Civic Footprint Blog

Tornadoes and Earthquakes and Heat Waves, Oh My!

Emily Hazell — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 19:28:29 +0000

When travelling in South East Asia a couple of years back, I remember thinking how tranquil and peaceful living in Canada was, with our relatively mundane weather and lack of life-threatening natural disasters. More recently however, it seems I have been proven wrong in my naive perspectives. With the onset of tornadoes, earthquakes and heat waves happening across Ontario perhaps we no longer live in a serene area defined by snowy winters, sunny summers and some moderate seasons in between?

Talks of global warming have been prominent in last decade yet it seems few have made the fundamental changes necessary to reverse the inevitable changes coming our way. Whether you acknowledge impacts of Global warming or not, we can all agree that adopting more sustainable ways is always a best practice.

So how do you get started?

Well, a quick Google search of ‘how to be sustainable’ will result in numerous sources with expertise in everything from how to be sustainable at home or the office, to sustainable business practices and communities and sustainable living guides in general. However if you’d like to chat in person with some local experts in sustainability and green living there are a couple of shows coming up in August that could put you in the right direction.

The Green Lifestyle Show:

August 21st, 2010: To showcase Green Businesses and Organizations to the general public. 308 Green Candiditates and 400 Green Convention participants and their families from across Canada will demonstrate ways of living that embody and inspire Green Policies. Check out their site for more details.

Live Green Toronto Festival

August 28th and 29th, 2010: Toronto’s annual celebration of all things green turns Yonge Street into ‘green street’ with more than 100 exhibitors of green products and services, local food, live music, and more Check out their site for more details.

5th Calgary Timeraiser – 6,825 hours raised!

Civic Footprint — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:12:29 +0000

Last Saturday, June 17th, over 450 people energetically rolled Flames Central to participate in Cow Town’s fifth Timeraiser. When the doors opened at 7pm, there was already a lineup of people ready to get on with talking to agencies, checking out amazing local art, and meeting new people.

There were lots of highlights. The first is obviously that we exceeded our goal of raising 6,500 hours – the total amount pledged by participants at the 5th Calgary Timeraiser is 6,825! Good work Calgary!

We were thrilled with the support leading up to, and at the Timeraiser. Our founding partners in Calgary were in attendance. Thank you Enbridge, Nexen and First Calgary Savings! Your ongoing support is invaluable.

And of course we had reps from WestJet, our wonderful national presenting partner. We live streamed the Timeraiser via Twitter and received a tweet a minute! A lot of posts talked about our WestJet partnership and the contest we ran. On creative Timeraiser attendee won a pair of tickets to anywhere WestJet flies with her entry: “Timeraiser is a perfect storm. It connects passionate agencies with eager volunteers who are all interested in the same thing: making and sustaining great communities!”

One notable tweet was from W. Brett Wilson from CBC’s Dragon’s Den who stopped by to check out his first Timeraiser: “Am at #TimeRaiser event in Calgary. Incredible vision. Love the model. @WestJet stepped up big. Google it!” Brett is a huge supporter of local Calgary causes and we were stoked he dropped in.

Another new feature of this Timeraiser was a fun contest sponsored by WIND Mobile. One lucky attendee won a BlackBerry Bold 9700 as well as a month Always Shout voice plan on the WIND network. What a nice perk! Thanks WIND Mobile for highlighting the power of conversation!

In additional to all the great conversations between volunteers and agencies, many of this year’s artist were in attendance too. (Here’s Kimberley Weiting, a Timeraiser veteran!) It’s a great chance to meet artists and talk about their work. The $17,000 that Timeraiser paid to local artists this year alone, on behalf of our corporate partners, makes a big difference in their careers.

As the night wound down, I heard from a lot of the 28 agencies that were in the room – they were all super positive about the conversations they had, the enthusiasm of the participants, and the vibe in the room. I also had the fun job of talking with this year’s art winners – I love seeing their excitement! And while others left a bit disappointed that they didn’t win art, I still heard, “Ya, it’s too bad. But I’ll still be volunteering of course!”

If you want to see some lovely pictures from the night, check out Jeremy Fokkens‘ images here, he graciously volunteered to document the night for us.

Speaking of volunteers, THANKS to the 30 volunteers who helped make this night such a success. A special shout out to our emcees for the night, Kelly Doody (Kelly now writes occassionally for the Calgary Herald, check out her article about Timeraiser here) and Roger Kingkade from X 92.9 radio as well as our community partners Volunteer Calgary and Because, a United Way Initiative.

All in all, our fifth year in Calgary was a smashing success! Thanks to everyone who attended. We look forward to hearing stories about your volunteer experiences! See you next year, June 2011, for the 6th Calgary Timeraiser.

Live from the 5th Calgary Timeraiser!

Amanda Grainger — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 19:46:23 +0000

Welcome to our live broadcast of the 5th Calgary Timeraiser at Flames Central. Tonight we are hosting an exciting social media contest with WesJet.

Want to win a pair of tickets to ANYWHERE WESTJET FLIES?*

How to Enter:

1. Attend tonight’s Timeraiser (doors open at 7pm)

2. Send a tweet about the Timeraiser using your mobile phone. Entries MUST include the hashtag #Timeraiser, #TRWJ, or #TimeraiserWJ. Don’t have a Twitter account? Enter at our Civic Footprint Kiosk!

3. Watch the entries LIVE on our Civic Footprint Blog (live stream begins at 7pm). Winners will be announced later this evening.
Live from the 5th Calgary Timeraiser

Book Review: Canada’s Locavore Inspires Young Farmers and Urban Farming

Amanda Grainger — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:12:06 +0000

Sarah Elton’s Locavore is everything I love in a foodie read; detailed descriptions of organic, local food sources, a history (and shared love for) artisanal cheese in Canada, and lots of shout-outs to interesting community-based agriculture and food security organizations across Canada.

Sarah Elton, Food Columnist for CBC Radio’s Here and Now, details several unique and innovative farming organizations across Canada – such as Everdale Farm in Ontario and the Really Local Harvest Co-op in New Brunswick.

In her book, Sarah describes her travels across Canada talking to farmers working to supply Canada with healthy and sustainable food. I am particularly interested in the different urban farming initatives happening in Toronto, New Brunswick and Vancouver. I am now much more aware of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs that provide opportunities for micro-investing, sometimes in exchange for a weekly food basket. Elton describes the need to reinvent what farming looks like to Canada in order to sustain economical and eco-friendly food sources for our country.

Of note was Elton’s detailed descriptions of non-profit organizations across Canada working on bringing healthy and sustainable food to all residents – organizations such as Slow Food Toronto, The Stop and many more.

A highlight of the book for me was in the description of off-season, or year round farming in Canada. Though selecting local food choices may be easier in the summer months, it takes dedication and persistence for me to eat primarily Ontario grown vegetables and fruits in the deep winter months.

Growing local, organic lettuce and tomatoes in the thick of January seems wildly optimistic, it is a reality for some Ontario farmers using green technology to harvest healthy produce in the harshest of Canadian winter conditions. A strong Call to Action is needed for young, urban farmers to revitalize Canadian farming; Elton’s book provides the details on what this new future may entail, and the work needed to get us there.

After polishing off this current and insightful read, I feel encouraged and excited by new opportunities for Canadian Agriculture and the locavore movement. If you’re interested in Food Security, sustainable, organic and local food sources, and current information about business opportunities related to Canadian farming, Locavore must be on your summer read list.

Speaking of Food Security, Meal Exchange is currently hosting an awesome contest with the MMVAs. Check out their Facebook page for more info.

Logistics, Logistics, Logistics. Buy, Rent, Lease

Anil Patel — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:43:04 +0000

“Hairballs”. This is a word that I’ve been using a lot lately. I am not even really sure what it means, except it is always on the tip of my tongue whenever we are on the road picking up or dropping off Timeraiser materials: it is very time consuming. We have easels, lights, tents, registration supplies, painting supplies, clocks, hammers, drills, and bubble wrap. Essentially, a van full stuff. This does not include all the other things that we have to rent each Timeraiser from party rental supply companies. Rentals such as tables, chairs, glassware, and linens.
Here is what work is required leading up and shortly thereafter a Timeraiser:

+ 3 Days = Pick-up artwork from corporate partners, wrap each work of art safely for transportation

+ 2 Days = Final confirmation with vendors about their drop off and pick up

+ 1 Day = Travel to storage locker, load van with supplies, including print material from Eva’s Print Shop, The Printing House or IDA Print

Show time = Timeraiser (12 hours of set-up, tear-down)

- 1 Day = Travel to storage locker, unload van with supplies

-2 Days = Drop off art to corporate partners

All, in all, lots of logistics. Logistics takes up about 15% of our time and energy to make sure things are delivered on time and where they are supposed to be. It also means that we are doing lots of calculations on whether to buy, rent or lease materials or supplies. For instance, do we rent easels at $10 per use or buy for $25 per easel, but get to use each easel 4 time per year (add storage cost of $250/year for 4 square feet of the storage)

Lease Over three years = $20 x 10 x 3 years x 4 Timeraisers = $2,400
Purchase Over three years = $25 x 10 = $250 + (10% locker space @ $2,000/year) x 3 years = $1,350

These are rough calculations, but illustrates a growing level of financial and logistics planning that our team is doing more frequently. We will be contacting seasoned professionals to look at our annual plans and logistics to weigh-in on our options to keep costs down while at the same time scaling the program.

There is something living on my roof…

Civic Footprint — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:52:33 +0000

We know it is more important to watch what we eat, ensuring our food sources are organic and locally grown. We know that we should bike more and drive less, and turn off our lights when we are not home and take shorter showers. We know about the “green” movement. The practice of living green has emerged and bloomed in recent years, but there is one idea of particular note to our city: The Green Roof. The modern green rooftop, as we know it, originated in Germany at the turn of the 19^th century and has come to be widely recognized in many large cities and economic hubs in North America such as New York, Chicago, Washington and Montreal.

One of my favourite postmodern artists, Freidensreich Hundertwasser, was also an architect who loudly expressed his ideas of green rooftops and his desire for plants and nature to play an integral part in our living spaces. He saw spontaneous vegetation, wooden floors, green rooftops and grazing animals on green spaces in our future, and to some extent those ideas have come to life here in Toronto!

There are some really cool designs up on our city rooftops and besides being aesthetically pleasing, these spaces also help reduce urban heat, manage storm water, enhance biodiversity, improve air quality and improve energy efficiency. In general, very few people look at their rooftops and an even fewer number utilize that space; however, it can be said that those in apartments are the ones who could really benefit from having their own “backyards”. Green rooftops are beautiful spaces that create more room, a place to relax out of sight, and ultimately benefit the environment. Luckily for us, the demand for such “green” spaces is quickly catching on – the Mountain Equipment Co-op Building on King St West has implemented a 10,000 sq foot green rooftop with exclusively Canadian native plants. While not public space, MEC’s roof is open to visitors during several annual festivals, such as Doors Open Toronto. With their mission to be a leading sustainable company, MEC also engages the community at their King St. location through volunteer-driven initiatives such as BikeFest, PaddleFest Toronto and eco-gift wrapping during the holiday season.

Toronto has not yet made the Green Rooftops Top Ten Cities list in North America but with so many environmentally sustainable innovations taking place, I am sure Toronto will be up there soon. Recently, the Eco-Roof Incentives Grant was passed to promote sustainable practises among existing and new businesses. Furthermore, Toronto won the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Sustainable Community Award for its green roof strategy. Kudos to Toronto for setting a “green” example in Canada. You can check out their progress here!

- Martina Marsic

Federation of Metro Tenants Association Annual Fundraiser

Emily Hazell — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 18:52:32 +0000

I am currently in the “wonderful” process of finding a new apartment to rent this summer. If you’re like me (and the majority of Torontonians) who describe yourselves as a perpetual renters, then I would advise you learn about the Federation of Metro Tenants Assocation (FMTA).

The FMTA is a non-profit Organization which advocates for better rights for Tenants. Founded in 1974, they are the oldest and largest Tenant Federation in Canada and are comprised of affiliated Tenant Associations and of individual Members that equal over 3,000 individuals altogether.

To celebrate the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations 36th year in existence they are holding their annual Fundraising Gala tonight (June 4th). FMTA are inviting their supporters to come out and enjoy the delicious buffet, dancing and an exciting raffle.

Check out their Facebook Fan Page for more details.

Here’s some small insight into what FMTA’s accomplished most recently:

rallied successfully against the implementation of smart sub-metering
improved Toronto by-law to protect rental housing
helped fight hundreds of rent increase applications affecting thousands of tenants
helped thousands of tenants on our Tenant Hotline
successfully exposed and shut down an illegal database with tenant information on it
prompted new rulings on tenant issues by the Federal Privacy Commissioner
highlighted issues and abuses with Automatic Rent Reductions on TV, radio, and in print
got low-income buildings audited by the MRAB program and spoke about the program in the media
played a major rule in funding and creating the Tenant School

If that’s not enough they are currently working hard to:

bring in real rent protection for all tenants
ensure fair laws so that tenants don’t get bad with smart sub-metering
improve environmental action in apartment buildings
improve the Landlord and Tenant Board by making it easier for tenants to get justice when landlords violate the Residential Tenancies Act
educate more and more tenants about their rights

It’s nice to know there is a dedicated group of individuals working hard to ensure proper tenant rights, so here’s a Civic Footprint High Five to everyone that is working for or associated to the FMTA. Be sure to check out their Website and Facebook Fan Page to learn how you can get involved.

Salesforce.com for Non-Profits. An evening with Forrester, Hot Docs, Architech Solutions and Timeraiser

Amanda Grainger — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:40:26 +0000

I was invited to speak at the Salesforce.com for non-profits introductory session hosted by Architech Solutions on June 2nd at the Ivey Leadership Centre. Timeraiser presented alongside Forrester Research, Architech Solutions, and Hot Docs. It was a great to hear Forrester’s approach to planning CRM adoption and get a peak at Hot Docs application of Salesforce.com. Forrester has many great resources and advice for addressing a move to the Cloud, specifically related to adopting a new CRM. I am excited to try out Forrester’s CRM Risk Assessment Self-Evaluation Tool – offered at the evening’s session. One key highlight from Steve Wilkes’ talk was the importance of business planning and goal setting prior to selecting a CRM tool. He highlighted the need to address risk, security needs, and define your organization’s goals for a customer relationship management tool before migrating content and contacts (investing significant resources). Valuable advice.

For our portion of the evening, I chatted Google Apps, Salesforce.com and our “Create Information Once, Distribute it Widely, Access it Anywhere” motto. After a brief overview of the Timeraiser program, I dove into our Cloud Computing strategy and open-architecture goals, something we’ve documented in detail on our blog. I’m so thrilled with the level of interest in Salesforce.com for non-profits, and happy to recieve praise for the open approach we’ve taken in our IT strategy.

Thanks to Andrew Sinclair from Architech Solutions for hosting the event, and for inviting Timeraiser to demo our use of some very cool cloud tools. My presentation is below, and you can find out a lot more about our use of the cloud in these two videos.

Timeraiser and Salesforce on Prezi

2nd Edmonton Timeraiser – Agency and Art Selection

Anil Patel — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:45:36 +0000

We just had a marathon session selecting the art and agencies that will be participating at the 2nd Edmonton Timeraiser. We had a record number of submissions. Over 50 agencies and 130 artists. The two jury teams had some tough choices to make: we only have room for 20 artists and 20 agencies at the Transalta Arts Barn.

The jury consisted of local Edmontonians who are in the know of the cities art and philanthropic community.

Over the course of 2.5 hours, the art jury team deliberated about what artwork would generate the most hours AND be a meaningful investment in his/her career. A very subjective process, but very fair and balanced. As was the agency selection. Here the team explored each organization’s range of volunteer opportunities and capacity to engage, as well as the mix of organizations that covered a gamete of causes. Environment. Social Services. Education. Sports & Recreation. Arts & Culture. International Development.

A special thanks to United Way of Alberta’s Capital Region for hosting the selection night, and all the volunteers who sat in on both jurys. We will be contacting all the artists and agencies directly with next steps. However, here is the sneak peak at who was selected:

1. Alberta AdaptAbilities Association
2. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area
3. Boyle Street Community Sevices
4. Canadian Cancer Society – Alberta/NWT Division
5. Canadian Celiac Association – Edmonton Chapter
6. Canadian Mental Health Association – Edmonton Region
7. Edmonton Immigrant Services Association (EISA)
8. Edmonton Opera Assonciation
9. Edmonton Social Planning Council
10.Edmonton’s Food Bank
11.Fringe Theatre Adventures
12.Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital
13.Humane Animal Rescue Team
14.Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT
15.Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton
16.Special Olympics Edmonton
17.The Pride Centre of Edmonton
18.The Support Network
19.The Works International Visual Arts Society
20.Youth Emergency Shelter Society

Stay tuned. In the early fall, we will be hosting a kick off night several weeks before the actual Timeraiser. This is where we will be handing out over $10,000 in cheques to artists, and our founding corporate partner Enbridge will be on hand to say a few remarks to the artists in attendance. The 2nd Edmonton Timeraiser is Saturday October 16th. Tickets will go on sale in early September.

5th Calgary Timeraiser Kick Off Weekend Extravaganza

Anil Patel — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:50:51 +0000

Wow. Team Timeraiser got a lot done the past four days. With the 5th Cowtown Timeraiser just a few weeks away, we wanted to make sure this Timeraiser is our best to date. Here are the highlights:

Thursday – Kick Off Night
Thursday evening we had our Timeraiser kick off night at the Wind Mobile Store on 17th Avenue. A small gathering of 50 people packed the store. Artists, volunteers and sponsors mixed and mingled. WindMobile Area manager Dan MacDonald gave opening remarks. We were happy to have three founding sponsors were in attendance. Lennina Pavon Cardoso from Enbridge Inc spoke about the importance of investing in Canada’s art community. Dani Deboice was representing both First Calgary Savings and as Volunteer Calgary’s board chair. Volunteer Calgary’s Buffy St Amand was also there. Robin Greschner was representing Nexen (and fellow Queen’s Grad). Roger and Candice from 92.9 FM radio dropped in to say hi (Roger is our emcee this year). And several volunteers from United Way of Calgary and Area’s Because initiative were also in attendance. After the artwork was exchanged for cheques, and speeches given, Wind Mobile raffled off a phone and one month data plan for artists. Bille Rae Busby won.

Friday – Promotional Material Drop Off
Jen and I spent most of Friday dropping off promotional material all across Calgary. We delivered posters and flyers to dozens of businesses. The next time you go into a First Calgary Saving’s branch, you’ll see our print material on their community board. We also finished our last video edit for their Facebook page at 4 pm.

Saturday – Neighbourhood Day
Over a dozen volunteers, mainly from United Way of Calgary and Area’s Because Initiative, gathered at Wildernest for an amazing brunch before fanning out across the city. The group split up into five teams. Each team spent two hours handing out posters and flyers in Kensington, 4th Street, Inglewood, Stephen Avenue and 17th Avenue. We hit over 150 stores and had 50+ quality conversations. A hugely successful campaign. Our past experience is at least 10% of our ticket sales come from doing this.

Sunday – Lilac Festival
Despite the cold weather, we set-up a tent for the day. This is our forth straight year attending the event. Our was location primo: right by the Rose & Crown beer garden. We had a small selection of artwork on display. From 10 am till 6 pm, our team of volunteers spoke to hundreds of people who passed by our tent. Our team also walked up and down the strip on 4th Street. We also stopped off at Wordfest, City of Calgary, Katimavik, WinSport and dozens of other vendors to spread the word. We had an iPad with 3G service to power our #WestJet contest, and snapped a dozen plus photos with our Google Nexus One Phone powered by Wind Mobile.

Thanks to our Volunteers
A big, big thanks to our super volunteers for all their help. And special shout out to Lynn McKendrick, Bib Patel, Stew McDonough, Jeff Pearson, Rhiannon McDonald, Carm Coccimiglio for their extraordinary effort these past few days.

With all this effort, we are sure the 5th Calgary Timeraiser on Thursday June 17th is going to be a great success! Get your tickets soon. A final big thanks to our national sponsor WestJet. We will be raffling off a pair of tickets anywhere WestJet flies at the Timeraiser. Check out how you can win.