Thinking Big, Giving Wisely - Tides Canada's quarterly enewsletter, Fall 2005, Issue #8
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In this issue:

• Issue Spotlight: Multi-tenancy projects
• Giving Tips: Natural Disasters and Social Change
• Changemaker profile: Parker Mitchell and George Roter
• Tides Canada News
• Must Reads and Resources

Issue Spotlight: Multi-tenancy projects

Normally an office move doesn't warrant much fanfare. But we wanted to profile the exciting new location for our Toronto office, which we moved into last week. Inspired in part by the Thoreau Center in San Francisco, Tides Canada has been looking for a similar space in Toronto to call home since we established our satellite office here in 2001.

We have been fortunate to become connected to the new initiative of Toronto real estate innovator, Margie Zeidler.

In 1994, Margie and her father - a well-known Toronto architect - bought 401 Richmond for a song. An historic factory building slated for demolition, they soon had it renovated, leaving wide hallways, much natural light, wood floors and other heritage features, and creating affordable rental offices and studios targeted to the creative and intellectual community. A day-care on the first floor, announcement boards, a restaurant, and a spectacular rooftop garden help to give 401 Richmond an incredible sense of community, health, and vibrancy. Known for its tendency to inspire unusual creative collaborations, 401 Richmond has gained so much profile in Toronto that the waiting list to become a tenant is 100 groups long.

With 401 Richmond overflowing, Margie looked for her next venture. She found it in 2002 at 215 Spadina's Robertson Building, another historic inner-city building in disrepair. This time Margie tried a slightly different model. She wanted to accommodate some larger tenants, as well as much smaller tenants that would benefit from grouping together to share space and services.

From this idea, the 215 Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) was born. Led by Tonya Surman and founded just over a year ago, CSI is a building management company with a big twist: it goes way beyond just renting space, to providing social innovators with infrastructure and technology services that they wouldn't be able to afford on their own, services they need to boost their capacity and maximize their potential.

You could call CSI a social capital accelerator. CSI's tenants are an eclectic group. Corporate Knights Magazine, the African Canadian Social Development Council, the Documentary Organisation of Canada and the Sustainability Network are just 4 of 14 groups sharing one floor of the beautifully renovated building, as well as meeting space, photocopiers, phone systems, reception, internet hookups and more. Top that all off with a living, breathing, vertical hydroponic bio-wall of tropical plants in the building's main entrance, and a shared rooftop garden, and you've got a social change heaven brimming with potential for fertile cross-pollinations.

Enter Tides Canada.

Inspired by Margie Zeidler and CSI, Tides Canada has signed on at 215 Spadina. As a lead tenant, we will be sharing office space with the Toronto office of IMPACS (Institute for Media, Policy, and Civil Society), and with others including the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers Network, Vartana Bank, and Care Canada. While operating as a separate multi-tenanted occupancy, CSI will be extending some services to us such as their VOIP phone and internet services.

Being philanthropic and charitable service providers ourselves, Tides Canada hopes to add a new layer to CSI's 'social capital accelerator' mix.

Come visit us to learn more about what Tides Canada has to offer to Toronto-area donors and social innovators.

For more information and inspiration on multi-tenancy projects (also known as co-location):

Visit: The Centre for Social Innovation's webpage: http://the215.ca/

Visit: Urban Space, Margie Zeidler's property management company, with links to her three phenomenal properties : http://www.urbanspace.org/

Read: Eye Magazine's feature on the Zeidler family's impact on Toronto's cultural and non-profit communities: http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_02.10.05/city/zeidler.html

Visit: Artscape, a Toronto-based non-profit organization engaged in real estate and program development for the arts and creative sector: http://www.torontoartscape.on.ca/board/

Visit: The Thoreau Center for Sustainability (San Francisco, CA), run by our sister foundation, Tides Foundation: http://www.thoreau.org/intro.html

Visit: The Nonprofit Centers Network - a US organization dedicated to increasing the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector by supporting the development and ongoing operations of Multi-tenant Nonprofit Centers and other quality nonprofit workspace. Check out their online resource center here: http://www.nonprofitcenters.org/index.php

Giving Tips: Natural Disasters and Social Change

Saturday's horrendous earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir, Hurricane Katrina, and last December's Tsunamis have drawn into sharp relief an underlying truth that all natural disasters expose: the poor and disenfranchised disproportionately bear the impact.

