How can we support our diverse projects and programs across Canada through the early stages of the pandemic and help prepare for the coming months?
This was the key question that MakeWay teams grappled with when the first wave of COVID-19 hit communities from coast to coast back in March.
We knew there was an urgent need for philanthropy to step up, to act with urgency, and to disrupt traditional ways of grantmaking by placing trust in community.
Before March 2020, MakeWay had little experience with emergency-response funding. After a devastating oil and diesel spill in Heiltsuk Nation territory in 2016, MakeWay launched a response fund to support the community dealing with the aftermath; but that could hardly prepare us for the far-reaching social, economic, and environmental effects of the pandemic.
However, we did have a lot of experience supporting community-led solutions. And as the pandemic brought many issues into sharp focus, namely the inequity of impacts on communities across the country, we knew that local responses and solutions needed support playing a critical role in serving diverse community needs arising from the threats of the pandemic.
Our role was to get community leaders and grassroots organizations the resources they needed quickly, because they know the solutions best for their local challenges.
The infrastructure to get funding into communities quickly was available thanks to our shared platform model. The MakeWay shared platform is home to over 60 social and environmental initiatives each working on community-led solutions to pressing environmental and social challenges. In the early days of the pandemic, many were able to quickly adapt daily activities, creating innovative ways to provide support to communities. Others immediately felt the pandemic’s severe economic consequences and were forced to close their doors and cut their programming. We knew we needed to provide flexible funding to changemakers enabling community-driven solutions on the shared platform. And so, we launched the Rapid Response Fund for Changemakers.
The purpose of the Changemakers fund was to quickly distribute financial support to community-led projects on the MakeWay shared platform. In creating and distributing the funds, we committed to:
- Being flexible and proactive in our grantmaking
- Contributing to emergency funds at the community level
- Deploying funding and expertise to protect the resilience of non-profit and charitable organizations
- Taking a long-term view on the effects of the pandemic
We began with roundtable conversations with projects to collaboratively create an application and decision-making process. We wanted to ensure that community voices and potential grantees had a meaningful say in how the granting would be structured, to optimize impact on the ground.
Grants varied in size from $3,000 to $10,000 depending on project’s needs, and decisions and funds were rolled out on a weekly basis, to quickly deploy much-needed resources. Shared platform projects could apply based on their needs to quickly mobilize in their communities, stabilize their programming, or strategize for the future, and they could re-apply for additional funds as circumstances shifted.
Between April and July, MakeWay distributed 22 grants to projects on our shared platform, totalling $126,000 in funds going directly to communities in need. From local gardening podcasts to investing in pandemic-friendly youth leadership, clean energy recovery programs, and more, the Rapid Response Fund has been a crucial support for purpose-led initiatives working to help nature and communities thrive together even in unprecedented times.
Below, we share just a few stories of the incredible ways that projects have managed to continue their work over the past few months.
Impact
Building community networks
When COVID-19 hit, the cross-Canada bilingual initiative Food Communities Network-Réseau Communautés nourricières (FCN-RCN) had to quickly pivot to support communities experiencing acute food insecurity. Staff began connecting with individuals, local government, public health staff, Food Policy Groups, Indigenous organizations, and volunteers, bringing nearly 600 new members onto their network in under 10 weeks.
FCN-RCN used their grant to offer immediate food provision, community food production and assistance for farmers, and to identify policy barriers to food insecurity. They also developed a new website which includes an open-access resource library for local COVID-19 updates and food solutions. The team hosted 22 online conversations and 3 webinars on community-wide food responses to COVID-19, with many new Network members actively leading solutions to food insecurities across Canada and on Indigenous lands from coast to coast to coast.
Supporting critical youth leadership when it matters more than ever
In the Northern Territories, Northern Youth Leadership used their grant to stabilize their remote wilderness programming for youth. They organized a canoe trip along the North Arm of Great Slave Lake from Yellowknife to Behchokǫ for 11 youth between the ages of 13 and 16, hailing from across the Northwest Territories. Youth paddled 130km over 11 days, reconnecting with nature, and building skills in leadership and emotional resilience.
On British Columbia’s south-central coast, shared platform project Sea to Cedar partnered with Akala Outdoor Education Society to create a digital youth network to support Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw youth ages 11 to 19. The network brought youth together virtually over an 11-week period to maintain connectedness to one another, and to their traditional lands and waters. Youth learned new skills for being on the land, self-reflection, communication and conflict resolution with their peers, and traditional knowledge from Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw members.
Bolstering food security in remote communities and inner-city neighbourhoods
In British Columbia’s Skeena region, Northern Confluence leveraged its grant to create a podcast series tapping into local expertise to make food gardening accessible for First Nations communities. The 5-part podcast, entitled 54 Degrees North: Digging Deeper into Food Security, highlights food supply vulnerabilities in the area, and grassroots solutions from local producers. In its first three weeks, 54 Degrees North was downloaded nearly 400 times by residents of the Skeena region.
In inner-city Toronto, East Scarborough Storefront used their grant to develop the Farm2Kitchen2Family initiative. A partnership with 5n2 Kitchens and Square Roots GTA, the initiative directed 8,000 pounds of fresh produce to the doorsteps of over 3,600 local residents who experienced food access issues as a result of COVID-19. Surplus produce and essential pantry items were diverted from landfills to individuals and families who were facing increased barriers to access food while in lockdown.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to be felt by communities from coast to coast to coast for months and years to come. At MakeWay, we are committed to supporting our community projects through uncertain times. The Rapid Response Fund for Changemakers was the first step in a long process toward helping nature and communities thrive together amidst emerging and ongoing global crises.
Find out more about each of the projects supported by the Rapid Response Fund for Changemakers.
