Tides Canada panel at Future of Good webinar - On Tuesday, April 7th at 9 am PST/12 pm EST, Future of Good is hosting a webinar to dive deep on how the non-profit and social innovation sector is striving to serve vulnerable communities in the midst of COVID-19. Specifically: how do we support those who don’t have access to digital tools and media?

• The panel will feature four Tides Canada/Shared Platform folks, including CEO Joanna Kerr, Landon Hoyt of Binners’ Project, Nasma Ahmed of Digital Justice Lab, and Janet Fitzsimmons of the Centre for Connected Communities.
• The webinar previously filled up but they have just opened 300+ more spaces so there is lots of room for Shared Platform staff to join - albeit at very late notice, unfortunately.
• Click here for more information and to register to see our colleagues in action! If you’re not able to attend, I’ll share the recording in next week’s email.

Today the Tides Canada senior management team discussed the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program following last week’s announcement and agreed on the following:

• We are all incredibly encouraged by the outpouring of sector activity and media attention in response to the initial criteria unveiled by the Federal Government requiring a 30% decline in year-on-year revenues for eligibility.
  • As we all know, this model does not work for the charitable sector because revenue comes in the form of funds that are often restricted and are received at key points in the year (among other reasons). Tides Canada Initiatives, like many other charities, expects to see decreases in revenue happen over the coming weeks and months as a result of long-term economic disruption from COVID-19 and not through an immediate drop.
  • I feel confident that we’ll see additional guidance for charities from the Federal Government before applications open in 3-6 weeks; however, we don’t have anything concrete yet.
  • Proactive advocacy on behalf of the charitable sector is a priority while we wait for more information. Our first step is to identify which of our peers are already coordinating responses and how Tides Canada can engage with and amplify those existing efforts. All of the senior management team will be reaching out to contacts at various organizations and institutions this week.
  • We have endorsed the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives petition and the Imagine Canada letter to the government (submitted just this afternoon so may not be published yet).
  • Joanna Kerr (CEO) and I are meeting on Wednesday to discuss other avenues to engage in conversation, including on behalf of the Shared Platform model specifically.
  • If you have other ideas, contacts or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out – this is a team effort and I welcome your thoughts. 

I’m pleased to share that the Tides Canada Rapid Response Funds that were launched on Friday have already raised $21,000 for changemakers and remote communities – in just THREE DAYS!

• As a reminder, you can find more information about the two funds on our website.
• I’ll be in touch next week with more information about the application process and decision-making criteria for Shared Platform projects.

Finally, I’d like to highlight an informative resource for you all: Imagine Canada’s Resources for Canadian Fundraisers. It includes links to information resources, news, learning topics and webinars for charities and non-profits - perhaps some that you haven’t already come across. We’re working on a ‘resources’ section of the Tides Canada COVID-19 Manual that we’ll add this to as soon as it’s live.                                                                                             

Next week’s email update will come to you on Tuesday instead of Monday as the Tides Canada team will be taking some time to rest and recharge over the Easter weekend. It’s been an incredibly challenging few weeks so I hope that you and your loved ones can do the same; whether it’s getting out on the land, connecting virtually with friends and family, baking (anyone else having a hard time getting hold of yeast right now?!) or spending some quality time with your Netflix account - I wish you all a restful long weekend filled with whatever you need right now.

Safe and healthy wishes to all of you,

Lizzie