Ronald McDonald House Charities South Central Ontario received a $120,000 Resilient Communities Grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. This grant funding enabled multi-faceted support to our organization during a year challenged by ongoing pandemic restrictions and challenges to the way that we deliver on Mission to families.
Ronald McDonald House Charities South Central Ontario (RMHCSCO) serves as a regional resource for hundreds of families of critically ill children from across South Central Ontario who are being treated at local hospitals in Hamilton. Each year, RMHCSCO supports more than 1000 families in our House, and more than 150,000 visits in our Hospital Family Rooms.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, RMHCSCO has remained open every day in support of families. The COVID-19 pandemic did have a significant impact on fundraising revenues and engagement in key communities, however. In cancelling major fundraising initiatives in 2021, and declines in corporate donors due the pandemic, it was critical that to hire regional and database specialist and retool database functionality to improve fundraising capability.
With the Ontario Trillium Foundations Resilient Communities Funding, RMHCSCO was able to take a revenue growth focus. The Regional Fundraising Specialist role, responsible for growing our fundraising revenue in key markets including Niagara, was able to connect with service clubs and corporate donors and expand fundraising footprint beyond the Hamilton & Halton Regions securing new sponsorships and fundraising commitments. The tools to support success also included the purchase of an expanded fundraising program – Raiser’s Edge NXT – which helped identify new growth opportunities through powerful analytics, user-friendly cultivation tools and data enrichment services. This database enhancement enabled greater usability across our organization due to user-friendly features and functionality, building capacity.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario’s non-profit sector. In 2020/21, OTF supported Ontario’s economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit otf.ca to learn more.
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