Vancity Community Foundation

You have the power to change your community and build a better future. If you are part of a social good organization in British Columbia, join us for a dynamic online Government Relations and Communications training session. From effective government relations to growing your advocacy, you'll learn how to engage with policymakers, elected officials, bureaucrats, and candidates, and craft compelling messages to advance your organization's mission. Our speakers from Core Firm and Emdash will share valuable insights and practical tips to help your BC non-profit reach more people, set the narrative, and move the political needle. We'll also walk you through how to use the Non-Profit Power Up Toolkit at nonprofitpowerup.ca. Register for a training session here: https://lnkd.in/gDUeRpKg Thank you to our project partners - Vancouver Foundation, United Way British Columbia, The Victoria Foundation, Food Banks BC, Emdash and Core Firm. #governmentrelations #advocacy #communications #training #nonprofit #britishcolumbia #bcpoli

With the passing of Bob Williams, Vancity Community Foundation has lost an advocate, champion, and friend. It is no exaggeration to say that Bob’s advocacy is the reason VCF exists. He was on the board of Vancity Credit Union when they decided to initiate the creation of a public foundation. His hope that it would build capacity in the social and non-profit sectors is still a guiding principle for our work. He was also instrumental in the transition of the old police headquarters at Main and Cordova to what it is today, 312 Main . Along with the Jim Green Foundation, Bob Williams helped turn a symbol of harm and discrimination into a centre for social and economic innovation. In addition to being a tireless champion for the Downtown Eastside and the role of the social sector in building stronger communities, he worked hard to strengthen the affordable community housing sector and lent his time and energy to progressive community organizing across B.C. Bob was a trailblazer and all of us at Vancity Community Foundation will miss him.

Under Pressure: 2024 State of BC’s Non-Profit Sector Report is here! The report provides consistent, high-quality data to the non-profit sector in BC, and equips funders, policy makers, and other sector stakeholders with relevant data to make informed decisions and better support the current needs of BC’s non-profit sector. It is the fourth installment in a series initiated by a partnership between Vantage Point, Vancouver Foundation, The Victoria Foundation, City of Vancouver, United Way British Columbia and Vancity Community Foundation. #2024SOTS https://lnkd.in/gKa4A_yi

VCF will be at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Annual Conference and Trade Show in Calgary from today until Saturday to talk all things Housing Supply Challenge! Come by our booth to learn more about our scaling project and how it can help your community build more affordable housing. We also invite you to join us for a post-conference mixer on June 7 at Platform Calgary, to meet with some of the innovators poised to make housing faster, affordable, and with fewer resources. This event is part of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement(SCHL)'s Level-Up Competition, supported by Scaling Hub partners Foresight Canada, Highline Beta, School of Cities, University of Toronto, The Decision Lab, DMZ and GroundBreak Ventures. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gPHHk-ty And if you’re not able to join us in person at the conference, check out our web page for more information about the Housing Supply Challenge and VCF’s project: vahaf.ca/supplychallenge #FCM2024 #Calgary #HousingSupplyChallenge #Housing #AffordableHousing #BritishColumbia

VCF is excited to share that our Vancity Affordable Community Housing Program’s project “Reaching New Heights: Scaling the Vancity Affordable Housing Accelerator Program across Canada” received support and funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Société canadienne d'hypothèques et de logement(SCHL) and the Housing Supply Challenge Level-Up Round. We are one of 20 semi-finalists, receiving $1 million and moving into Stage 2. The Housing Supply Challenge aims to remove or reduce barriers that hinder housing supply. Round 5, titled “Level Up Challenge: Transforming the Way Canada Delivers Housing”, addresses the entrenched housing affordability crisis in Canada. Its goal is to scale systems-level solutions to expedite housing provision. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/dfdbSf_g We look forward to collaborating with credit unions, government, funders and the housing sector to expand our program and increase access to early-stage pre-construction funding and financing that can catalyze and speed up affordable community housing development and acquisition projects in B.C. and across Canada. Thank you again to CMHC for your support, and congratulations to all semi-finalists! #HousingSupplyChallenge #AffordableHousing #BritishColumbia

New data published by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Living Wage for Families BC has found that 1 in 3 people in British Columbia earn less than the living wage. That’s more than 740,000 people who are trapped in a gap between how much money they earn and how much they need to earn to pay for rent and other essentials. They did a deep dive into the stats and found that: - 57% of workers who don’t earn a Living Wage in Metro Vancouver are women. - 2/3rds of workers who don’t earn a Living Wage in Metro Vancouver are people of colour. - Half of all racialized women in Metro Vancouver don’t earn a Living Wage. At Vancity Community Foundation, we’re committed to doing what we can to close gender and racial pay gaps, and that’s why we’re a proud Living Wage Employer. We're calling on the BC Government to take steps to close the gap between the minimum and the living wage by lifting wages and introducing policies to make life more affordable for working people. Read more at policyalternatives.ca/gap #bcPoli #vanpoli #bcLab #workersrights #minimumwage #minimumwageBC #livingWage #livingWageBC #affordabilityCrisis #housingCrisis

It was with great sadness that the Vancity Community Foundation team heard the news of the passing of David LePage. David was a trailblazer and internationally recognized leader in social enterprise, helping to develop and apply innovative market-based solutions to complex social issues. Here, at the Vancity Community Foundation, he helped lead the Enterprising Non-Profits (enp) Program – quickly growing it from a Lower Mainland based initiative to one that worked province-wide to support the successful development and growth of social enterprises.   By 2013, David’s work had grown beyond British Columbia, through the creation of enp Canada, and then Social Enterprise Canada, the leading source of social enterprise information and resources for the non-profit sector in the country.   David passionately advanced policy and government investment in social enterprise development and initiated the social procurement work that he continued and expanded with his initiative Buy Social Canada, after leaving enp and VCF. It’s not a stretch to say that David turned a small twice a year granting program into a national movement to support and grow social enterprise. Everyone at the Vancity Community Foundation would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of David. As per the wishes of David’s family, donations in his memory can be made to the Social Enterprise Policy Fund he created at VCF to help continue his lifelong passion for building a more equitable society.

Today is International Women’s Day and March, Women’s History Month. It’s an opportunity for us to reflect on the women and girls in our lives and celebrate the achievements of women here at home and around the world in pushing for a more equal and just world. At the same time, it’s crucial to acknowledge the many challenges women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals continue to face. Housing is one clear example of this here in a part of the country that is one of the most impacted by Canada’s housing affordability crisis. Read more about this issue and how we're addressing it: https://lnkd.in/gnsWp87d #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2024

The State of the Sector Survey deadline has been extended to Friday March 8, 2024! The survey is a check-in with organizations in the non-profit sector in BC, alongside probing deeper into the underlying challenges brought up most in the last year's report. Its results will help our sector strengthen its advocacy efforts and support the communities we serve. Survey link: https://lnkd.in/dxMu6QVh Please help us circulate the survey to all non-profits across BC to ensure organizations of all types are reflected in the report. #bcnonprofit Vantage Point The Victoria Foundation Vancouver Foundation United Way BC - Lower Mainland Region City of Vancouver

Content/Trigger Warning: This post explores the topics of systemic racism and discrimination. For culturally safe and accessible resources for Black people, visit Black Mental Health Canada - a link is included in the comments below. Black History Month is coming to a close, but Vancity Community Foundation’s commitment and work with Black communities in BC does not end here. As we shift our practices to prioritize Black people, one of the actions we have taken is signing The Halifax Declaration: For the Eradication of Discrimination. Contributions for the Declaration were gathered over six years through in-person and virtual National Black Canadians Summits convened by the Michaëlle Jean Foundation and validated through a national survey conducted with support from the Network for the Advancement of Black Communities and the Black Opportunity Fund. An updated third edition of the declaration was just published in January of 2024. “The Halifax Declaration is the first collective, grassroots record of the state of being a Black Canadian today, and the solutions needed across policy, legislation, research and investment –the report is rooted in three themes: recognition, justice and development”.  If this declaration is new to you, we encourage you to read and reflect on its calls to actions and recommendations. The declaration has been a foundational document and will guide VCF as we begin to shift our philanthropic approach to be more inclusive of and prioritize the needs and futures of Black people. Link to The Halifax Declaration: https://lnkd.in/g7YqHe47 Fondation Michaëlle Jean Foundation Network for the Advancement of Black Communities Black Opportunity Fund