June 17, 2009
This report focuses on the activities of the Foundation during the fiscal year of April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009 and as Chair, my 7th report at our Annual General Meeting.
Our usual focus of raising funds and creating an awareness of Campaign for Kids this fiscal year became secondary to the transition of Family and Childrens’ Services of Kings County from a private to a provincial agency. The change was made official in late 2008.
Family and Childrens’ Services has been a private agency, run by a local Board of Directors for over 90 years. Late in the spring of 2008, the Agency Board of Directors and the Province of Nova Scotia ( Department of Community Services) negotiated a transfer of the management of the Agency to the province. With secured provincial funding for services, the requirement for funding the Agency as it once existed was no longer necessary, allowing Campaign for Kids Foundation to become an independent body that could broaden its mandate to include children in need outside of or in addition to those served by Family and Childrens’ Services.
Our goals as a Foundation remain the same, to support children and families in need in Kings County but we have more freedom to support children and families more directly and in other ways while continuing to support the provincial agency if and when asked.
Work to achieve our new “independence” included amending our By-Laws formally at our last Annual General Meeting held in November, 2008, as well as developing a method for distributing funds under our current mandate, updating our communications pieces- brochures, letterhead etc, and formulating new committees internally to implement the changes.
Special/ On Going Projects
The Foundation under took to host it’s 6th annual charity golf classic at the Greenwood Golf Course on September , 2008. The event was sponsored by Michelin and raised over $ 14,000 for Campaign. Our thanks to the golf committee for an outstanding organized event and to all participants who joined our cause.
Our Communications Coordinator continued to focus our efforts on increasing public awareness for Campaign through website improvements, media submissions, while providing administrative support to the Board for drafting promotional material and correspondence.
In keeping with raising the profile of Campaign for Kids, we participated in the children’s parade at the Apple Blossom Festival in May, 2008 as well as set up a booth at the afternoon parade to sell popcorn and water and get the word out about Campaign. This was a great event as it allowed Board members with the opportunity to have our families be involved and it was a great social event for us as well with minimal cost and effort.
For the first time, the Foundation participated in the CFB Greenwood “Festival of Trees” in November, 2008 . This is an event that raises funds for the Combined Charities. It was a great opportunity to raise awareness about Campaign for Kids within the Base community and with Combined Charities, which is a group in which we are interested in raising our profile. We look forward to participating in this event annually.
In keeping with our priority to operate as a separate Foundation, no longer fund raising solely for the Agency services and programs, work began on the development of an extensive disbursement of funds policy which will be presented to the general membership at this AGM. Amendments required for the By-Laws were passed at our AGM held in November 2008.
Financial Reporting:
The Foundation provided financial support in the first quarter to Family and Childrens’ Services for emergency funding requests and for prevention programming. During the transition to a provincially operated service, these funds were distributed back to the Foundation as the books for the Agency were closed off. A sizeable donation from the sale of the building located behind the Agency was also donated to Campaign during this fiscal as part of the transition. The Board continued to provide it’s yearly contribution to Chrysalis House as well as made donations to the Kids Action Program which is part of a national program called the Community Action Program for Children or “CAPC”. This is a Health Canada initiative that operates in every province and territory. Funds were also donated to the Highbury Education Centre which is a small, experiential school for youth at risk between the ages of 15 to 18, and who have had a history of not experiencing success in the traditional school setting for a variety of reasons.
Further funding particulars can be found in the Treasurer’s Annual report, including financial contributions made to Campaign during this fiscal year.
Future Directions:
We intended to focus our efforts this past fiscal on looking to increase our public awareness of Campaign through the development of new partnerships and consistent media coverage of Campaign events. There was an intended focus on reviewing and documenting the role of the Board and its individual members; creating a members handbook and developing a consistent and well organized recruitment policy to ensure the Board of Directors had strong representation from across Kings County. Those priorities, although actioned in various degrees, took a back seat to our requirements to transition to an independent Foundation. We will work toward these once again as we settle into new processes for disbursing funds.
Special Acknowledgments:
At our last general meeting we acknowledged a number of our close partners who have contributed in countless ways to the Foundation. We do so again this year and we continue to be grateful to every contributor whether the contribution was financial or volunteer time and effort.
It certainly has been a busy year for the Board of Directors and I want to thank them all for the contributions made around the table and in the community as ambassadors for our cause. We look forward to working with our new members. Finally, a thank you to our Communications Coordinator who has kept us in the public eye and keeps us organized and on track! We are grateful for that support.
Respectfully Submitted,
Laurie Wanamaker, Chair
Campaign for Kids Foundation
