economic and social well-being are not new. What is new is the way in which communities are organizing themselves both strategically and comprehensively to achieve their goals. This book was written by Sherri Torjman, Vice President of the Caledon Institute of Social Policy in part with support from Metcalf’s Innovation Fellowship initiative.

The communities agenda consists of three key parts: their vision and associated goals, the methods they employ to attain these objectives and the actions they take to create a supportive context for their work.

Despite their differences, communities throughout the country are linked by a common agenda. They seek to promote resilience by building their capacity and strengths. Resilience is a function of interventions carried out in four independent but related clusters of activity – around sustenance, adaptation, engagement and opportunity.

Strategic methodology involves joining up local efforts through collaborative relationships within and between resilience clusters. Many communities are also partnering with governments in an effort to change policies that affect economic and social well-being.

Finally, communities are working with employers, funders and all orders of government to create an enabling environment that is more supportive of complex and comprehensive local efforts.

This book includes many illustrations of exemplary practice from communities from across the country. Taken together, these examples speak to the possible and to the hope for a better future – which itself comprises the core of resilience. If you would like to find out how to order this book please go to http://www.caledoninst.org/

Leader Renewal [2007-12-18]

Pat Thompson, Metcalf Innovation Fellow, is exploring how leaders renew themselves and their sense of purpose. She is looking for professional practices that generate energy and enable individuals to have satisfying careers in the voluntary sector. From a practitioner’s perspective, she is also reflecting on how their causes, organizations and networks benefit when they do.

Pat and her collaborators are:

•    reviewing the literature and investigating related initiatives, including a case study of an innovative American program for teacher renewal

•    conducting one-on-one interviews and facilitating conversations with leaders from arts, environment and community networks across the Greater Toronto Area

•    convening interested individuals to reflect on findings, distill learnings, and take the most promising ideas forward

Pat is interested in hearing your stories of professional renewal. To participate in this research, contact her at pat@patriciathompson.ca.

2008 Community Program Guidelines [2008-01-03]

The 2008 deadlines for all of the Community programs at the Metcalf Foundation are listed below. The full guidelines can be downloaded from the website.

Communities in Action – Spring 2008
Letter of Interest deadline   March 12
Foundations extends invitation to apply   March 25
Full Application deadline   April 28
Board decision     June

Communities in Action – Winter 2008
Letter of Interest deadline   September 17
Foundations extends invitation to apply   September 25
Full Application deadline   November 3
Board decision     December

Innovation Fellowship - 2008
Application deadline    continuous intake throughout the year
Board decision     Quarterly

Renewal Fellowship - 2008
Application deadline   June 19
Board decision     September

Emerging Leaders - 2008
Application deadline   2008 application deadline is now closed

Creating Change in the Food System [2007-01-18]

In March the Foundation approved $540,000 in support of Local Flavour Plus' innovative approach to the creation of a local sustainable food system. Using an eco-label for food, Local Flavour Plus cultivates sustainable agriculture by reaching out to farmers and farm organizations through the development of both standards for, and educational materials about, the benefits of producing food in environmentally and socially responsible ways. By telling a story about where food comes from and how it is produced, Local Flavour Plus connects people to their food and lays the basis for deeper connections between consumers and their local community, and between consumers and the natural environment.

Incubating Connections [2007-01-18]

The Metcalf Foundation hosted a meeting for those associated with the Southern Ontario component of its Healthy Lands program. The list of invitees included current and potential grantees, advisors, and a few “friends of” the Foundation. The meeting was deliberately informal and sought to bring together people and organizations working toward the health of Southern Ontario’s natural and working lands to discuss current issues, opportunities and challenges; animate the Foundation’s Healthy Lands Program; and learn from one another about the approaches, strategies and synergies of our work. The discussion ranged from systems thinking to the crisis in agriculture, from representation to dialogue, from the role of civil society to the scale at which we work. Click here [PDF] for a brief summary of the meeting.

Monitoring the Moraine Project [2007-01-18]

Monitoring the Moraine - a collaborative project between Citizens’ Environment Watch, Save the Oak Ridges Moraine and Centre for Community Mapping (University of Waterloo) - is designed to engage and sustain community volunteers in environmental and policy monitoring across the Oak Ridges Moraine. This $360,000 Metcalf Foundation grant will enable the collaborative to develop and implement collaborative solutions to Oak Ridges Moraine community-based monitoring, determine whether the objectives of the Oak Ridges Moraine Act and Plan are being achieved, build partnerships with other moraine-based communities of practice and inform decision-making through new models for environmental and policy monitoring and reporting.

