Blog

We are delighted and excited to welcome Brad Stone as our first guest blogger of 2012.  “Conversations With Brad” is our new series of blogs, Q&As, and discussion about First Nations issues in Canada, particularly around youth and environmental sustainability.

Simply leave a comment below with a question for Brad, and over the next few months we will try to discuss and address these questions.  You can also e-mail questions or discussion topics to info@smallchangefund.org with Conversations With Brad in the subject line.

Now, an introduction from Brad…….

Hau! (Dakota)
Tansi! (Plains Cree)
Hello! (English)

My name is Brad Stone, I am originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, but to be more specific, home to me is Whitecap Dakota First Nation (which is a stone’s throw away from Saskatoon, no pun intended). I am of Plains Cree and Dakota ancestry, and take great pride in who I am as a First Nations person.  I do my best to live this life in a good way and stay thankful for the opportunities presented each day. I have been taught by elders and healers that this gift of life is sacred and that our spirit can guide us in such a positive and powerful way along this journey of life.

I briefly went to university to pursue a Bachelor of Education in hopes of becoming a school teacher. However, I didn’t complete my studies and it is a big regret of mine.  Eventually I hope to return to post-secondary studies to pursue a degree in possibly the medical or social services field. In retrospect, and in all honesty, I would not change a thing, I have been quite fortunate and learned a lot along this path of life.  I feel very blessed to have gone through all that I went through and have learned to use prayer as a steering wheel to help me stay guided in life.

Work-wise my history has ranged from being a soldier in the Canadian Forces, working at a golf course, maintenance person at Ramada Hotel, working in a hog slaughtering factory, prescriptive fitness practitioner (fancy name for a personal trainer) to helping people from a First Nations cultural and spiritual standpoint to find balance in life. More recently it has been working with youth in northern Ontario First Nation communities to the current, a housing worker for homeless people in downtown Toronto. 

Personally, I’ve had my share of triumphs and losses in life as many of us do, luckily I’ve been able to learn, grow and understand myself through all these experiences. In my past, I’ve struggled, I’ve starved and I’ve failed, and these are reasons why I do my best to succeed today. I have come to learn how powerful a positive perspective is in terms of helping us to continue moving forward in life, feeling comfortable in who we are and being able to enjoy this beautiful gift that life is. For when we are gone from this earth, we are physically gone forever; of course our memory remains within the hearts of our loved ones. The reality is, there have been millions of years that the earth has been around, and each of us is the only one of us there will ever be on this earth. So why not believe in ourselves, why not look at our purpose as something positive and why not do our best to leave behind a beautiful trail? We have the opportunity each day to strive towards becoming the greatest person we can be.

Whoa! I just read what I wrote and I may have gone too deep for my first blog post. Nonetheless it was my opportunity and honor to introduce myself (in a nutshell) to you, the reader of this blog. I very much look forward to helping Small Change Fund in this way as they continue to help in a very real way and support those who are doing amazingly good things for themselves and the earth.

I welcome all of your questions or if you wish for me to shed light on something in particular, just let me know below. Like a ripple in a pond, sometimes a small change can spread out and have a bigger impact than we can imagine, who knows what a conversation with Brad might start!

Wow! Can you believe its almost 2012??

If you are worried that you are too late to make a donation for 2011, don’t be! 

Online 24 hours a day
You can donate securely online and have a tax receipt in your inbox in a matter of minutes.  The donation form takes less than five minutes to complete and you can rest assured that your valued dollars will be put to good use making big change in Canada in 2012.

It’s also not too late to donate stocks or securities.
There are significant tax advantages in donating your shares in stocks or options directly rather than selling the shares and donating the proceeds. A charitable donation of publicly traded securities such as stocks, mutual funds, bonds or futures results in a tax receipt for 100% of the value of the gift on the day of the transfer. By providing a larger potential deduction than an equivalent gift of cash, this option allows you to maximize your charitable giving.  Your donation must be a transfer of the stock or security itself, not the cash proceeds of a sale of the security.

