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11 Capacity-building funding
enables communities to truly build capacity.
Capacity-building funding, designed to respond to each community’s unique combination of challenges, strengths, opportunities, issues and learning along the way, is what truly enables communities to increase capacity over the long term.
No matter how creative and resourceful a community is, funding largely determines the course and outcome of a project. We were fortunate to receive funding support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres. With their support, we learned that pilot or project funding is critical for concrete, time-limited, goal specific projects. We also learned that the organic and developmental process involved in building the capacity of a community requires funding support that is similarly flexible.
There is often stiff competition for funding dollars allocated to Aboriginal issues. Aboriginal and non- aboriginal organizations fight for the same dollars
to work with Aboriginal clients. Typically, Aboriginal organizations do not have sufficient administrative experience and capacity to equitably compete, in part because so much energy is already going to meeting the reporting requirements of multiple funders with numerous stipulations and deadlines.
Understandably, funding support comes with administrative and reporting requirements. Even one additional project with multiple funders adds a significant administrative burden. Currently at the Friendship Centre, there is one book keeper for over 30 programs, with half a dozen funders and multiple reporting requirements.
We learned quickly that creating a collaborative environment, where many organizations come together under a common vision, immediately reduces tensions and builds capacity: we found out about more opportunities, shared skills like proposal writing, engaged in collective problem-solving, and formed new partnerships. We were also fortunate to have the involvement of community members with expertise in the areas of Aboriginal policy and Urban
Aboriginal Strategy development. But even with these unusual strengths, which helped us to leverage dollars and partnership opportunities, and attend to long- term viability issues, we were still beset by capacity challenges throughout the project.
We encountered numerous times when we couldn’t do what the community wanted. We didn’t have the resources or the ideas didn’t fit a particular funding envelope. While we were funded to coordinate the involvement of multiple services and community members, already burdened themselves with challenges and demands, we also needed funding to help us develop our capacity to effectively look for and apply for longer term, sustainable funding. In other words, we experienced different kinds of capacity challenges, all of which took a toll on the project as we constantly sought and applied for additional funds, without necessarily improving our capacity to secure those funds.
Having successfully built trust, encouraged community buy-in, developed a common vision, and having begun programming and research, it is particularly distressing to then experience funding cuts. Unfortunately, this has happened before in Aboriginal communities. In our situation, we had to cancel or reduce support for programs and we lost the trust and support of some of our community members and faced skepticism from others about the future of the work. Having worked so carefully to build relationships and foster participation and support, we needed funding support that could help us weather some of these challenges. In many Aboriginal communities, there is no cushion to help with unexpected losses or unsuccessful proposals. While we have highlighted the funding challenges
we experienced because it is important to share this information, we also want to recognize the significant role that project funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC) played in our overall success.
To learn more about the difference one funder can make, read “How Ontario Trillium Foundation funding helped support our goals.”
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