Environment Program Changes [2007-05-15]

Inaugural Field Fellowships Awarded [2007-05-15]

The Metcalf Foundation is pleased to announce that John Riley, Chief Science Officer and National Director of Conservation Strategies at the Nature Conservancy of Canada has been awarded an inaugural Metcalf Foundation Field Fellowship. The purpose of the Field Fellowship is to acknowledge, develop, and strengthen the contribution of exceptional individuals working on land use issues in Southern Ontario. Through this fellowship program, we hope to realize the benefits that can accrue - to leaders, their organizations, their communities and their work - from periods of professional development, reflection and renewal.

John Riley has worked for over two decades on natural heritage policies and programs in a variety of organizations including the Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario Geological Survey, Federation of Ontario Naturalists, and Nature Conservancy of Canada. Through his fellowship, John will pursue “a year’s rejuvenation through writing” by exploring new ideas and taking a sabbatical for personal revitalization. His proposed project “assembles the earliest descriptions of the Great Lakes region and its neighbourhood by explorers, missionaries, settlers, tourists and surveyors. The outcome will be an engaging book that describes what the region was like at the point of discovery and settlement, through the eyes of its earliest observers … For more than 10 years, I have assembled some of the earliest descriptions of the Great Lakes region. This is a fascinating literature, describing wildlife and fisheries, woodlands and prairies, birds and plants that can only be vaguely imagined now, given our modern converted, simplified, down-sized and homogenized landscape.”

It is our privilege to celebrate and support this inaugural recipient of The Metcalf Foundation Field Fellowship, and we appreciate your interest in learning more about this outstanding individual and their successful and innovative work.

Call For Healthy Lands Proposals [2007-06-25]

The Metcalf Foundation will be accepting Healthy Lands applications on or before 14 September 2007. The Healthy Lands program is focused on ensuring the ecological integrity of Southern Ontario’s natural and working lands. It is designed to draw in initiatives which aim to benefit both land and people through long-term solutions and informed discussion, and to seek out organizations that are pioneering new, creative, inclusive approaches to tough land use issues. Please contact Ruth Richardson or refer to our environment program guidelines for further information.

Field Internships Awarded [2007-06-25]

Five Internships have been awarded to individuals interested in entering the field of land use work in Southern Ontario. In 2006, Metcalf’s Environment Program initiated the Field Internships to cultivate new leaders, encourage organizations to reaffirm their commitment to the future, and increase the diversity of the field. Through structured internships we create productive entry points to mentoring and training so that the rich experience and specialized knowledge that exist in the field will guide the development of the next generation of leaders. Our current Field Interns are: Erin Elliott, Alternatives Journal; Ivan Lee, Ontario Farmland Trust; Claire Malcolmson, Environmental Defence; Chris McIlhinney, Wye Marsh; and Sherry Shen, Citizens’ Environment Watch. Congratulations!

Good Advice for Intern Candidates [2007-06-25]

Every year the Foundation meets with the interns we’re funding. We learn a lot from these discussions. Among other things, we ask them what someone who wants to be an intern can do to contribute to a successful internship. Here’s their advice:
    •     do your research, on the company and your mentor, to ensure a good fit
    •     be very clear about what you want to learn and experience
    •     it’s a negotiation, so speak up
    •     once you’re there, be open and flexible – but be committed
    •     don't be afraid to ask questions
    •     be prepared for feedback, good and bad, and seek it out
    •     remember it’s a gift, this opportunity – make the most of it

The next Field Internship application deadline is Friday 18 January 2008. Please contact the Foundation if you have any questions about the program.

Ontario Community Sustainability Report [2007-10-18]

With funding from the Metcalf Foundation, the Pembina Institute has released its Ontario Community Sustainability Report.

This study provides a snapshot of the sustainability of selected communities across Ontario in recent years. The study employs 33 indicators in three broad categories (smart growth, livability and economic vitality) to develop an overall community sustainability index for 27 Ontario municipalities. The municipalities include major cities, regional municipalities and medium- and smaller-sized cities from across the province. The objective of the report is to inform and provide a basis of measurement for communities and the province for urban sustainability policies and program development. Download the report here.