Please e-mail us at donate@smallchangefund.org with your contact details in order to obtain the required details to make a transfer from an investment account.

Put that cheque in the post
You can still post us a cheque, as long as it is postmarked on or before December 31st, we can still issue you a 2011 tax receipt.  Please make cheques payable to Small Change Fund and post to:

Small Change Fund
Centre for Social Innovation – Suite 311
720 Bathurst Street
Toronto, ON
M5S 2R4 

Over the phone
Unfortunately our offices will be closed from December 23rd to January 3rd, so we will be unable to process donations over the phone.  We hope you understand, and we invite you to choose one of the options above as an alternative.

Thank you and Happy Holidays from all at Small Change Fund.

Today, December 21st is our second birthday, and we would like to share with you all of the amazing things that have been made possible thanks to your generous support.  

Look how far we have come since the first version of the site which launched at 12.01AM on December 21st 2009.  Thank you to Kelsey Blackwell and Jonathan Gallivan for creating www.smallchangefund.org         version 1.0.  —————->

In just a few days of December 2009 Small Change Fund raised a staggering $22,500 from generous donors keen to support the most exciting, innovative, and impactful grassroots projects in Canada.

Since then, thanks to your support and donations, we have distributed over $218,000 to projects in need of financial support to reach their goals and make big change in Canada.

70 projects have appeared on the website, fully vetted by a panel of 26 expert advisors from all over Canada.

• 68% received full or partial funding and were able to proceed with their projects.
• 20% of projects are still actively fundraising on the site.
• 12% of projects sadly did not raise any money at all.

We are also dedicated to working all across Canada,especially in hard to reach communities. Since 2009 our project scope has covered:

 

• Central Canada – 37.1%
• Northern Canada – 17.1%
• Atlantic Canada – 20%
• West Coast Canada – 13%
• The Prairies – 12.8%

Here are a few things people have told us they love about Small Change Fund over the last two years:

• A model that is based on small acts of care, creativity, and a dollar donation equivalent to forgoing a fancy lunch.
• The donor stories like Ben and his Barmitzvah money.
• How SCF reminds me of how many people work so selflessly to make the world a better place today, and for tomorrow.
• The power of positive thinking — evidence that even a fleeting positive thought can grow into a bigger idea, promise, and project.
• Expanding the idea of local to encompass all of Canada.
• SCF fills a niche missing in the funding chain, to provide a platform and support for ideas that can make change.
• The SCF people -> you guys love what you do, you love your project partners and you love each other. And that shows.
• Your future -> you rock. And you are poised to take the whole fundraising world by storm. Your model is slammin’. You are the future of philanthropy. HOLLA!
• I love how the work Small Change Fund does is big through small: big scope (all of Canada) with a big difference through small, often unique, projects that might not have made it onto the radar of other funders.
• I love the intimacy with the projects! They tend to be quite specific, making it easy to find one that really strikes you… and yet if it turns out you just can’t choose some over others you can still send in your support to go where the need is.
• The people. The project leaders, donors, staff, advisors, everyone involved in SCF has huge heart and really care about making positive change, and reducing suffering in the world. 
• Big ideas that will change the world!

p.s. If you would like to make a donation in time for the end of the year – simply click here!

What’s in a gift? It seems like more and more these days. Now that it’s December, and thus donation season, each day’s newspaper has something about giving more, giving better, giving smarter. Our media has finally caught on to the importance of charitable giving as evidenced in the relatively recent reporting in our national newspapers on donor profiles, charity advice, and CRA regulations as they relate to accountability in the charitable sector. It’s great that philanthropy is having its hour in the spotlight, at long last.

But I wonder if a side effect is making people feel like they have to give more, give better, give smarter? Most of the coverage on philanthropy and charitable giving is about big donors giving large gifts to old and well-established charities like hospitals and universities. You don’t hear about the vast generosity coming from modest pockets to innovative, local initiatives, like 13-year-old Ben who gave to the Hamilton Fruit Tree Project with his Bar mitzvah money.

