The Importance of Local Circumstances The extent to which funding help was effective in small communities depended on the interplay of several key local factors. The following are three examples. Local leadership. Nothing was found to be more important than individual leaders with talent, creativity and drive at the local level. In Goderich, stable leadership and a high degree of synergy among local leaders have amplified the impact of OTF grants throughout the community and across the sectors we fund. In Hawkesbury, where there has been a higher degree of turnover among local leaders, investments in enterprises to build capacity and develop skills have been less pronounced. Active, cohesive, local networks enable collaboration and innovation, helping to amplify community efforts. John Smallwood, President & Co-Chair, Lake Huron Learning Centre Collaborative In Goderich, the Lake Huron Learning Collaborative has increased its organizational capacity. It has developed and sustained new post-secondary educational opportunities for youth, seniors, workers and other community members who need better access to lifelong learning. This innovative collaboration has enabled the people of Goderich and its surrounding towns to participate in post-secondary programs without having to leave their community.   The level of volunteer involvement in the community is crucial. Across the six communities we studied, 37 per cent of the value that OTF grants created was in volunteer engagement. This was far more significant than the ability to attract additional financial resources because of the intense competition for increasingly scarce local resources and a relatively smaller donor base.  The Haliburton-Muskoka Children’s Water Festival in Haliburton County is a good example of how volunteer involvement can be leveraged in the community. Each year, the festival involves 400 volunteers who contribute about 6,300 hours to the event. Similarly, in Goderich the local United Way involved youth volunteers in developing and writing their own grant proposal for the Get Up! Stand Up! Program. This created ongoing benefits for the organization and the community, and engaged youth in their community in new ways, with lasting effects. The impact of OTF grants is amplified in towns where there are people who know how to get a good idea off the ground; where they can work with others to build and maintain local networks; and where volunteers can be mobilized in support of an initiative. Back to Top | Back to Main Small Towns Page A Little Can Go a Long Way In small towns, seemingly simple grants and incentives can have sustained, community-wide impact with a high degree of leverage. From 2000 to 2006, the Kapuskasing Nordic Ski Club, the Remi Ski Hill in Moonbeam and the ski-hill lodge in Kapuskasing helped revitalize skiing and snowboarding activities for the community and tourists. The three organizations engaged the help of 180 volunteers who contributed almost 3,000 hours of their own time – a volunteer value of almost $50,000. They were able to secure almost $1.1 million in outside funding for their projects and reach 5,400 people of all ages – an amount equal to 51 per cent of Kapuskasing and Moonbeam’s combined populations. They also reported a combined economic impact in their communities of almost $80,000, which is significant for a town adjusting to mill closures and high unemployment rates (9.9 per cent in 2003). In 2003, the Biindigen Learning Centre on the Wauzhushk Onigum reserve near Kenora enhanced its resources and augmented their library’s book collection for children. A small grant of $4,000 enabled one paid staff member and two volunteers to meet important needs in their community, with great results. The Biindigen Learning Centre was able to reach over 50 people out of a population of 150 living on the reserve. The two volunteers donated over 320 hours – a volunteer value of over $5,500 – and the Learning Centre was able to raise $5,700 in in-kind donations and secure $13,000 in other government funding. The total leverage resulting from this grant was more than $6 for every $1 invested by OTF. These stories highlight the powerful difference dedicated people can make in their communities. Serendipity and Unintended Benefits Another key finding from our research was the often unintended benefits that result from community granting. These ranged from formal OTF-sponsored workshops and counselling sessions to more informal links that sometimes emerge between community groups that share grantee status. In some cases, simply receiving a grant from OTF created new opportunities for local partnerships and innovations that had nothing to do with the grant itself. In Haliburton, two grantees who would never have sought each other out met at an OTF workshop, with a remarkably successful result. Community Care Haliburton County was working to increase its organizational capacity by recruiting and training volunteers to support fundraising efforts. Meanwhile, the Haliburton County Community Radio Association (a.k.a. CANOE FM) received funding to purchase equipment and train volunteers to produce and broadcast quality community radio programming. In the end, these two groups entered into a collaboration to use CANOE-FM’s airwaves to promote local volunteerism, resulting in a strong ripple effect throughout Haliburton County. Michel Lamontagne, Ministry of Northern Development & Mines In an even more unusual story, a grant to the Kapuskasing Nordic Trail Association helped boost the community’s appeal in the eyes of a doctor who was being recruited by the local hospital. He was convinced to move to Kapuskasing at least in part because of the ski trails located beside the hospital. This meant he could enjoy his recreation and still be close enough for on-call duty or emergencies. Back to Top | Back to Main Small Towns Page   NOTE: To view .wmv files, you need to download the free Windows Media Player: Click on icon to download   Back to Main Small Towns Page | Background and Method | What We Learned | Challenges Facing the Voluntary Sector... | Success in Small Towns | Going Forward – Increasing OTF’s Impact in Small Towns Profiles of the Six Small Towns | Appendix 1: Analysis of OTF Granting | Appendix 2: Census Data