$48,200 Ontario Trillium Foundation grant makes a difference for Future Possibilities for Kids

Toronto, ON – (February 1, 2023) – On Wednesday evening, MPP Jill Andrew and Fatima Kamenge, an Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) volunteer joined an online meeting with representatives from Future Possibilities for Kids (FPK) to hear how a $48,200 Resilient Communities Fund grant has made an impact. Awarded in 2022, the grant is part of a granting program designed to assist non-profit groups in their rebuilding and recovery from the impacts of the pandemic. The grant supported the implementation of strategies to generate revenue through individual major donors, corporate partnerships, and improve its technology to track key fundraising activities.

“We are fortunate to have Future Possibilities for Kids supporting children in our Toronto-St. Paul’s community and beyond,” said Dr. Jill Andrew, MPP for Toronto-St. Paul’s. “The pandemic has had an undeniable impact on children’s social, emotional and academic well-being. Child-centered, community-based resources like FPK will continue to play an invaluable role in helping our kids grow into tomorrow’s changemakers. Congratulations to you all on your funding from Ontario Trillium Foundation and may your supplemental education programs continue to nurture the minds and hearts of your young learners.”

During 2022, FPK was able to engage the support of BridgeRaise, a Southern Ontario consultancy firm, with a focus on corporate grants and sponsorships. Through this engagement, FPK has been able to identify potential new corporate partners and establish a strategic outreach and stewardship plan with the goal of increasing fundraising revenues from the corporate sector. FPK’s work with BridgeRaise culminated in a partnership exploration process with a well-known Insurance Company that supported the current year’s program with a gift of $10,000 in unrestricted funding.

In addition, FPK was able to gain the support of AgentsC, an international non-profit consulting firm that specializes in fundraising strategy and campaign development, organizational change management, and board/stakeholder engagement. This support focused on identifying major gift potential from a priority list of high value prospects and donors through staff coaching sessions. These sessions involved reviewing the steps towards cultivating and managing FPK’s major gift prospects. The coaching sessions offered real-time guidance and recommendations to deliver tactical donor engagement strategies to help ramp up FPK’s major gift fundraising efforts and sustain a major giving footprint.

“FPK’s ability to deliver programming is heavily contingent on raising money from corporate, individual and government partners,” said Ramin Fazel, Board Chair of Future Possibilities for Kids. “Like many other organizations in Canada, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be very challenging for FPK and we are grateful to organizations like OTF in their efforts to support our recovery by providing ongoing and steady funding.”

Since 2001, Future Possibilities for Kids has run the Ready, Set, Goal! Program which consistently increased levels of social awareness, activism and community involvement in young people. The Resilient Communities Fund grant has supported FPK’s capacity to respond to and support children living in medium to low-income neighbourhoods, ultimately increasing confidence, self-esteem and connection to their communities.  Future Possibilities for Kids is an organization dedicated to kids shining as leaders with a mission of, “Coaching children to believe in themselves and lead community change.”

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grantmaking in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested nearly $209M into 2,042 community projects and partnerships, which included funding for the Government of Ontario’s Community Building Fund. Visit otf.ca to learn more.