And yet this is philanthropy. And philanthropy’s future. I was fascinated to read that “According to a study by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, the Americans who give away the biggest proportion of their own income are women who make $23,509 or less a year, not ridiculously wealthy white dudes named Bill. Philanthropy isn’t just multimillion-dollar checks and large-scale public health interventions. It’s also small acts of care, creativity, and a dollar donation equivalent to forgoing a fancy lunch.” 

So what’s in a gift? It’s the sacrifice of the woman who makes $22,000 and digs to the bottom of her pocket, or foregoes some non-essential-but-nevertheless-important personal pleasure, to participate in a small, creative act of philanthropy. It’s the heart of the university student who, while trying to cover his tuition and pay off his debts from last year, asks his family to shift his gift to a charity he cares about.

What’s in a gift is the imagination of the Dick or Jane who wins the GOOD 30-day Challenge to give away $30 bucks in the most creative and inspiring way possible. It’s the inspiration behind whoever came up with this holiday’s #goodspotting campaign to celebrate acts of benevolence. And it’s the collective power of all the dozens of donors supporting Small Change Fund’s own Be The Change. 

What’s in a gift is not money, or power, or fame, or creative genius. What’s in a gift is a small act of care, creativity, and a dollar donation equivalent to forgoing a fancy lunch. It’s not about a white dude named Bill. It’s about generosity. Giving what you can. Giving freely. Giving to things that inspire you, and inspire those around you. 

Happy holidays, Ruth Richardson, Co-Founder of Small Change Fund.

Blog post by Kathlynn Ahern, Small Change Fund intern

Attempting to put into words all that I have learnt in the past four months seems like an impossible task. What I have learned, what I have gained, and what I will take away from my time at Small Change Fund amounts to much more than a grocery list of benefits. It amounts to an experience that has changed my outlook, an experience that has changed my understanding of the capacity of individuals to impact real change, an experience that will forever influence my work within, and my drive to contribute to, the field of development.

What I would say I appreciate the most about the Small Change Fund team (this means you Clare, Dani, Alain, Mary, Ruth and advisory!) is that they are not an overly ostentatious, flashy bunch. While I would say they are all characters and I have enjoyed getting to know them in my time here, I would not say they are overly extravagant or exaggerated in their goals, attitudes or actions. Rather they are a group of humble, intelligent, and well intentioned individuals who believe that given hard work and dedication they, as well as anyone, anywhere can enact Big Change. If their slogan does not say it enough, Start Something Big with Small Change, the Small Change Fund is an organization founded on the principle that the capacity for change is within each and every one of us. If you are not afraid to get in there and get your hands dirty, the capacity for change rests in your own hands.

In my time at the Small Change Fund, the truth of this sentiment became ever apparent. In speaking with members of the advisory, in my conversations with Canada’s numerous community leaders, and even in my day to day conversations at the office with my three favourite associates, I have realized that the people enacting the largest change are everyday individuals like you and me. The interaction that struck me the most was easily my interview with Jennifer Moore, member of the Canary Institute and contact for the Canadian Mining Profits at the Expense of the Global South Project. Within this interview Jen detailed the horrific environmental injustices taking place in Honduras and Ecuador. Specifically the pollution and associated health effects imposed on the local communities by the Canadian mining company GoldCorp and their natural resource developments. At first glance this issue seems impossible to tackle: how in the world can myself, Jen Moore, or anyone for that matter, hold an international mining corporation accountable for their actions? Are they not too big, too powerful, and far too inaccessible to the everyday individual? Is this not a problem for the politicians, the businessmen, and the elite to handle?

However in my further conversations with Jen, I was amazed that not only was GoldCorp being challenged for their pollutive abuses but moreover, they were being challenged and contended by a small community in the Siria Valley of Honduras. With the help of the Canary Institute and the Small Change Fund, the Siria Valley Environmental Committee, a group of regular everyday Hondurian citizens are challenging GoldCorp head on, demanding GoldCorp be held accountable for their violations of human rights, and further demanding restitution for the communities’ pain and suffering. Rallying protestors from Honduras to Canada, the Siria Valley Environmental Committee has garnered such a large amount of international support that just this past summer they gained audience at GoldCorp’s annual general meeting (AGM). For the first time in GoldCorp’s history a member from outside the board presented a contention to the corporation and the CEO! Through protest, organized contestations, and hard work, a small environmental committee was able to gain the attention and respect of a multinational natural resource firm. In the coming months, I expect that these efforts will only further enable the members of the Siria Valley to reclaim the humanity, dignity, and health that GoldCorp so inhumanely stripped from them.

Evidence of this personal capacity for action, this individual ability to enact change, has dominated my time here at the Small Change Fund. With every project I have read, with every community leader I have spoken to, and with every advisor I have had the pleasure of meeting, I have been amazed at not only the drive and dedication each of these individuals have to improve their communities and their local environments, but moreover the real tangible impact they and their relatively small communities are having on the whole of Canada.
Thus if I am forced to pick one (and only one given the brevity of this post!) I would have to say the greatest benefit my time at Small Change Fund has provided me is my renewed understanding of the capacity of the individual. And, more broadly, the notion that if you work hard enough, if you believe in your abilities and have faith in your skills, you can tackle the issues that you, your community, and even your country face.

Positive change within the field of development, positive benefits for environmental conservation and positive outcomes for citizens domestically and internationally do not necessarily require the assistance of large organizations, or governments. Rather, they merely require the time, dedication, and care of individuals.

I would personally like to say thank you to Dani, Mary, Ruth, Clare, Alain, and the whole of the Small Change Fund team for the opportunity you have provided me. I have learned more than I could possibly write here. I am truly inspired by all that you do. Always know that you as individuals are making a huge impact each and every day; and one of those impacts was on me and my developmental perspective. Your work has shaped me as a professional and moreover you as individuals have set the standard for the kind of practitioner I wish to become. Thank you.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was the home of someone living in a slum somewhere in a developing country. This ‘house’ has no running water, no electricity, and no toilet facilities.  The people who live here use a bucket and empty it on the side of the road.

According to a local doctor, families are facing “immediate risk” of infection, disease and possible fire from their increasingly precarious conditions. They face no electricity, little access to clean water, and lack of basic sanitation as well as extreme weather conditions.   Even worse, the situation is so bad that the local school has been closed.  So now the children are not receiving a formal education.

Who should be taking action?  The Red Cross?  UNICEF? Medecins sans frontiers?  Oxfam?  Someone should be doing something, right?

How would you feel if this was happening in your own country? We assume that it would not happen here in Canada.  After all, Canada is home to three of the top five most livable cities in the world, tremendous resources, and is ranked in the top 15 wealthiest countries in the world….

But it is happening here! Attawapiskat First Nation, near James Bay in northern Ontario, recently declared a state of emergency due to the rapidly deteriorating living conditions for its 2,000 residents, many of whom are facing a winter without adequate shelter. With many families living in tents and makeshift shacks without heat, plumbing or electricity, Chief Theresa Spence took the unprecedented step of asking provincial authorities to evacuate her community from their homes.

Small Change Fund’s advisors, staff and board believe this issue is so important that we have set a goal that in 2012 at least 35% of the projects we ask donors to support are from aboriginal communities or organizations.

What can you do to help? 

Over 6000 people have signed this petition, which has now closed and today was sent to Hon. John Duncan, the Minister of Indian and Northern Development. You can email Minister Duncan. Or, please contact your local MP and let them know it is time that First Nations communities  have the same access to basic human rights, housing, education and health as other communities in Canada.

You can also help by sharing this video and encouraging others to do the same: 

As of today there is still no action from the government on the State of Emergency in Attawapiskat. Winter is here and time is running out for this community. It is time our Federal Government took action and responded to these pleas for help. Please do your part today!

