Since 2008, the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation has been focused on one extremely ambitious goal: raise $200 million to build a new children’s hospital.
“We had to keep the goalpost in mind,” foundation CEO Teri Nicholas told Business in Vancouver.
“Sometimes finishing the campaign is difficult, but I think for us it really served as the motivator for us within the foundation and for the tremendous volunteers who have been working with us.”
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation tops BIV’s list of biggest B.C. charities in the health category.
The other categories include educational, environmental, social and registered foundations.
Imagine Canada, a national organization that supports Canadian charities, reports that leaders of charities are more confident now than they were in 2011 and 2012. However, one in seven charities is still under a high level of financial strain.
Charities are struggling to find stable sources of funding and to retain staff, said Cathy Barr, Imagine Canada senior vice-president.
“They’re competing for the same labour market as government and private industry, but they can’t offer as competitive a salary.”
Volunteering is also a challenge, as the number of long-term volunteers continues to drop.
That puts additional pressure on staff, Barr said.
While many charities still rely on some government funding, it increasingly comes with difficult time frames and onerous reporting requirements.
Charities are consequently turning to other sources, such as corporate donors, and models, like social enterprises.
Giving has also flatlined. Approximately 20% of the population contributes 80% of donations to charities.
Sara MacDonald can attest to the slowing growth rate of charitable donations.
“One of the challenges all charities are facing is that new donors are harder and harder to come by,” said MacDonald, director of business and partnership for the Knowledge Network, B.C.’s public television broadcaster.
“What we see is that fewer donors are giving more money.”
In an effort to keep connected with individual viewers – who provide most of the organization’s donations – the Knowledge Network plans to launch a new website this spring to offer more programs online. It will also include messaging about the organization’s reliance on donations.
“It will be more personalized and tailored to users’ interest,” MacDonald said.
“The more we can serve people with challenging, inspiring, commercial-free content, I hope that they’ll see the value in that and support it.”
Connecting with donors is also a preoccupation for the Vancouver Aquarium.
The organization has a capital campaign on the go, and plans to open an expanded facility next June.
At the same time, it needs to raise funds to operate existing programming.
Most of the aquarium’s donations come from corporate donors, said Dolf DeJong, vice-president of education and conservation.
But when building relationships with donors, fundraisers try to secure funds for both the expansion and the educational programming and conservation projects.
“We want to build these needs together: the physical needs of the aquarium as well as activation and achieving our mission,” DeJong said.
The Vancouver Aquarium has also found ways to satisfy corporations’ desire to provide staff engagement activities, such as participation in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, an annual conservation event.
For the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, connecting with volunteers, who have provided the muscle of the capital campaign, is vital.
Although volunteerism rates might be declining in Canada, Nicholas sees an intergenerational effort being made for the foundation’s compelling cause.
“A number of our volunteers are getting their adult children involved,” Nicholas said. “They’re passing on volunteerism and philanthropy to their children.”
Lead the way by finding your charitable passion
Yuri Fulmer, CEO of FDC Capital, sits on the boards of several charities, including the United Way and the Vancouver Foundation.
For Fulmer, there is a simple compelling reason that members of British Columbia’s business community should get involved with charities.
“People who are leaders in the business community need to be leaders in the community,” Fulmer said.
When it comes to picking a charity to support, Fulmer strongly advises choosing a cause that you can be passionate about – really passionate.
That might mean selecting a smaller charity or a cause that, while important, doesn’t have a high profile.
“You’re going to be asked to talk about this to your friends, to raise money from your friends, to raise money from your boss,” he said.
“It’s got to be something you’re almost evangelical about.”
Fulmer is a donor and fundraiser for the CKNW Orphans’ Fund, a charity that raises money to help children living in poverty.
Fulmer said he became involved because the fund gives small grants on a quick turnaround to families in need.
“When people need something desperately for their kids, they need it now,” he said.
Fulmer will be participating in the CKNW Orphans’ Fund Pledge Drive Day on December 6, a 14-hour broadcast that airs on CKNW.
Business in Vancouver editor-in-chief Fiona Anderson will also participate in the event.
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