1. Community Foundations of Canada Jane Humphries
Peaceful Networks
Community Foundations of Canada
Jane Humphries

2. CFC Consultation on Foundations and Social Justice: Moving Beyond the Traditional Charitable Roles
Role of philanthropy in society has broadened from supporting charitable works to supporting social change
Our work in Social Justice began 12 years ago
We believed the role of philanthropy in society had broadened from supporting charitable works to supporting social change.
Our CFs were being challenged to move beyond short tem, direct service to a longer term, institutional change approach. Issues such as poverty, gender equality, environmental sustainability and human rights required longer-term, collective action to effect social change.
We started by surveying our members to explore and assess CF’s activities and interest levels in supporting social justice projects, findings revealed:
A strong appetite for exploring and supporting social justice activities
CFs have a leadership role to play on social justice issues
Some confusion on the definition and interpretation of social justice
We then held a consultation which led to a guiding document being created for CFs that wished to integrate a social justice focus into their work
We invited presentations from Christopher Harris on the work the Ford Fdn was supporting on Philanthropy in the Peace and Social Justice Program and Avila Kilmurray.
Results of this consultation included: collaborative research on social justice issues; key CFs forming a learning circle; collaborations and partnerships explored with private foundations, government and the faith community; further sessions and dialogue at CFC events

3. Social Justice Forum To explore the role community foundations
have in advancing social justice issues
in their communities
After the consultation CFC hosted a two day forum with CF leaders and social justice practitioners – it was a pivotal gathering for CFC and our members – a turning point in how CFs explored what issues they would tackle and how they might tackle them.
Great optimism
Almost Unlimited Potential
Community foundations have the potential to act in a variety of ways to strengthen and contribute to social justice work. They can:
Take calculated risks
Provide seed money and enabling funding
Support new organizations and help “incubate” new ideas
Model new kinds of relationships that include money but that aren’t necessarily built on money
Support research on social justice issues
Make the link between neighbourhood realities and longer-term solutions; link the micro picture to the macro picture; make the link between service and policy
Seek endowments and other funding to build a capital base for this kind of work
Pool resources nationally
Work together, with your community and with the rest of the world
The limits to community foundation potential are largely limits of will and imagination.
CFC’s Role – how could we as their association help?
What Community Foundations May Need
To move the focus on social justice forward, community foundations are likely to need some of the following:
A few people willing to move this agenda forward
A mandate from our Boards
Boards that have knowledge about community needs, an understanding of their root causes, and knowledge about who is working on them
Good information, data from research, and analysis about community issues (yesterday’s session about the value add CFs can bring because they can interpret and analyse the date)
A strategy about how much and what to take on, and who needs to work with us
A clear understanding of our legal limits
Perhaps some compelling new initiatives – to push the limits of what’s possible – both within the foundation and in the community
New contacts and new ways of involving people to broaden/diversify our network
Time/ patience / creativity / commitment / courage
Willingness to do things in new ways

4. Social Justice Continuum
Grantmaking
Strengthen capacity
Advance learning /Support awareness initiatives
Inclusive Community Leadership
Contribute / Assume a lead or collaborative role
Promote awareness/demonstrate commitment
Advocacy
Engage in the advocacy work of others
Spearhead initiatives / promote to broader public
Next we developed a Social Justice Continuum so CFs could see themselves in this work – we focused on three areas
GRANTMAKING
Strengthen the capacity of those most affected
help meet basic and immediate needs
basic training and development
operating costs of groups supporting those most affected
community economic development initiatives
Build the capacity for mobilisation around social justice issues
leadership development programs for affected or underrepresented individuals
promotion of inclusion of underrepresented or affected groups
technical assistance to strengthen groups’ capacity for social justice work
community mobilising initiatives among existing and emerging grass roots social movements
initiatives that build cross-sector connections, collaborations and networks
Advance learning about social justice issues and work
social innovation that addresses root causes
research into root causes
evaluation and dissemination of social justice projects
Support advocacy and awareness initiatives
learning about influencing legislative agendas and policy makers
raising public awareness about social justice issues
engaging and influencing elected officials
INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
Contribute to the work of others
participate in community forums and think tanks around social justice issues
facilitate connections between groups working toward a similar goal locally, regionally, and nationally
engage donors and other funders in discussions about social justice funding
Assume a lead or collaborative role in advancing social justice work
convene dialogue, think tanks, study sessions with grass roots/ social justice groups
lead or collaborate with others on social justice research and evaluation
hold information sessions on influencing policy makers and legislative reform
spearhead special projects in support of social justice change
Promote awareness of social justice issues
share information and learning broadly with community groups, policy makers, elected officials, donors, media, and others
“champion” other groups who are working toward policy change in support of specific justice issues
tell stories to celebrate successes
inspire the broader community with “what is possible”
ADVOCACY
Demonstrate commitment to social justice
establish board and committee recruitment policies and practices that ensure inclusion of underrepresented groups
ensure hiring policies and practices support diversity
ensure investment policies include ethical investing
seek out minority suppliers
Support and engage in the advocacy work of others
share knowledge and information about influencing policy change
lend voice to the work of other groups and networks engaged in advocacy
facilitate exchange of views between grassroots groups and policy makers
participate in public consultations
“campaign” for change with others
Spearhead advocacy initiatives on behalf of broad based community issues
identify a social justice issue that requires leadership
identify and bring together those who are concerned about the issue
determine what policy change is required and build alliances for change
build a “case “ for policy change
approach key opinion shapers who can get the issue on the legislative agenda
provide input into bureaucratic level consultations
meet with legislative representatives to influence their views in favour of change
Promote the need for advocacy with the broader public
develop key messages in support of policy change
“campaign” for change by informing the public of the need for policy change and ways that they can participate
celebrate successes and acknowledge the contributions of others