Are you working on an important, grassroots project that aims to protect
Canada’s boreal forest ecosystems and the livelihoods of those who live there?

Would you like to promote your cause and engage donors in supporting your
efforts in a new and innovative way?

If so, Small Change Fund wants to hear from you!

The Small Change Boreal Fund is an opportunity for approximately five grassroots projects
across Canada to receive up to $5000 to support their community driven initiative. Small
Change Fund can also help you promote your grassroots project, connect with donors and
potentially receive matching funding to reach your fundraising goals.

SCF is a registered foundation that helps grassroots environmental and social justice projects
carry out their important work in communities across Canada by enabling them to generate
support that is simple, timely and responsive while building relationships with donors across the country. With support from the Ivey Foundation and the Canadian Boreal Initiative until
February 15, 2012, Small Change Fund will be able to provide additional direct funding to
groups whose projects are featured on www.smallchangefund.org.

Please take a moment to review the details of this opportunity below and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Details of the Small Change Boreal Fund Opportunity:

Submit your project idea to www.smallchangefund.org by December 9, 2011.

We accept project submissions from registered charities or registered Aboriginal
bands in Canada. If you would like to discuss submitting a project or have any
question regarding this submission process, please contact Dani LaGiglia
at dani (at) smallchangefund.org.

Project budgets cannot exceed $5,000.

Small Change Fund’s advisory committee will review your proposal and respond
in a timely way to let you know whether your project will be profiled on the
website.

If approved, your project will be profiled for up to 4 months on www.smallchangefund.org. (All
projects who apply will be vetted and are eligible to appear on our website.)

Between January 1, 2012 and February 15, 2012, up to five selected projects will also be eligible to receive up to $5,000 in direct funds from the Small Change Boreal Fund!

We will give you additional tips on how to use your networks to raise support and awareness for your project to ensure you reach your fundraising goals.

Please note: Submitting an application is not a guarantee that a project will be posted
on www.smallchangefund.org or that a project will be funded. We can’t post all project submissions but we will post all those that our advisors feel are timely, compelling, and consistent with our focus on our environment and projects with a focus on First Nations, Inuit, and Metis peoples.

What We Do:
Small Change Fund was founded on a simple idea: people can make big change with small
change. We connect people to grassroots projects across the country – projects like yours that just need a few dollars to realize their potential. We provide a platform for you to raise the funds you need from individual donors and other sources, and connect you to a community of grassroots action. Through Small Change Fund grassroots projects are getting the support they need.

Small Change Fund is a crowd-funding platform that aims to help your project get access to
individual donors across Canada. We believe in the power of people coming together to do
good, and that their small change can, and will, make a big difference to you.

Why We Care About the Boreal:
The Canadian Boreal Forest stretches more than 5000 kms from the Yukon in the west to
Newfoundland in the east. The boreal is home to about two-thirds of Canada’s 140 000 species
of plants, animals and micro-organisms and it is one of the largest intact ecosystems on the
planet, however only 10% of Canada’s Boreal is protected. The boreal is rich in natural
resources that are under expanding pressures from industrial and resource extraction activity that is increasingly resulting in negatives impacts for regional ecosystems such as; water pollution, habitat loss and fragmentation, new threats to endangered species and air pollution.

How we can help:
Small Change Fund aims to support small-scale projects that both contribute to and represent the larger ambitions of boreal conservation in Canada. We have the capacity to support you as you undertake important Boreal conservation projects through the use of social media to:
· Reach thousands of potential donors and volunteers,
· Receive regular, ongoing donations toward a fundraising goal,
· Access dollars that don’t require excessive and burdensome administration, and
· Promote learning and action among Boreal networks across Canada.

Examples of recently funded projects:

• A group of community volunteers have been able to upgrade their boat to monitor their shores
and coastlines, and protect their waters from pollution and industrial development.

• Inuit elders are documenting traditional management practices to conserve the species they
depend on, their culture, and their land.

