Vital Signs – a community indicator report Presentation to Australian Community PhilanthropyApril 30th, 2014

Faye WightmanVancouver, Canada

Vancouver Foundation• Began in 1943 with estate gift of $1k from single

woman• Grown from 1 fund to 1500 with asset base of $950

million • Funds province wide (British Columbia)• 8 Granting Fields – Arts, Animal Welfare, Children

Youth and Families, Education, Environment, Health & Medical Education/Research, Health & Social Development, Youth Philanthropy

• 2 priority areas of focus- Youth Homelessness, Connections and Engagement

The Starting Point

Toronto’s Vital Signs - mid-1990

Expansion to a national program - 2006

5 Pilot foundations - 2006

30 + CF’s now involved

Vital Signs GoalsTo measure the health of communityTo provide accessible informationTo engage community and raise the profile of the

foundationTo encourage action on issuesTo inform the community foundation’s ongoing

work

MONTREAL

VICTORIA

MISSISSAUGA

TORONTO

WINKLER

“Vital Signs in a powerful tool that will help guide donors and improve our effectiveness as grant-makers.The true value of Vital Signs is about making connections, generating discussion, building bridges and most of all taking action.”

Community Foundation of Northwest Alberta

Community Foundation of Northwest Alberta

Partners/Advisors• Leadership Advisory Group

– Board members– Opened doors to access data– Media connections

• Expert Resource Group– Data/research experts– Decided on indicators– Accessed the data for us

• Project Team• Internal staff- project co-ordinator; communications

• External Researchers

Today- Two Options available

1. Full Vital Signs Report

2. Single issue Vital Signs Report– Youth Vital Signs– Deeper dive on specific issues- eg Homelessness;

Connections and Engagement

Vancouver – Vital Signs

Youth Vital Signs

Getting Started- Questions to askQuestions re other “report cards”Questions about Vital Signs for your community:

o What exists in your community?o Is there room for another?o Is there a unique role Vital Signs can play?o Can it add value?o Can it extend the reach or build on existing capacity?

What makes Vital Signs unique?

Provides a broad range of data

Engages the community

Part of a national initiative

Publishing research you can read

The Benefits we foundBetter understand what already existsHelps identify indicator needs & gapsProvides a listening opportunityIdentifies pressing issues in the communityStrengthens important relationshipsInternalizes learnings

Benefits seen by other CF’s• Community awareness and media attention: ”there is quite simply nothing else we do that gets close to the amount of public attention we receive from Vital Signs.” • Political impact: “the majority of local politicians and community leaders attend the launch event and publicly refer to Vital Signs.  We have now been through 3 municipal elections and Vital Signs has been quoted in each of the election forums”

• Community Foundation of Medicine Hat (Southern Alberta)

More comments….• Broker of community knowledge: “We are now …

sought by community groups for advice, opinion and involvement in a wide range of new initiatives…staff are now involved in different projects ..which has resulted in more referrals and interest in endowments”

• Board engagement: “they embrace Vital Signs as a core component of our work…  resulted in new grant programs, new collaborations with the sector… and the creation of new organizations focused on issues identified from Vital Signs.  Frankly pure community leadership related activities.”

“External” CommentsAssistant Superintendent - Grande Prairie Public School District

“When I am recruiting for our school district, or when I am engaged in strategic planning, I refer to information from Vital Signs.  It’s helpful to have information on our city's physical, economic, and social growth.  It is effective to share information with potential employees about our arts and cultural scene, as a way of helping to affirm all that Grande Prairie has to offer.”

Comments from business…General Manager Canadian Tire Grande Prairie

“I found the 2011 Vital Signs report very informative. The stat that truly stood out to me was that Grande Prairie had the highest level of obesity of all of the cities that had conducted reports. This stat made me consider what I, as an employer, was doing to contribute to this. We started to educate our staff about healthy lifestyles. We implemented a healthy living policy. We renovated our kitchen facilities to ensure staff had the tools to eat healthy at work. We implemented a walking challenge for staff. The spark for all of this positive change started from the Vital Signs report.”

Summary – Vital Signs & Vancouver Foundation

• Produced: – 4 Vital Signs Reports– 2 Youth Vital Signs– 1 Connect and Engage Report (deeper dive on 1 indicator)– 1 Youth Homelessness Report (deeper dive on 1 indicator)

• Identified priority for granting: – Youth Homelessness– Connection and Engagement- Neighborhood Small Grants

• Started 3 new programs as direct result of findings:• Immigrant Employment Program • StreetoHome• Fresh Voices (refugee youth)

Summary – Vital Signs & Vancouver Foundation

• Increased donor support: Donors began supporting priority areas identified through VS

• Increased recognition & awareness of Vancouver Foundation as a credible community knowledge center by government, business, non profit sector, philanthropists

• Helped focus granting within Foundation’s 9 granting fields

• Engaged broader cross section of youth

• Used by broader community in community planning. University courses, nonprofit focus

Your turn…

Questions ?

Questions about how Vital Signs can benefit your foundation

clindsay@communityfoundations.ca