Even in the world's wealthiest nation, the winds that swept through the Gulf States laid bare years of systemic social neglect, poverty, and racism, and whipped up fierce public critique of government's response to the crisis.

The impact and frequency of natural disasters is increasing - it isn't just your imagination. Population is skyrocketing in disaster-prone areas (flood plains, fault lines etc.), particularly in developing countries, and hydro-metereological disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis, floods etc.) are markedly rising in frequency.

No amount of wealth can completely immunize a community against nature's ravages. But a growing number of philanthropists worldwide are acknowledging that long-term social justice funding that addresses structural poverty, social inequity, and environmental degradation is an integral part of preparing for and responding to natural disasters. While social change giving can't slow down a hurricane or dampen an earthquake, it helps lay the future groundwork for more resilient human and natural communities.

Tides Canada's Katrina Fund was established to support the recovery of nonprofits that have served the disaster-struck communities effectively for years. Once back on their feet, these groups and their networks will be one of the best ways to aid displaced people in dire straits and support the long term goals of the local social justice movement.

Grantee organizations will be selected by our sister organization in the US, Tides Foundation, who has a long history of raising Rapid Response Funds for emergencies, including 911, Hurricane Mitch, and the recent Tsunamis. Tides Foundation is also looking for ways to help undocumented immigrants and others often left outside the larger government-sponsored programs.

To donate online to Tides Canada's Katrina fund, click here: http://www.canadahelps.org/special/krrf.aspx For information on other ways to contribute to our Katrina Fund, please click here: http://www.tidescanada.org/files/pdf/katrina.pdf

The Canadian government announced yesterday that it will match any donations made by Canadians for earthquake relief in Pakistan, Kashmir and Aghanistan.

Canadian charities that are currently working in the area, either on relief, longer-term strengthening of civil society, or both are: the Aga Khan Foundation Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Care Canada, Canadian Red Cross, the International Development and Relief Foundation, World Vision Canada and Unicef Canada.

In the immediate wake of any natural disaster, support for relief efforts is paramount. Please make a contribution to relief efforts as soon as you can, and longer-term, consider support for groups that are working on systemic poverty and sustainable development issues in the area.

Changemaker profile: Parker Mitchell and George Roter

Parker Mitchell and George Roter are Co-CEOs of Engineers Without Borders Canada.

Recipient of numerous awards for innovation, entrepreneurialism, and leadership, Engineers Without Borders Canada works in partnership with developing communities around the world to help them gain access to the appropriate technologies they need to improve their lives.

In the past four years they have sent over 150 Canadian engineers to over 20 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Closer to home, over 12,000 members work on education and outreach activities to help Canadians and Canada become model global citizens. Learn more at: http://www.ewb.ca

Why is this work important to you?

There is simply no problem as important or as difficult to solve as accelerating the process of human development. Almost three billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day. This reality means they go hungry if the rains fail, their kids don't get to go to school, and they are constantly worried about the future.

Yet in spite of this, there is a determination and spirit and humour that constantly surfaces. Once you start believing in and working for a social cause, it is hard to go back to most areas of the private sector!

What's been the hardest earned lesson in your non-profit career?

That the incentive for going into the non-profit sector - because you care about people and the world they live in - is not enough. I've learned that you need that passion, but that you have to add a component of pragmatism about how you intend to affect positive change.

What do you tell people who are contemplating a career in the non-profit sector?

Go for it! No one I know ever regretted going into the non-profit sector. Sure, salaries are lower, hours are sometimes longer, and the work can be more frustrating, but that is because people are passionate about what they are doing and want it to work. It can be scary, and your friends might tell you you're nuts, but in the end it always seems to work out. At the same time, don't expect things - there are many people wanting to work in the sector, and those who succeed are those who created their own opportunities.

What are some of your most inspiring or entertaining recent reads?

Parker's pick: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
(read a review in Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/09/05/eugenides/)

George's pick: The World's Banker, by Sebastian Mallaby
(read a review in the Guardian)

What are your top three bookmarked websites?

Parker's picks: