GSTF Survey

What do you think?
Randy Topolnitsky
 
Two years ago, a Legacy Task Force was struck to clearly define and document how we should deal with legacy funding in our community. This led to the Granting Strategy Task Force which recently carried out a number of focus session to engage members in the crafting of our granting strategy. One of the outcomes was to reach out to our members and survey the club. An email was sent early last week and as of Friday April 19, twelve (12) responses were provided. Please read the background and provide your feedback by filling out the survey.
Rotary Club Calgary Downtown – Granting Priorities Survey – 2024-2026
 
Background:
In August 2023, the Rotary Club Calgary Downtown (RCCD) struck a “Granting Strategy Task Force” (GSTF) to recommend granting strategies, programs, structures, and processes that can guide the Club’s future approach to granting the substantial discretionary funds it dedicates to local initiatives. The GSTF consists of Randy Topolnitsky (Chair), Franco Savoia, Manon Mitchell, Stacey Pinney, and Steve Allan and has also been supported by Tina Overwater and by Sherry Ferronato (Consultant).

The GSTF undertook significant background work, such as researching local community needs, RCCD granting programs, and granting best practices, to inform its preliminary ideas.
 
Focus Groups were then held with RCCD members to gain input regarding the GSTF’s preliminary ideas.  Focus Group feedback revealed a desire to survey Club members regarding one of the key elements of the strategy: the local discretionary granting priorities.
In recent years, much of RCCD’s local discretionary granting has been directed towards the following priority areas that were identified in a late 2021 Club survey done in relation to Major Donations (listed in order of preference indicated through the survey): 
  • Youth at Risk
  • Education
  • Mental Health
  • Food Security
  • Literacy 
 
These interconnected priorities have also aligned well with many existing Club programs and community service activities. For example:
  • The Stay-in-School programs, Community Hubs and the Youth Centres Calgary – Marmie’s House initiatives directly or indirectly address all these priorities;
  • The Christmas Hamper Program responds to Food Security and Youth at Risk;
  • Seniors Socials in the East Village attend to Mental Health and Food Security;
  • Rotary Literacy Bursaries directly speak to Education, Literacy, and Youth at Risk;
  • The development of the Emergency Food Security App helps tackle Food Security.
 
In addition, RCCD accepted the Big Book Sale asset from Calgary Reads over a year ago, and Early Childhood Literacy has thereby emerged as a specific granting priority for RCCD. The Early Childhood Literacy Committee makes decisions regarding grants provided from the proceeds of the Big Book Sale, based on the conditions contained in RCCD’s Memorandum of Understanding with Calgary Reads.
 
 
Survey Considerations:
Below, you will find a link to the survey now being conducted. In providing your ideas regarding RCCD's local discretionary granting priorities, please consider the following:
 
  1. The granting priorities will define local community needs (NOT specific populations) on which the Club can choose to focus its local discretionary granting resources.
     
  2. The priorities are NOT the only areas to which the Club could dedicate its funding and other efforts. Rather, the priorities would provide focus to encourage increased impact.
     
  3. The priorities should be issues which RCCD could realistically have a significant impact, given the Club’s capacity and its existing programs and community service activities.
     
  4. RCCD's mission and vision statements can help guide Club priorities:
  • Just as the mission and vision statements articulate a balance of service to community with service to RCCD members, the granting priorities should also balance confirmed community needs and Club members' wants;
  • The priorities should advance the mission of “making a difference in the lives of others.”
  1. The GSTF will be recommending local discretionary granting priorities for 2024-2026. These priorities should be reviewed periodically (e.g. every 3 years), and can shift with evolving community needs, opportunities, and Club desires. Any such shift should be done thoughtfully and responsibly, considering accountability to partners and grantees as well as RCCD’s capacity to make an impact, including Club members' willingness and ability to invest “time, talent and treasure” in new priority areas. When a priority shift occurs, the responsibility for acting on the priority shift lies with Club members, not Club committees.
     
  2. This survey aims to:
  • Identify the areas of community need that Club members believe RCCD should establish as local discretionary priorities for 2024-26, and  
  • Determine ways in which Club members wish to invest their time, talent, and treasure.
  1. The results of the following survey will be one of the sources that will inform the local discretionary granting strategy recommendations.
     
  2. The focussed priorities could help build a club identity and be used as a tool to help engage members and attract new members
Survey:
 
 
The survey will remain open for 2 weeks.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond.