Maple Leaf Angels is Ontario’s largest and most active angel investor group. Since its founding in 2007, Maple Leaf Angels has invested $6m in start-ups. Maple Leaf Angels is made of about 40 accredited high net worth individuals, business leaders and entrepreneurs mostly from the Greater Toronto Area.  A partnership with the RIC Center opened up a chapter to serve the west GTA.

Maple Leaf Angels hold 10 pitching rounds annual, with an average of about 3 companies per pitch. Maple Leaf Angels is not bias towards any one industry; a start-up from any sector can apply. It is up to individual investors to decide in who they wish to invest and how much. Typically, most investments are in the range of $200 000 to $400 000 and act as the required capital to accelerate the company forward significantly. Investors receive equity or convertible debt.

Applying for the opportunity to pitch is done through an online submission of a business plan. Submission can be done anytime, there are no deadlines. Maple Leaf  Angels acknowledges that it is beneficial to have someone to known to Maple Leaf Angels act as a referral; the referral can be an innovation center (such as MARS), professional service firm (such as  Mckinsey and Company,)  employee of a government funding program or someone who has successfully pitched to Maple Leaf Angels. From around 40 monthly submission, 4 to 6 companies are selected for a 15 minute pitch to a review committee, the top 3 companies are invited to present to investors.

While a perfect business plan is a definite must, having a persuasive pitch is vital. The pitch should focus on the benefits to investors – market size, projected revenues, core competencies, barriers to entry, return on investment and an exit strategy.

From the time that a start-up pitches to investors, it can take between 1 and 4 months to receive a check depending the length of due diligence, negotiations and preparation of necessary legal documents.

Aside from receiving capital, angel investors often offer other benefits such their network of contacts and mentorship.

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions about business plans or pitching to investors. I can be contacted at jorge@jorgeleclair.ca

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ArtReach Toronto is an innovative youth focused and youth driven program with a mandate to support arts initiatives that engage youth who have experienced exclusion in under-served areas of Toronto.

With strong financial support from all three levels of government, funding organizations and donors, ArtReach has committed to spending $1.2 million over 3 years to support projects that encourage creative expression through quality arts opportunities for youth. ArtReach also provides free youth capacity building workshops on fundraising, leadership and non-profit organization administration.

Much like the Youth Challenge Fund, ArtReach embraces a growing social change philosophy that youth should be involved in the design, funding decisions and evaluations of youth programs. In other words, youth must be a vital part in creating solutions to the issues of youth oppression, disengagement, crime and negative influences.

The idea for ArtReach Toronto was created out of 2004 Intergovernmental Roundtable of Art Funders and Foundations (IRAFF) from the recognition youth in the Greater Toronto Area are increasingly find it difficult to access to relevant cultural arts programs. ArtReach Toronto believes that arts programs have high youth appeal and that quality arts experiences/programs can serve as a powerful engagement method; ultimately improving Toronto’s communities, include the city’s priority neighbourhoods.

ArtReach provides grants to non-profit organizations, individual artists or groups of artists for arts initiatives that provide meaningful youth arts opportunities and engage youth aged 13-29 from Toronto’s Priority Neighbourhoods. Youth must be part of every aspect of the project – design, implementation, management and evaluation. ArtReach also tries to fund arts projects that may not supported elsewhere.

Non-profit organizations are eligible to receive $75 000 over 3 years while individual artists or groups of artists are eligible for $10 000 in funding.

Example programs that ArtReach Toronto has funded include:

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples: The Sequel – The program will provide 10 Latino youth with an opportunity to build skills in the art of filmmaking. These youth will have an opportunity to tell their story through the films they develop and screen in the Jane and Finch community. Amount: $24,330

Beyond the Lyrics Youth Resource Centre Inc: Living Through HERstory - a collaborative project that will support young women from Crescent Town to build skills in traditional dance forms, as well as the cultural art form of basket weaving, to develop mouts (Harari baskets) and hats. This inter-generational project also aims to engage young women in discussions around their experiences with respect to identity and familial disconnect. Amount: $17,550

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Change12 was born in 2007 from Saeed’s vision of starting an organization that would bring about youth led change by empowering other youth, inspiring them to recognize their potential and combat apathy by being civically engaged.

Like any start up organization, Change12 faced a myriad of challenges – building organizational capacity, recruiting talent, fundraising, finding support, incorporating and obtaining charity status, etc. Adding to the challenges was that as an entirely youth run organization, its members were not in a financial position to strongly contribute to Change12.

Nonetheless Change12 prevailed. It was able to fundraise tens of thousands in donations and in-kind support. Since 2007, it has met weekly to plan projects strategically geared towards social change. Using money from donors and fundraising events Change12 created 2 powerful programs. In 2008, Change12 implemented project 1 MIC which involved 100 participants over 8 weeks in a program that promoted public speaking and leadership skills as well as a vision that one youth with just one microphone could change the world. In 2008-2009 Change12 worked with the CBC to create a program called Change It Up TV that showcased stories of Canadian youth achieving social change and better their communities; the program aired on TV with a viewership of 27 000 and distributed many DVD copies of the program.

These results demonstrated the passion of the team and were a clear indicator of what a few dedicated young people could do to make a difference.
Saeed is passionate about fostering a more youth friendly world. He has personally seen the negative consequences that result when society fails its youth. Saeed believes that in every youth is the potential for greatness and that access to opportunities as well as role models are major factors in helping youth self-actualize. Saeed continues to enjoy being an active member of the communities around him. He is currently an advisor to the Toronto Police Services, Chief of Police on youth matters and initiated “Youth Speak Out to Youth” press conference in response to the 2005 “Boxing Day Shootings”. Equity and tolerance are close to Saeed’s heart. Prior to his work with Change12, Saeed created 4 innovative projects tackling youth poverty, apathy, marginalization and disenfranchisement.

Valerie is one who believes in the power of love. She defines love as both the desire to help others and the passion to dream. This phrase certainly permeates everything she stands for. She decided to engage herself in Change12 to empower youth to achieve their goals, persuade them to get involved in contemporary political issues, and ultimately spread a positive message: small changes can make big differences. With this organization she will change attitudes, mindsets, and actions. She is passionate about youth engagement and she aspires to create a more inclusive society one step at a time.

Saeed and Valerie are currently University of Toronto students completing an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Equity Studies.

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I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to present a workshop on developing funding strategies for technology projects for the My Charity Connects Conference taking place on June 8 and 9 2009 at Mars Discovery District in Toronto.

My Charity Connects is a conference put on by Canadahelps.org – Canada’s premier fundraising web service which simplifies online fundraising by allowing individuals to donate to charities of their choosing through Canadahelps.org. The conference will bring together over 250 non-profit leaders as well as marketing professionals who will learn and share ideas about using technology to achieve social change. Comprised of 4 keynotes and 25 workshops on various “philanthropy 2.0” topics including social networking, online fundraising campaigns, e-newsletters and blogs, attendees will walk away with decision making tips, best practices, new ideas and a greater sense of return on investment.

My Charity Connects is part of Net Change Week – a week long city wide event put on by Mars Discovery District designed to dissolve the divide between digital professionals and social change-makers. Information about other exciting Net Change Week events can be found at http://netchangeweek.ca

My Charity Connects conferences fees are: $250 (+$12.50 GST) for Ontario based charities and nonprofits and $375 (+$18.75 GST) for charities and nonprofits based outside of Ontario. The difference in price is due to the fact the Ontario Trillium Foundation is supporting Ontario based non-profits by subsidizing $125 towards the conference fee.

Registration and more detailed information can be found at http://mycharityconnects.org/conference

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According to a Kintera/Luth Nonprofit Trend Report, ¹ “65 percent of donors visit at least one of the websites of the charities they support, and 40 percent always go online before making a giving decision.”

Online fundraising has the potential to be a huge windfall for non-profit organizations. An advantage of online fundraising is that it has overall lower costs. Another key strength is that when a donor gives, metrics software can provide vital information that includes donors contact details as well as demographic and psychographic data that can help a NPOs marketing/donor relations team. The bottom line is that a non-profit organization that is not engaged in online fundraising is missing out on a major donor segment.

Why are NPOs not pursuing online fundraising? The main reasons are a lack of understanding of the value of online fundraising, not possessing the skills to implement it or believing that they don’t have the budget for it.

NPOs do not need to be experts in online fundraising, they just need to be able seek out the services of a consultant that can help them. Hiring a consultant is not as expensive as one might think. While consultants working at firms with high profile clients will be at the expensive end, independent consultants or student/interns will be at more affordable end. An independent consultant will charge approximately $4000 – $6000 for a website with online donation capability; this fee will also include coaching on how to maintain the website, staff training, plus designing a strategic plan to use the site to build better donor relations and reach fundraising targets.

Another option for NPOs is to use Canadahelps.org – a cost effective web service that simplifies online fundraising by allowing individuals to donate to charities of their choosing through Canadahelps.org. For charities it’s an easier less expensive means of raising funds online and for donors it’s a trustable, one stop shop for giving.

Canadahelps.org is a simple process. NPOs create a profile that describes their cause. In the interest of transparency, charities can even permit donors to designate their funds directly to specific projects, a capital campaign or a room in a new building, etc. Potential donors can search for any charity in Canada and donate using their credit card. Donors can donate once or through a payment schedule. Canadahelps.org also accepts cash or securities such as stocks and bonds. What Canadahelps.org does not allow are payments for non-charitable gifts such as memberships, event registration or product purchases. Since it’s a registered charitable foundation, donors are issued a tax receipt. Donations are transferred to a NPO’s bank account minus a 3% transaction fee. Charities are notified by email that their accounts have received a donation. The website also provides donor research data that can be used to foster better donor relations.

An alternative that Canadahelps.org provides is that allows a NPO to use its own website a donation portal while processing transactions through Canadahelps.org. This is accomplished by adding a simple “Donate Button” to an NPO’s existing website.

Online fundraising is constantly evolving and new trends are constantly appearing. The most important trend is that online fundraising is here to stay and will continue to grow. It should be part of any organization’s comprehensive long term and sustainable fundraising strategy.

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Business Incubators are programs that help grow early stage, yet commercially promising ideas through a support program. Business Incubators are growing in popularity. Assistance usually includes mentorship from experienced business managers, marketing training, business strategy development, introduction to a valuable network of contacts, financing and help connecting with investors.

According to the Financial Post, “Statistically, 80% of companies that go through an incubator program are still around 3 to 4 years after start up. That compares with 25% of start-ups that go it alone¹.”

The TFBI’s 2,000 sq ft. facility provides an insured kitchen available 24 hours every day, plus a range of commercial food processing and packaging equipment. TFBI participants are instructed on food safety, applicable regulations, taught technical equipment use, introduced to industry contacts and mentored in business as well as sales. A key benefit is that participants can sell their products through the St. Lawrence Market to consumers.

Selection for the program is competitive based on entrepreneurial skills, aptitude for learning, demonstrating a need for access to TFBI and making a strong case for commercial viability. Members are able to participate in the program for up to a maximum of 3 years.

To help offset the TFBI’s operational costs, the program has registration fees. The first 3 months are $1000 and the next 3 months are $1800.

TFBI has already had many success stories. Will yours be the next one?

Further information can be found: http://www.tfbi.ca

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This is the vision that I presented at the Ontario Public Service 2007 Spirit Program launch. I was asked by both the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to be the lead guest speaker for the 2007 Spirit Program, focusing on the issue of Developing Youth.

I presented my vision for Canada’s youth which was inspired by my work in youth programs development and I spoke about how professionals can improve the lives of youth through volunteering.

The Spirit program encourages and recognizes Ontario Public Service employees who better their communities through volunteering. Every year, Spirit selects an area of focus; examples have included literacy, tsunami relief and Habitat for Humanity.

The enthusiasm that OPS employees demonstrate towards helping their communities is an important lesson for community organizations.

Organizations should think of donors as more than just sources of money. Volunteering is a powerful form of donation, which can result in successful fundraising. Volunteers can contribute their professional knowledge in areas such as advising your leadership team, guest speaking, research, public relations, event planning, etc. Sometimes, instead of fundraising, a more practical solution is to recruit volunteers who can provide the professional skills that your organization is missing.

Should you wish a copy of my presentation or speech, I can be contacted here.

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