5. Building Capacity for Social Justice
Jane’s Notes – pull out sections of the guide that illustrate how CFC was supporting and encouraging the work of CFs
Then we developed A Social Justice Discussion Guide for Community Foundations – Pick a story from the guide – give a couple of examples?
SECTION ONE:
Exploring Social Justice and Our Vision
SECTION TWO:
Turning Concern into Action – Grantmaking through a Social Justice Lens
SECTION THREE:
Turning Concern into Action – Donor Engagement and Asset Development through a Social Justice Lens
SECTION FOUR:
Turning Concern into Action – Community Leadership through a Social Justice Lens
SECTION FIVE:
Walking the Talk – Governance and Administration through a Social Justice Lens

6. We're using data to drive action and to dig deeper.
Vital Signs is an annual community check-up conducted by community foundations across Canada.
Researches quality
of life trends in our communities.
In 2013, twenty-three community foundations released local reports.
So, where are we now – a dozen years later…
We're using data to drive action and to dig deeper. Vital Signs is one of the initiatives that CFC has supported for the past 8 years - we provide training and resources for CFs that want to participate in VS. CFs have been using VS to help them better direct their granting so that it works on root causes rather than just treating the symptoms. More than 40 CFs have participated in the program which uses community data to provide critical information about quality of life in Canadian communities. The results have been dramatic!
Examples:
In Victoria, the CF has used the statistics from their Vital Signs reports to re-orient their granting so that it reaches more deeply into issues like homelessness and food security.
In Guelph, Vital Signs revealed that food security and hunger were key issues in at least six neighbourhoods – the Guelph Community Foundation responding by initiating collective kitchens and planning community gardens to improve access to healthy food.
In Vancouver, Vital Signs was used to connect with 3,500 youth living throughout metro Vancouver. The result was a snapshot of youth experiences across the entire region – key indicators for the Vancouver Foundation to focus community granting and support.
CFC also release a report entitled Fertile Ground: Sowing the seeds of change in Canada’s food system, which highlighted how food is at the epicenter of Canada’s most pressing issues and how communities can mobilize locally for change. This report followed on the heels of our 2012 report about the complex issues facing today’s youth in a report we called #GenerationFlux.

7. Building Capacity for Social Justice
We're tackling key issues. Right now community foundations across Canada are building what we're calling Smart & Caring Community Funds in the lead up to our country's 150th Birthday celebration in Each CF is using these funds to address local priorities.
In 2002, the Hamilton Community Foundation’s Board of Directors made a landmark decision to focus on poverty reduction and prevention in the city – knowing that addressing poverty would get to the root cause of many other community issues.
Since 2004, close to $10 million in grants have been made through the Tackling Poverty Together initiative – co-convening the Hamilton Roundtable on Poverty Reduction to address policy level, community-wide change while the foundation focused more on local interventions.
The strategy has yielded impressive results – block-by-block improvements in some of Hamilton’s most challenged neighbourhoods, stronger community leadership, resident participation, and meeting local needs such as healthy food access and youth programing.
From this work the City of Hamilton has partnered with HCF to place community developers in focus neighbourhoods in Hamilton’s core - helping resident teams in each neighbourhood create and implement Action Plans for their communities.

8. Building Capacity for Social Justice
Following the devastating Southern Alberta Floods in June 2013 which displaced people and damaged communities, The Calgary Foundation established the Flood Rebuilding Fund to support long-term rebuilding and recovery efforts. 
Kicking off the fund with a $1million grant, Calgarians quickly responded with a wave of donations to increase the fund to over $2 million.
These are just a few examples of how our association helped our members think and act about social justice issues…

9. Social Justice Resources