Community Knowledge Centre - Toronto Community Foundation

About this organization

Mission

With nearly 10 years under our belt, Framework has focused on delivering high quality volunteer engagement events (i.e Timeraiser) while innovating in other areas relating to non-profit capacity building (i.e Platformation). As we continue to grow, we're building our capacity to share more readily. Sharing and learning is part of who Framework has become.

History of Organization

Our team informally organized in early 2001, then officially as a registered nonprofit in 2003, receiving our charitable status in February 2004.

Our flagship program is Timeraiser, which was conceptualized in 2002 in response to a group of professionals wondering how it could be easier to find meaningful, relevant volunteer opportunities. We aim to improve the experience of bringing people to causes and causes to people, while supporting the local art community – a vital component of every urban centre.

More recently, we launched our new program Platformation in the Fall of 2009. We conducted a 9 month pilot project from December 2009 to June 2010 with 5 participating NGOs, with support from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation. Click here to read the final report. Our goal was to come up with affordable tech solutions to non-profit organizational problem.  The result is a set of best practices and reccomendations that help non-profits assess whether the tools they use best help them deliver their mission. 

Accolades and Accomplishments

ORGANIZATIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Tides Canada, Top 10 Most Innovative Non-Profits, 2009
• Salesforce.com Appy Award Nomination, 2009
• Queen's University Humanitarian Award, 2009

INDIVIDUAL RECOGNITION

• Business for the Arts Arnold Award, 2011 (Simon Foster, Founder & Chair)
• Governor General Round Table on Volunteerism and Philanthropy, 2010 (Anil Patel, Founder)
• Ashoka Fellowship, 2010 (Anil Patel, Founder)
• SiG @ McConnell Fellowship, 2009 (Anil Patel, Founder)

Programs

>Timeraiser
>Platformation

Framework has two core programs: Timeraiser and Platformation.

Timeraiser

The event itself is a part volunteer fair, part silent art auction and part night on the town. Throughout the evening participants meet with different non-profits in the room and match their skills to the organizations’ needs. Once they have made their matches, they are eligible to bid on artwork. The big twist is rather than bid money, they bid volunteer hours on works of art they are interested in. If they have the winning bid they have 12 months to complete their volunteer pledge before bringing the artwork home as a reminder of their goodwill. To date, we have confirmed over 93,000 volunteer hours!

Funding and Program Partners

McConnell Foundation

CIBC

TD

PwC

WestJet

Enbridge

Nexen

First Calgary Savings

Upper James Toyota

Great West Life|London Life|Canada Life

Minto

Ontario Bar Association - Young Lawyers Division

UBC

First Calgary Savings

Investors Group

RBC

MolsonCoors

ArcelorMittal Dofasco

Program Impact

To date, Timeraiser has:

• Generated (and confirmed) over 93,000 volunteers hours
• Invested over $480,000 in the careers of emerging artists
• Inspired over 7,000 Canadians to pick up a cause, and
• Supported the mission of over 350 nonprofit/charitable organizations

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

"The cultural sector is widely recognized as crucial to the economic life of a region - attracting talent and investment, and stimulating innovation. [However] the median earnings of artists who reported income in 2005 was about 36% less than the median for all Toronto workers. An additional 11% of artists reported no earnings from their art, for the year. Earnings are significantly lower despite educational attainment. Half of Toronto artists have attained a bachelor’s degree or higher." (Toronto's Vital Signs® 2010)

How we are addressing this issue:

Through the Timeraiser program, we helping to mobilize the art community by making a meaning investment in the artwork displayed at each Timeraiser. No artwork is donated and we pay fair market value for each work of art submitted (up to $1,000 per piece). By the end of 2011, Framework will have invested over $500,000 in the careers of emerging, Canadian artists, while providing visibility to their work for both the private and public populations.

Participant Vignette

"Other programs neglect to pay artists fair market value for their work, as well as affording them the opportunity for exposure at a well-known event, and beyond. The Timeraiser model has proven its effectiveness on both of these goals year after year, and our reputation within the visual art community reflects its efforts." - Eric Mathew, York U, MfA

“Culture Link is so important to the multicultural society that is Canada. They matched me to and made me appreciate even more the opportunities that I have had in my life. We meet at least once a week, sometimes to work on her English studies and sometimes to share stories. Her strength, courage, intelligence and resilience is astounding and as I suspect might happen, I feel I have benefited more from my new friendship than she has.” - Shannon Davidson, Timeraiser Participant

"A common question for Meal Exchange is ‘how do we accomplish so much with a staff of two and such a small budget?’ Our response has always been ‘through volunteers’. By adopting the work that Framework is leading; the tracking and assessment of volunteer contributions-we will have the ability to measure the impact of volunteers in our organization and assess the complete cost, in financial and human capital, necessary to deliver our programming." - Dave Kranenburg, Executive Director, Meal Exchange

Platformation

Our recently launched program,  Platformation is an online resource for members of the charitable sector interested in implementing free and low-cost online and mobile technology into their IT infrastructure.  We  regularly review online tools and share our findings on our website and through a series of ongoing webinars. Platformation is also working with a handful of early-adopter organizations who are approaching technology in unique ways to form a community of practice and sharing. Platformation has also developed its own approach to technology planning and has created an ICT structure which we share with non-profits interested in learning more about non-profit planning. 

Funding and Program Partners

We have received a $175,000 grant from the J.W. McConnell Foundation. To scale this work, the McConnell Foundation has also ear-marked $200,000 for other charities to invest in IT infrastructure for the future. Additionally, the Counselling Foundation has investd $80,000+ over two years. Framework is also collaborating with CanadaHelps and TechSoup Canada in co-creating learning opportunities.

Program Impact

A whole generation of Torontonians have grown up using social tools to communicate and collaborate. This presents a challenge for nonprofit organizations with 'legacy software infrastructure' who are trying to find appropriate ways to engage youth in meaningful ways as volunteers or staff. 

Toronto's Vital Signs® indicator(s) addressed by Program

"The Toronto Region is Canada’s high-tech hub:The Region’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector (6% of the total regional workforce and more than half of all ICT workers in Ontario) directly employs more than 161,500 people in 11,500 companies (28.7% of Canada’s ICT firms), and generated revenues of $52.2 billion in 2009." (Toronto's Vital Signs® 2011)

Skills and literacy in mobile, social and cloud computing is necessary for youth and new comers to get connected into Toronto's labour market. This field is one of the fastest growing employment sectors in Canada. And if Canada wants to compete globally in the knowlege economy, Toronto needs to lead the way in providing as much programming as possible. 

Participant Vignette

"I've worked with hundreds of nonprofit organizations as a funder and consultant and one of the most frustrating things I've witnessed is the amount of time that goes into trying to figure out how to share information between staff, funders, Board members, and external partners. We spend untold hours building boxes and silos, and then more time trying to figure out how to break them down or work between them. Framework's technology approach has the potential to solve many of our information sharing and collaboration challenges. I am really curious to see how organizations with very traditional ways of thinking about technology can adopt information sharing platforms such as these. If some private and government funders are really interested in innovation and collaboration, they'll see the value of this work and support its development with their partner agencies. And if nonprofits really are serious about solving tough social and environmental challenges, we will need to be a whole lot better at working together and sharing information. I think we are on the cusp of a revolution in how nonprofits work together and I am excited to see what happens next. " Doug Kerr, Progressive Consultants Network of Toronto