Frequently Asked Questions
Towards Collaborative Action
Why did we rebrand?
At a time when demand on charitable services is at an all time high and donations are on the decline, the board of Children’s Aid Foundation Ontario, formerly Peel Children’s Aid Foundation, chose measured risk to blaze a new trail for equity deserving children, youth and families in Ontario. Research into philanthropic support for child welfare agencies in Ontario uncovered an inequitable distribution of philanthropic support. Further, at the time of writing, 23 of 50 agencies do not have any additional support outside of government. The rebrand provides an umbrella under which we can begin to provide support to less well-resourced parts of the province.
Why rebrand without first “signing up” and getting agreement from all CAS’s/CAF’s across the province?
The decision to move forward without broad involvement and agreement relates to several intersecting concepts – a sector in crisis, principles of change management and the idea that change happens at the speed of trust. Other organizations within the system have changed their names and understand this is an internal decision between the Foundation and the CAS they serve.
The charitable sector is facing an unprecedented time of crisis. Growing demand for services in the face of declining donations means that more organizations
are closing their doors. One approach to addressing this crisis is collaboration and scale. A recent Ontario Nonprofit Network report identified that:
- 22% of Canadians expect to rely on charities for basic needs. That’s an 8% increase in nine months.
- 40.3% of charities have experienced a lasting increase in demand since the pandemic.
- 50.8% of charities are highly concerned about staff burnout.
- 57.3% of charities cannot meet current levels of demand.
- 31.5% of charities raised fewer funds in 2022.
- 55.2% of charities have fewer volunteers than before the pandemic.
Change, in a deeply entrenched system, will take daring leadership, radical listening, vulnerability-based trust and strong hearts that keep equity deserving children, youth and families at the centre of decisions. Martin Luther King said, “You don’t have to see the end of the staircase to take the first step.” Our experience as new leaders in the child welfare sector gave us a perspective that suggested we should lead on the first step, and now, implement a strategic, thoughtful and trailblazing approach to collaboration.
Research tells us that projects that adopt a change management approach like the one outlined below, have a 77% greater chance of achieving success than those that do not. While we are mindful of change management principles, we also recognize that this project requires daring, respectful and inclusive leadership. We took the first step without seeing the end of the staircase.
Understanding that sometimes change requires us to take the first step without seeing the end of the staircase, we forged ahead and over the course of 14 months, undertook a process to change our name from Peel CAF to Children’s Aid Foundation Ontario. The new name is the first step in a process to allow CAF-ON to offer services to other CAF/CAS’s in Ontario who wish to work together to raise funds for their local organization but may lack the expertise or infrastructure to do so. Participation in this collaborative effort is voluntary.
How will you make sure you raise funds ethically without confusing donors about how funds will be used and that you are not raising for the whole province?
As with any fundraising effort, we will be transparent about all aspects of this work and abide by the ethical code of practice for fundraising professionals. We are committed to producing donor communications that are accurate, reflect our mission, and the intended use of funds raised. We are committed to using donor funds in accordance with donor intentions. We seek to increase the pool of donors and philanthropic funds to the child welfare sector. We understand that donors decide how they wish to provide support, and we will present ourselves ethically, transparently and honestly in all of our communications.
How will you decide which organizations to work alongside?
CAF-ON will work together with organizations to build capacity to serve populations that experience significant barriers. We will work with those child welfare organizations that choose to work with us. We expect that the majority of these will come from among the 23 agencies that are not currently raising any funds outside of government.
As an organization that resides in a resource rich part of the province, our goal is to support those who may lack critical support infrastructures such as fundraising departments, or community organizations to whom they can refer youth/families. We seek to help agencies whose children and youth may face increased social problems due to isolation and lack of resources.
How will you make sure our agency or region is represented on the CAF Ontario board?
We do not plan to create a geographically represented board of directors. We will continue to grow our board of directors to focus on fundraising as well as overall governance of the organization based on best practice in the nonprofit sector. A new governance and nominations committee of the board will ensure excellence in board recruitment, development, evaluation and oversight. We welcome your feedback on potential board members who will focus on the work of inspiring philanthropic support.
How will you make sure you are not seeking funds from organizations that are already supporting another CAS/CAF in Ontario?
There is currently no mechanism in place to keep different agencies across the province from approaching a potential funder who may already support the Children’s Aid Foundation Canada or one of the local agencies/foundations. As a first step towards a more coordinated approach, fundraising initiatives taken on by CAF-ON for organizations outside of Peel Region will be managed through individual memorandums of understanding. These MOU’s will address at a minimum:
- Administrative fee for CAF-ON
- Project details & key project leaders
- Prospect lists and do not contact lists
- Agreement on fund distribution
- Reporting requirements
- Delegation of duties