2008 Deadlines Announced [2007-11-05]

This year's deadlines for the Environment Program have been announced. All prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Ruth Richardson, Environment Program Director, before they submit a proposal to the Foundation.

CEGN Thoughtleaders Series Continued [2007-11-28]

With funding from the Metcalf Foundation, the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network has released its fifth and final article in its Thoughtleader Series, "Winning the Race Against Time: How to make environmental grantmaking work better right now" by Mark Sarner, which includes articles by five of Canada's leading thinkers on their views of the issues, needs and gaps in funding within Canada's environmental sector.

The five articles in the series are being launched one-by-one over a twelve-month period, beginning last October 2006. Previous articles in the series include:

"Bridging Gaps: Building Diversity, Resilience and Connectivity" by Dr. Ann Dale

"Coping with Reality: Key Issues Facing Canada's Environmental Sector in 2006" by Michael Robinson

"New Strategies to Confront Climate Change" by Andrew Heintzman

"Future Directions for Funding: Environmental Challenges and the Need for Integrated Problem Solving" by Dr. Frances Westley

Articles in the Thoughtleader Series are available on CEGN's website at http://www.cegn.org/thought_main.html (English) and http://www.cegn.org/francais/thought_main_fr.html (French).

For the Greener Good [2008-03-20]

With funding from the Metcalf Foundation, Environmental Defence has published For the Greener Good: Steps we can all take to achieve sustainable communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe. This report focuses on changes we need to make in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region of Ontario to steer this region on to a green path. The recommendations included in For the Greener Good aim to put forward a common basis from which green communities can grow and evolve.

A full pdf copy of the document can be downloaded here.

Smart Growth and Climate Policy in Ontario [2008-03-20]

The Pembina Institute, with funding from the Metcalf Foundation, has just released the latest in a series of provincial Smart Growth Progress Reports. This report, Smart Growth and Climate Policy in Ontario, reports on government progress between September 2006 and February 2008, and has a particular focus on how urban planning policies consider the Ontario government’s climate change targets announced in June 2007. The report also incorporates findings from a Pembina Institute study that measures indicators of sprawl in Ontario’s communities against measures of smart growth and examines gaps in legislation and policy.

A full pdf copy of the document can be downloaded here.

CEGN seeks Executive Director [2008-06-04]

The Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network (CEGN) is seeking an Executive Director to provide leadership during this pivotal time for environmental philanthropy in Canada.

The Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network (CEGN) is seeking an Executive Director to provide leadership during this pivotal time for environmental philanthropy in Canada. Currently based in Toronto, CEGN has a vibrant, non-profit membership of over 50 private, community, public government and corporate foundations and programs that provide over $60 million in annual environmental grants in Canada.

Created in 1995 by several leading foundations, CEGN has grown into a well-established and highly regarded agency, with a defined mission to expand the scope and effectiveness of grantmaking to help advance proactive solutions in addressing Canadian environmental issues. CEGN facilitates information-sharing, collaboration, training and professional development, research, and communications, in addition to hosting a flagship annual conference that poses provocative questions about the philosophy and practice of environmental grantmaking.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director of CEGN will play a central role in shaping and leading the diverse and expanding network. ED responsibilities and opportunities include:

Strategic Leadership
-    Work closely with the Board of Directors, to provide leadership regarding CEGN’s long-range goals and policies, and to ensure the organization has a long-range strategy that addresses its mission and goals.
-    Work in partnership with the Board of Directors to develop and implement multi-year strategic, financial and operational plans.
-    Build links to the environmental grantmaking community through strategic partnerships and participation in collaborative events and initiatives.
-    Assist in developing financial goals and implementing fund-raising strategies.
-    Identify strategic research issues of benefit to CEGN and its members.
-    Represent CEGN in the funding and non-profit community.

Organizational Management and Administration
-    Oversee all CEGN operations and activities.
-    Conduct all affairs according to CEGN’s by-laws, maintaining official records and documents, and ensuring the organization is in compliance with government regulations.
-    Report regularly to the Board on key issues and factors affecting the organization.
-    Recruit and supervise an administrator, interns and consultants.

Member Relations
-    Work in partnership with the Board in developing and maintaining membership.
-    Act as a conduit between the larger CEGN membership base and the Board to ensure the organization’s relevancy, accountability and transparency.

Financial and Administrative Management
-    Manage the fiscal health of the organization, including budgeting, setting and following financial controls, meeting revenue and expense goals, and maintaining accurate and timely reporting.
-    Manage preparation of funding/grant proposals, liaise with donors/supporters, and fulfil reporting requirements.

Program Development and Delivery
-    Provide guidance, leadership, and coordination of the annual national conference.
-    Develop and implement programs/services to fulfil CEGN’s mission and goals, and to enhance value of membership.
-    Facilitate and assist with various meetings of Board members, committees, and affinity groups
-    Maintain a working knowledge of developments and trends in environmental grantmaking, and undertake or oversee research initiatives related to environmental grantmaking.

Communications and Outreach
-    Develop and implement an ongoing communications strategy, including, website development, member publications, listserv, and promotional materials.
-    Manage the production of all CEGN publications, including the Issues and Updates e-bulletin.

Skills and Qualifications
-    Personal creativity, strategic judgment and vision.
-    A high level of personal and professional integrity.
-    Minimum Bachelor’s Degree with 5 – 10 years of relevant work experience.
-    General understanding of, and commitment to, environmental issues in Canada.
-    Knowledge of, or direct experience with, environmental grantmaking preferable.
-    Strong skills in strategic thinking and planning, with an ability to identify challenges and opportunities, create effective plans, and deliver results.
-    Proven effectiveness in establishing and maintaining strong partnerships and relationships with a broad array of individuals and organizations.
-    Experience in fund-raising within a non-profit setting.
-    Strong facilitation and presentation skills.
-    Demonstrated management and administrative skills in a not-for-profit setting, including sound budgeting and financial management.
-    Exceptional written and verbal communications skills, including an ability to synthesize and edit documents of varying technical detail.
-    Proven ability to develop and manage projects, including a range of qualitative and quantitative research initiatives.
-    Self-directed, exceptional time management skills, and the ability to work autonomously.
-    Bilingualism (English/French) a definite asset.

Location:     CEGN’s offices are currently based in Toronto.
Salary:        CEGN offers a competitive salary, commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Status:          The position of Executive Director is permanent, full-time; however, CEGN would be pleased to negotiate a four-day position.

Please submit your letter of application, resume, and salary expectations no later than Wednesday 18 June 08 to:

Julie King, HR Consultant
4-112 Bernard Ave, Toronto ON, M5R 1S3
j_konkamking@yahoo.ca

More information on CEGN is available at www.cegn.org.

Tasting Tour [2008-06-04]

The Metcalf Foundation recently hosted a field trip to Prince Edward County with the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network. This “tasting tour” was designed to see the connections being developed in that area’s local sustainable food system from production through to processing, distribution and consumption. Participants had the opportunity to meet farmers, producers, economic development officers, restaurateurs and others working together in one of Ontario’s oldest communities to build a local sustainable food system and realize the benefits that such a system can generate.

TRASH + FOOD [2007-01-12]

The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and Alphabet City have joined forces, with the help of the Metcalf Foundation, to collaborate on a two-year initiative called The Healthy City Festivals. The festivals provide a "platform for thinking" by tackling a single word each year dealing with the long-term issues facing Toronto's health through their flagship anthology series with the MIT Press as well as through works of visual art, literature, music, and other forms, all in an effort to engage the entire city in a discussion about the best ways to imagine Toronto's future and to migrate the city towards comprehensive ecological sustainability.

2006's word is TRASH. In the TRASH pocketbook Anthology copublished by MIT press, artists and writers investigate the proposition that we are what we thrown away. The TRASH festival presents innovative works through a range of formats - publications, visual art exhibitions, performing arts events, public policy lectures, workshops, and debates. For instance, the Drake Hotel shows contemporary art works by Ed Burtynsky and others; the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art hosts a fashion show of works made from found materials; Canadian composer and sound artist Scott Wilson presents "Müllmusik: A Graveyard of Unwanted Sounds;" mezzo soprano Ariana Chris sings trashy tunes from opera repertoire; mayoral candidates debate their ecological visions for the city at MaRS; and a town hall attempts to answer the question "What should Toronto do about its Garbage?"

In 2007 MOCCA and AbC will tackle FOOD with the proposition that "food is heaven - food is our world." FOOD will address new patterns of food production and consumption that implicate us in world-wide systems of transport and trade; reflect upon our expanding tourist and immigrant-influenced palettes; and challenge our notions of food politics, science and ecology. It will capture how essential food is to our sense of self, community and belonging.