• A First Nations community is produces a short film in an effort to save their lands from development, capturing the emotion of the people who use those lands for their
livelihood.

• A lake-based community is identifying lake ambassadors to continue crucial water monitoring and stewardship work for the protection and enhancement of the lake’s
ecosystem.

If you have any questions about this process, we are more than happy to assist,
please contact us at:

(416) 519-1260
patrick (at) smallchangefund.org or dani (at) smallchangefund.org
Learn more about us at: www.smallchangefund.org
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Change-Fund/
twitter.com/smallchangefund

*Si vous souhaitez soumettre votre proposition en français, nous vous encourageons à le faire. Small Change Fund n’est pas une organisation bilingue, mais nous avons la capacité d’évaluer les propositions présentées en français et d’afficher les propositions retenues sur le site de www.smallchangefund.org. N’hésitez pas à nous contacter si vous avez des questions.

Small Change Fund and Alternatives Journal partnered up earlier in 2011 to offer Small Changers a great deal on magazine subscriptions while giving back to Small Change Fund.

For every one-year, 6-issue subscription ($35) to Alternatives purchased using special offer code 4SCF, Alternatives will donate $10 back to Small Change Fund! Order a 2-year subscription ($60), and Alternatives will donate $15.

If you need to get an environmentalist a Christmas gift, this could be just the the deal for you.

In addition, Alternatives Journal have some great events coming up before the end of the year to celebrate 40 years as Canada’s national environmental magazine that we are happy to share with you.

On Wednesday, November 16th, Alternatives Journal are co-hosting a free public forum with Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo, Ontario, called “Deep Roots, New Shoots.” It’s a discussion of the last four decades of Canadian environmentalism and a debate as to where it’s headed in the future. Tickets are free but because space is limited at CIGI please RSVP here: http://www.cigionline.org/events/deep-roots-new-shoots as soon as possible.

Then, on Wednesday, November 30th, they are having a party at the Brick Brewery, also in Watreloo, from 7-10pm. Tickets are $25 each – which includes open bar, a copy of their 40th Anniversary issue, food, and the chance to win door prizes. Due to limited capacity there are only 45 tickets being sold – so act fast if you’d like to join them!  You can reserve tickets by calling the Alternatives Journal office at 519-888-4442.

Full event details can be found at http://alternativesjournal.ca/40/home.html

It wouldn’t be an anniversary celebration without a special publication.

The 40th Anniversary retrospective issue will be on newsstands November 1st. 

Alternative Journal are also offering their 40th Anniversary Archive DVD-ROM – it has 145 digitized, searchable issues spanning from our first issue in 1971 to the first issue of 2011. It’s an invaluable research tool for organizations and students, and a bargain at $49.99 (ordering all those issues in print would cost about $1,000!) http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/index.php?q=40years

Small Change Fund Program Support Intern Katie discusses sense of place, making a home and building community.

An avid traveler, I enjoy nothing more than experiencing new cultures, meeting new people, and engaging myself in myriad of diverse and caring communities that exist worldwide.
In the past 6 years I have lived in Maine in the United States, Toronto, Canada, San Cristobal Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and Brisbane, Australia. Each time I have traveled I have relished the opportunity to engage with the locals; eating, drinking, speaking, biking, climbing, surfing, diving, and dancing just as the locals do.However, as a means to remain honest in my writings, while I enjoy this process, the process of uprooting and shaking the foundations of my lifestyle every year or so; this process also terrifies me.

What terrifies me in particular is that while I have experienced and lived within many different communities, given I have not maintained a permanence in these communities, I wonder, am I really a member? Do I really belong? Have I really established and maintained a sense of community in each of these areas?

Flying home from Australia, I experienced a, while fleeting, moment of introspection. Leaving yet another group of friends, familiar corner store, group of colleagues, favorite park bench, and favorite neighborhood dog; I worried that if in my travels I was trading my ability to build a “home” and a “community” for one time experiences and neat pictures to put on Facebook.

Now I have to admit, I know what this sounds like, “boo hoo poor Katie, she is sad because she has the opportunity to travel, to experience new things. She is sad because she has the agency and power to define and determine her own life”. And you know what, that analysis is totally merited! I realized this as soon as I landed in Maine. After about an hour of unnecessary self-pity, I landed in the United States. Picking up my bags I was still feeling the vestiges of my introspective pity party. However when I walked out of the Bangor Maine airport at 3am, and saw my mom and dad, my sisters, my brother in law, my friends, and my dogs, I realized something quite profound. Community, home, your personal sense of belonging, is not defined by the duration of time you spend in an area, it’s defined by the quality of relationships that you build. (And believe you me, any person willing to pick me up at 3am, defines a quality relationship!)

I had not been home in Maine for 18 months, had not seen or spent quality time with my friends or family, even my dogs! But there they all were at 3am, smiling, laughing, and wagging their tails. What WAS THIS??? It was the power of community, the power of relationships.

Upon return to Maine, It felt as if I had never left. We all looked older, had more stories to share, but the bond, the respect, love, and care we held/hold for each other remained. After only two days I was at home again. Strolling to the corner store, saying hello to Red my neighbors (now ancient) dog, and going out for my drinks with my former high school basketball coach, I discovered that the myriad of communities I am a part of, no matter how much I, or it, changes, evolves, and grows, always have a space for me, and I always have a place in my heart for them.

If you engage with your community, live within your surroundings, the bonds you create, and the love you generate, will not dissipate with time. Rather your relationships and your communities will evolve to accept your new role, your new experiences, and your new outlooks. Now being the nerd, and the self-assumed academic, that I am, I could not let this new found definition of community just lay! I wanted to find out what specific actions you needed to take to form such bonds. I wanted to empirically document how you built community.
So I undertook a project of sorts. I was determined that the next time I moved I would make an concerted effort to document what it took to build relationships within and with people (and dogs!) within my community.

After two months at home embracing my eccentric and diverse Maine community, I was off again! Back to Toronto to finish my last year of school, and moving into a new house in Kensington!While I maintain that at the time I was determined to undertake this anthropological study. Per usual life came about and that notion went out the window. I was busy cleaning the house, grocery shopping, going to work, working at my awesome internship at the Small Change Fund (!!), and most importantly making the concerted effort to get to class on time.
I lost track of my anthropological goals faster than I could blink! I got caught up living my life and after three weeks of living in Kensington, I had not documented a thing.But then today something amazing happened. It took me 30 minutes to walk 400 m! Now I know that sounds like quite the pain, but the reason for it was because I kept stopping to have a chat, pet a dog, and/or update a friend about the readings that I too, had not yet started. Walking to work today I had an AHA! moment. I had inadvertently created community! I had built relationships! My inability to walk in a straight line through Kensington in a reasonable time frame was evidence of the interrelated and friendly community I had engaged/am continuously engaging and participating.

I never needed to undertake a “study” of how to build a community. The answer was really quite simple; just live your life and live it openly.

Annoy the dog owners at the park and chat about your day while you pet their puppies, strike up a conservation with the barista making your coffee, ask your neighbor where she got her cute dress, commiserate with your fellow students on the amount of work you currently are procrastinating on. Generally just walk around with an inviting and positive smile on your face, and before you know it, you will be unable to leave your community just like me! Community, home, a sense of belonging can be found anywhere in the world. If you live your life within that community, if you go about your day to day with a sense of happiness, joy, and openness, you will build lasting relationships world over.

Throughout my travels I am proud to say I can now call communities within four different countries home. And I am excited to see what new places are added in the future. However for now, consider me a contented traveler who is more than happy to build a home within Kensington, at the University of Toronto, and with all the fabulous people at the Small Change Fund.

During the last two decades, there has been a growing interest from mining companies to undertake their extraction projects in developing communities around the globe. Unfortunately, their activities have caused deep health, environmental and social problems which only help to provide enough evidence of the unsustainable nature of industrial mining. As a result of this, several civil society led movements have emerged with the goal of pressuring both the mining companies and the national and local governments that are allowing these practices to take place.