2007 Deadlines Announced [2007-01-18]

Next year's deadlines for the Performing Arts Program have been announced. All prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Michael Jones, Arts Program Director, before they submit a proposal to the Foundation. 2007 Deadlines

Good Advice for Intern Candidates [2007-01-18]

Every year the Foundation meets with the interns we’re funding in the arts program. We learn a lot from these discussions. Among other things, we ask them what someone who wants to be an intern can do to contribute to a successful internship. Here’s their advice:

do your research, on the company and your mentor, to ensure a good fit
be very clear about what you want to learn and experience
it’s a negotiation, so speak up
once you’re there, be open and flexible – but be committed
don't be afraid to ask questions
be prepared for feedback, good and bad, and seek it out
remember it’s a gift, this opportunity – make the most of it

Please contact the Foundation if you have any questions about the program.

News About Interns [2007-01-18]

The Foundation is always happy to hear what interns are doing after they finish their placements. Here are some updates.

Jennifer Archibald, 2005 intern at the Gallery Players and the Niagara Symphony, is now Director of Marketing and Development at Opera Ontario.

Shelley Heebner finished her 2005 placement in props at CanStage and went on to become Props and Wardrobe Coordinator at Red Barn Theatre.

Toronto Dance Theatre's 2005 intern Ainsley Kendrick has been accepted into the Arts Work/Study Program in dance stage management at the Banff Centre.

Two of Shaw Festival's previous music director interns, Jason Jestadt and Sasha Luminsky, were part of the musical team for Lord of the Rings at Mirvish Productions.

Alexis Buset, technical intern at the Grand Theatre in 2005, was hired by the Blyth Festival for the summer 2006 season.

Reflections on a 3-Year Journey [2007-04-07]

Any organization that receives a Strategic Initiative grant embarks on a multi-year journey - on a path toward a strategic goal they themselves have identified. Because both the work and the environment are complex, there are often surprising and unexpected discoveries over a three year period. Sometimes organizations are significantly changed by what they learn. Sometimes individuals within a company are profoundly affected by the work they have chosen to undertake.

Since 2001 the Foundation has funded an incredibly diverse range of exploration. Now we are happy to share the thoughts and reflections of organizations which have completed their grants.

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre was funded in the first round of the program in 2001. Their challenge? Finding singers who could handle the theatre, movement and other artistic demands of contemporary opera. Their solution? Specialized training to broaden the pool of qualified talent. Their discovery? A surprising impact they never anticipated.

Since 1995, Queen of Puddings had been evolving a visionary and unique genre of music theatre. Their art form makes intense vocal and physical demands on singers: analysis and performance of contemporary music, diverse vocal styles, movement, dance, mime, acting, and mask. In the company's experience, singers trained in the old classical conservatory model, based in 19th century vocal pedagogy, were ill-equipped to handle the kind of work they do.

Rehearsal time is limited and valuable. It is not productive to have to use so much of it to provide training for artists, at the expense of developing the work. At the time of application, this was identified as an obstacle which regularly confronts and limits the company.

With SI funding for three years, Queen of Puddings launched an annual three-week summer training program for singers, specializing in developing the contemporary music theatre skills so critically important to the company's aesthetic.

Dairine Ni Mheadhra, Artistic Director
Queen of Puddings:

As you will remember, the most important reason for launching this new summer training program was because we were having to train a new group of singers in theatre and movement skills for every new production. It was costing us enormous amounts of time and money and frustration and we felt that the company couldn't advance further without addressing this issue.

After three years I'm very happy to tell you that in our 04/05 season, we are producing a new Canadian Opera The Midnight Court which needs 10 singers. Eight of them will have been through the program over the last three years. This is exactly the result we wished for when we applied.

There has been another wonderful development which we could not have foreseen three years ago, a development which is a radically different approach to the opera art form as we know it. Having seen our brochures, you will be familiar with Suba Sankaran, the training program's South Indian singing teacher. We were deeply moved by the profound tradition that Suba so beautifully presented in her teaching. The presence of such an extraordinary practitioner in our midst, bringing to light a centuries-old tradition, created within us a desire for combining this tradition with our own Western classical music tradition in a new opera with Suba as the central character. We commissioned this opera from Montreal composer Michael Oesterle, and the first development workshop took place in August 2004.

At this stage, in February 2007, the opera is almost completed and ready for a world premiere. We're delighted with this turn of events.

Emerging Arts Professional Network [2007-05-14]

The EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONAL NETWORK is now online: eapnetwork.ca
EAPN is an online community network for arts professionals across Canada. The EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONAL NETWORK is an online career resource and community network for arts administrators, managers and artists who are at the start of their careers. EAP offers opportunities to gain valuable access to online mentors and insight into the possible directions in which to forward careers in the arts. The EAP site has discussion forums, blogs, Mentor and EAP of the Month, links, news and events.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EAP offers access to existing professional development opportunities in the arts. In addition we are currently developing a new evening series of
informal professional development workshops and networking opportunities due to launch in the fall. Stay tuned for more details..

SUPPORT SERVICES

EAP also offers subsidized management services to a small roster of emerging artists.

Emerging Arts Professional Network [2007-07-09]

The EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONAL NETWORK, an online community for arts professionals across Canada, is now online at http://www.eapnetwork.ca.

The EMERGING ARTS PROFESSIONAL NETWORK is an online resource and community network for arts administrators, managers, and artists who are at the beginning of their careers.

The Network offers opportunities to gain valuable access to online mentors and insight into possible means of advancing a career in the arts. The EAP website has discussion forums, blogs, Mentor and Emerging Arts Professional of the Month, links, new, and events. EAP also offers access to existing professional development opportunities in the arts, and they are developing a series of informal professional development workshops, to be held evenings beginning in the fall.

EAP will also provide subsidized management services to a small roster of emerging artists.

Reflections on a 3-Year Journey [2007-07-20]

Any organization that receives a Strategic Initiative grant embarks on a multi-year journey – on a path toward a strategic goal they themselves have identified. Because both the work and the environment are complex, there are often surprising and unexpected discoveries over a three-year period. Sometimes, organizations are significantly changed by what they learn. Sometimes, individuals within a company are profoundly affected by the work they have chosen to undertake.

Since 2001, the Foundation has funded a diverse range of explorations. Now, we are happy to share the thoughts and reflections of organizations that have completed their grants.

The Danny Grossman Dance Company was funded in the first round of the program in 2001. Their challenge: how to approach legacy and transition in a mature, founder-led organization. Their discovery: Who Owns the Dances?

Who Owns the Dances?
by Christina Loewen
Managing Director, Danny Grossman Dance Company

The Danny Grossman Dance Company received our SI funding to explore appropriate models for our future. Recognizing that our founder was now a senior artist, we wanted to transform our company from one that created and presented Grossman’s body of work into one that could use its diverse repertory and expertise to present, preserve, and build a legacy for modern dance in Canada.

We began our work by researching similar models in the United States: the Martha Graham Foundation, the José Limón Foundation, and the Paul Taylor Dance Company. By the end of our second year we had chosen a similar path – to create a collection of works, carefully documented, that could be promoted, licensed, and taught to other companies.

At the outset of the third year, however, we faced a dilemma in determining the copyright ownership of Danny Grossman’s works. We learned that, regardless of historical intent, the copyright for all works that had been created by Grossman since the start of the company belonged to the corporation, and not to Danny himself. The corporation held this copyright because Grossman had always been in an employee relationship with the company. While this may not seem like a problem at first glance since it meant that we were entitled to license the works to other companies, it left Danny, as the creator, completely out of the equation. This was in stark contrast to our company’s values and beliefs.

The final year of our SI project involved a great deal of work at the Board level related to copyright, and, as an interesting aside, we found it uncomfortable but necessary to consider Danny and the company as separate persons. We struck a special subcommittee to engage in lengthy, and sometimes difficult, discussions about the true intent of copyright ownership, and the corporate benefits and drawbacks of retaining copyright. We finally decided that Danny should own the copyright to the works that he created while he was employed by the company. A newly drafted employment contract would retroactively specify this, effectively relinquishing copyright ownership to Danny and his estate, but the company would retain exclusive license to these works.

This decision was based on a number of factors. The company wanted the right to promote and/or perform Danny’s work regardless of whether Danny was currently employed, had retired, or had passed away. We also wanted to treat Danny fairly and with what we believed had been the original intent of the company regarding copyright. Our intention was that Danny should benefit financially from his works throughout his lifetime, and that the company should be granted exclusive license to his works while he is employed by the company and for a period thereafter.

As of 2006/07, we are halfway through our next three-year artistic plan, which will see a new activity centre emerge – the preservation, promotion, and sub-licensing of Grossman repertory to other companies and to schools. Further SI funding from the Metcalf Foundation is allowing us to develop a series of rehearsal manuals to accompany each dance. These manuals will act as a repository of essential information that is currently only held in the collective minds, bodies, and memories of the many artists who have rehearsed and performed Grossman works.

This is a unique project in Canada, and possibly even in North America. To our knowledge, no other company has set out to document not only the complete dance, but also the method of rehearsing the dance and bringing it to performance level. We will shortly announce the Grossman Collection available for licensing, including such titles as Endangered Species, National Spirit, Nobody’s Business, and La Valse.

New Director for the Arts Program [2007-08-30]

The Foundation is pleased to have Michael Jones as our new Program Director for the Performing Arts.

Michael is a proven arts administrator with almost twenty years of experience in senior level positions, primarily with small and mid-sized operations. Most recently he has been the General Manager of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Michael has also continued to pursue his interests in music and musical theatre in a variety of venues.

Michael is familiar with the work of the Foundation, as a recipient of both Strategic Initiatives and Professional Development grants for his organizations, and in his role on the evaluation advisory committee for the Performing Arts program.

We are happy to have Michael and look forward to advancing our work in sustaining the vibrancy of the professional performing arts in Ontario.

News About Interns [2007-10-11]

The Foundation is always happy to hear how interns, funded through our Professional Development program, are doing after they finish their placements. Here are some updates.

Livia Berius, who did her internship with the Playwrights Guild of Canada, has founded her own shadow puppet company called The Maboroshi Orchestra, which performed in a variety of Toronto parks during the summer of 2007 and is touring to Labrador this November. She also works as an actor/director/writer with the female collective, Pink Jellybeans Productions.

The Canadian Music Centre adapted the workplan for intern Sean Corcoran in order for him to assume additional part-time responsibilities for the Canadian League of Composers. His work for the League has continued since the completion of his CMC internship.

Loree Lawrence, a 2005/06 intern at , is beginning an interdisciplinary project that involves establishing a store-front arts centre and gallery in the Junction area of Toronto.

After his internship with the Gallery Players and the Niagara Symphony, Allen McCreath became Outreach Coordinator for Carousel Players in St. Catharines.

Alice Toyonaga stayed at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre for three years after the completion of her internship, then she became a consultant for the Arts Presentation Canada program of Canadian Heritage. In addition to her work at Heritage, Alice is currently a member of the advisory committee for the Professional Development program at the Metcalf Foundation.

Several other interns remained with the organizations that provided their mentorships; many of them continue to play important roles for those companies.

• Orenda Cahill has become a valuable member of the permanent production team as Costume Co-ordinator at the Canadian Opera Company.

• Marjorie Chan has become an Associate Artistic Director at Cahoots Theatre; her newest play, a nanking winter, will be premiered in a Cahoots/Nightwood Theatre co-production in February 2008.

• The National Arts Centre – English Theatre created the position of Education and Outreach Coordinator for former Metcalf intern Martina Kuska.

• The Red Barn Theatre offered Stefan Lenzi the permanent position of General Manager.

• Joe Mebrahtu remained at the Ottawa International Children’s Festival in the role of Director of Sponsorship and Development.

• Necessary Angel Theatre Company kept intern Daniel Nyman in the role of Associate Producer.

• Following her internship, the National Youth Orchestra hired Karen Osmond as Operations Manager.

Arts Program – Extra Deadline in December!! [2007-11-14]

In order to respond better to the planning cycles of arts organizations, the Metcalf Foundation will be considering Strategic Initiative applications in winter and summer of 2008. That means that there will be a new deadline for intake of Letters of Interest to the Strategic Initiative program – December 17, 2007.

Successful applicants to the Strategic Initiative program will be funded by the Foundation for a three-year period to implement a strategic course of action that would not be possible under normal budgetary circumstances. The program is open to professional theatre, dance, music, and opera organizations, based in Toronto, with annual operating budgets under $3 million. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Michael Jones, Arts Program Director, to discuss their proposals in advance.

Full application guidelines, including requirements for the Letter of Interest to the Strategic Initative program, are available for download at the Foundation’s website, http://www.metcalffoundation.com.

The 2008 deadlines for all of the Performing Arts programs at the Metcalf Foundation are listed below. Please also note the change to the traditional timing of the Senior Artists & Administrators program.

APPLICATION DEADLINES FOR 2008
(all dates are 2008 unless marked)

Strategic Initiatives - Round 1
Letter of Interest deadline   December 17, 2007
Foundations extends invitation to apply   December 21, 2007
Full Application deadline   January 28
Grant notification   March 10

Strategic Initiatives - Round 2
Letter of Interest deadline   March 31
Foundations extends invitation to apply   April 7
Full Application deadline   May 5
Grant notification   June 23

Professional Development: Internships – Round 1
Application deadline   April 28
Grant notification   June 23

Professional Development: Internships – Round 2
Application deadline   October 20
Grant notification   December 15

Professional Development: Senior Artists & Administrators
One round only
Application deadline   June 19
Grant notification   October 6

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Metcalf Foundation

News Archive

New Thoughtleader Series Launched [2007-01-12]

Emerging Leaders 2006 Kicks Off [2007-01-18]

Innovation Fellowships Awarded [2007-01-18]

Leaders in the Field Program Launched [2007-01-18]

Building Movement in Toronto [2007-01-19]

Advancing the Nonprofit Sector [2007-02-16]

Environment Program Changes [2007-02-16]

Town Hall on Viable Urban Agriculture [2007-04-07]

Winterizing Growing Power [2007-05-01]

Rethinking NonProfit Ontario [2007-06-14]

Environmental Priorities for Ontario [2007-06-25]

CEGN Thoughtleaders Series Continued [2007-08-08]

food [2007-10-18]

Food Connects Us All [2007-10-18]

Culture and Politics - January 30 [2008-01-07]

Opening Doors Published by Foundation [2008-02-04]

Report Launch: Food Connects Us All [2008-02-25]

Metcalf Foundation seeks Grants Manager [2008-03-07]

Metcalf Foundation seeks Office Manager [2008-04-11]

Transforming from Social Service to Social Change [2007-01-16]

Building Connections [2007-01-18]

Emerging Leaders 2006 Kicks Off [2007-01-18]

Emerging Leaders Accepting Applications for 2007 [2007-01-18]

Shared Space: The Communities Agenda [2007-01-18]

Strengthening the Voice of Community in Regent Par [2007-01-18]

2006 Renewal Fellowship Awarded [2007-01-19]

Innovation Fellow John Stapleton [2007-04-02]

Networks and Community Change [2007-07-19]

Pat Thompson - New Metcalf Innovation Fellow [2007-07-25]

Street Health Report 2007 [2007-10-11]

How Might We See the World Differently? [2007-11-30]

Ralph Thornton Community Centre builds networks [2007-11-30]

Shared Space: The Communities Agenda [2007-11-30]

Leader Renewal [2007-12-18]

2008 Community Program Guidelines [2008-01-03]

Creating Change in the Food System [2007-01-18]

Incubating Connections [2007-01-18]

Monitoring the Moraine Project [2007-01-18]

Environment Program Changes [2007-05-15]

Inaugural Field Fellowships Awarded [2007-05-15]

Call For Healthy Lands Proposals [2007-06-25]

Field Internships Awarded [2007-06-25]

Good Advice for Intern Candidates [2007-06-25]

Ontario Community Sustainability Report [2007-10-18]

2008 Deadlines Announced [2007-11-05]

CEGN Thoughtleaders Series Continued [2007-11-28]

For the Greener Good [2008-03-20]

Smart Growth and Climate Policy in Ontario [2008-03-20]

CEGN seeks Executive Director [2008-06-04]

Tasting Tour [2008-06-04]

TRASH + FOOD [2007-01-12]

2007 Deadlines Announced [2007-01-18]

Good Advice for Intern Candidates [2007-01-18]

News About Interns [2007-01-18]

Reflections on a 3-Year Journey [2007-04-07]

Emerging Arts Professional Network [2007-05-14]

Emerging Arts Professional Network [2007-07-09]

Reflections on a 3-Year Journey [2007-07-20]

New Director for the Arts Program [2007-08-30]

News About Interns [2007-10-11]

Arts Program – Extra Deadline in December!! [2007-11-14]

NEWS

Resources, Publications and Articles of Interest

Metcalf Foundation Biennial Report

New Grants Manager for the Foundation