In order to carry out their activities, social movements most commonly get their funding by either international/national grants or small grant opportunities. Unfortunately, even though the earlier grants are financially more rewarding, they also tend to carry more difficulties. Most of the problems in some places are caused by inaccurate decisions that are taken outside of the boundaries of the problematic areas; therefore, often international/national grants do not tackle the root of the problem. Incidentally, these grantors tend to lack knowledge of specific needs of local communities and at times pursue policies that are not sustainable.

On the other hand, small grants in many instances have proven to be more of a helpful financial tool for social movements. According to the report “Small Grants and Social movements” published by Small Change Fund’s partner Global Greengrants, the development of social movements aimed at the extracting industries in Ghana and Peru is a clear example of this finding. The report concludes that in both cases, small grants have helped “improve the capacity of local actors to respond to changing strategies of mining companies and the state to impose a mining project or demobilize civil society criticism to existing projects”.

The following are some of the main key findings resulting from the Ghanaian case:

• 70 % of small grants administered went to support strategies for resistance and promotion of community voice. These grants did improve local capacity and did influence mining projects.
• All grantees examined showed small grants have contributed to the formation, formulation, and strengthening of civil society organizations. Support for litigation, capacity building and training, protests, networking relations, intervention in policy processes and decision making, research, information dissemination, and specific campaigns are examples of how small grants play a critical role in the struggles of civil society organizations.
• The grantees that were interviewed rated the relevance and effectiveness of small grants as very high and very satisfactory to their struggle.
• Small grants have been instrumental in strengthening local institutional capacity for self-organization, scaling up and turning mainstream local environmental concerns into national and international agendas.

The Peruvian case outlined the following key findings and recommendations:

• The wide majority of Greengrants grants have been given to organizations and communities for their actions in concrete local conflicts. Therefore, small grants have encouraged the formation of a bottom up approach to social change, in which social movement advances, initiatives and victories in concrete conflicts end up transforming legal and political frameworks and national debates on mining.
• Less evidence has been found that small grants allow the promotion of lasting changes in mining policy and the advancement of communities´ own development strategies, which seems to confirm the hypothesis that small grants are more easily and effectively used for defensive struggles then for offensive ones.
• One of the main weaknesses of Peruvian social movements around mining are the enormous difficulties in constructing collaboration and alliances within local conflicts, a difficulty that exists even more so on regional and national levels. Therefore, small grants that contribute to alliance building and the construction of common agendas need to become a priority.

This report shows that despite the differences on the way that social movements operate in Ghana and Peru, in both cases, small grants have proven to be a successful source of funding. The opportunities offered by Global Greengrants have facilitated the operation of several activities in both regions. Incidentally, if one compares the overall results of Global Greengrants with those of Small Change Fund in Canada, the conclusions tend to be similar. Even though Canada has obvious social, political and economical differences, Small Change Fund has played an important role in supporting social movements through small grants.

“The Carrier Sekani to Stop the Enbridge Gateway Pipeline” project is the perfect example. The energy corporation, Enbridge, is currently undergoing a project  to build a pipeline which intends to transport oil and condensate from the Alberta tar sands to the BC west coast. The Carrier Sekani believe that the construction of this pipeline poses a threat to the well-being of the rivers and habitat that surround the area. A possible oil spill would be devastating.

As a result, for over 5 years Carrier and Sekani youth and elders have been working to stop the Enbridge pipeline without accepting public and private funding. This is mainly because the local/national governments and some other companies have shown their support towards the development of the pipeline. Instead, many of their activities have been carried out with the use of small grants. On their most recent one, Small Change Fund was proudly able to raise $7,252 dollars. This money supported an elders and youth awareness walk along portions of the pipeline and helped produce a DVD that captures the journey and is being used as a public outreach and media tool in the overall fight to stop the Enbridge pipeline.