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The Impact of the Institute

A Case-Study Of How Our Model Can Lead To Projects Which Tackle Big Issues

By Rosalyn Morrison, Past Chair, The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay

A group of residents from all walks of life, from across the region, has grown over the last five years and has become a critical mass of thinkers and doers who share a common goal – to ensure that our region develops in an innovative, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable way.

This article showcases how The Institute of Southern Georgian Bay’s www.tisgb.com  community-focused model created an innovative solution for addressing climate change; all starting with a series of coffee conversations. 

Our Model

The Institute does three things, which over time can produce great impact. Our model involves:

  • convening people to identify issues, 
  • providing a communications and events platform for knowledge-sharing, and 
  • creating networks that can nurture collaboration and accelerate progress for addressing the large, complex issues we are facing in our communities. 

One thing we have learned is that no one person, business, government, non-profit, or philanthropist is going to be able to solve these issues on their own. We must find new ways of working together.

A Solution for Addressing Climate Change – Green Economy Hub Pilot Project

The realization of the new Green Economy Hub Pilot Project https://www.collingwoodclimateaction.com/greeneconomy  shows how process can lead to impact. Many people and organizations carved out the time to learn a lot together, and then do things they’d never done before. 

What are the key ingredients for success in this process?

  • People willing to learn and take action together
  • Knowledge-sharing
  • Building networks
  • Identifying seed funding sources (in this case, philanthropic funding)
  • Identifying other potential sources for investment 
  • Building a multi-sector collaborative model

Here’s the roadmap that led to this collaborative project:

Events and themes

Institute Board members discussed a potential theme for 2021, following our own recent pivot to virtual community convening during the pandemic. We talked about how the pandemic was shining a light on the issues we were facing in our communities, we acknowledged that old ways of doing things were no longer working, and we explored community conversations taking place across the country to gather fresh knowledge. We landed on this theme – Our Sustainable Future. The Board identified a potential list of people for a Design Team that could create a series of events that would help connect key people, share knowledge about solutions taking place in other parts of the country, and sow the seeds for potential collaborative projects.

Design Teams

Institute Design Teams and Working Groups are extremely important – they are made up of key people in the region who are knowledgeable and willing to learn more about community resilience, climate action, green practices, affordable housing, business and innovation, and arts and culture networks. Meetings of Design Teams are like the public events we hold, safe places to learn together. Iterative conversations help build relationships and trust, as well as a vision for how to move forward, together. Over 2021, Design Team Co-chairs included Catherine Daw, Collingwood Climate Action Team; Andrew Palmer, Greenland Group of Companies; Julie Scarcella, EcoSpex Inc; and Adam Thackeray.

Key Speakers

We had several events that year with incredibly powerful speakers including Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario at the time. She launched the event series as a great champion of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and highlighted Goal 11 – Sustainable Communities. Another two events brought together the Mayors and Chief Administration Officers from across the region. We also showcased innovative ideas for building resilient and sustainable communities with speakers including Linda Swanston, Manager, Climate Change Initiatives, Grey County; Tova Davidson, Executive Director, Sustainable Waterloo Region; Melissa Gerrard, Green Economy Canada; and Gillian Fairley, Community Futures South Georgian Bay.

Residents and key leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and philanthropy were participating in these events and our communications and knowledge-sharing platform was growing. Design Team members brought and connected their own networks to these larger discussions. The Institute was becoming a unique regional network which could attract other networks and build discussions that were important for sharing knowledge and for connecting potential collaborators to accelerate progress.

Seed Funding

Realizing that seed money for collaborative projects was key to success, the Institute Board began to develop a philanthropic fund, with contributions from residents across the region. This fundraising work was separate and over-and-above our core program fundraising for our events and communications, so we could, as a community, seed fund collaborative regional projects, and leverage and attract other funding.

Institute Endowment Grants

In 2022, thanks to the generosity of contributing residents wanting to have an impact, we made our first grant to the Collingwood Climate Action Team for their Regional Expansion of the Carbon Footprint Challenge – a first step towards engaging with other Climate Action Teams in Wasaga Beach, The Blue Mountains, Clearview, Grey Highlands, Meaford, Owen Sound and Georgian Bluffs.

Local Sustainable Economies

That same year, our programming focussed on the theme of Local Sustainable Economies – a topic that is now in the news, again. We showcased businesses who were innovative and committed to ensuring that in addition to making a good profit, they were integrating social and environmental improvements into their business model. Event speakers included Jacquie Rushlow, The Keep Refillery; Elly Green, Elly Green Inc; and Jacqueline Tuckey, Barriston Law B-Corp. This virtual community conversation highlighted a new approach to business practices, which results in better talent attraction and retention, and an overall better brand for businesses. We also showcased how Green Economy Hubs were being created in other communities like Peterborough and how Green Economy Canada was supporting this activity. We brought the Chief Administrative Officers together again and had an excellent public discussion about Key Elements to Build Sustainable Communities, and we finished the year with a focus on Multi-sector Partnerships and the Role of Philanthropy with Liz Rykert, Dale Biddell, Larry Hall, Anne Brayley, and Tony Cobb. Since there are not many of these kinds of partnerships in our region, we wanted to emphasize how they can lead to deeper impact through shared resources and the leveraging role that philanthropic seed funding can play.

Bringing it all Together

All of this activity laid the groundwork for an exciting event held at the Marsh Street Centre in 2023. The Design Team included Institute Board members Eric Ennis, Dale Biddell, June Porter, Rosalyn Morrison; Jeffery Fletcher and Nicholas Cloet – staff from the Town of the Blue Mountains, which had recently approved the Community Sustainability Plan; Nicole Yardy – staff at the Town of Collingwood, which had recently created a Corporate Climate Action Plan; Catherine Daw, Collingwood Climate Action Team; Kathleen Caswell, Ted Crysler, and Gerard Dusastre, Wasaga Beach Climate Action Team; and Sally Leppard and Kay Schaltz, The Blue Mountains (TBM) Climate Action Now Network. TBM Mayor, Andrea Matrosovs was a keynote speaker, and 70 people participated in the event Achieving Sustainability through a Greener Economy. Residents, business leaders, Mayors, CAOs and town staff leads, nonprofits, and philanthropists heard from several other speakers including Rebecca Danard, Grey County; Alex Hogan, RTO7; Anthony Griffiths, MacLean Engineering; Tori Rooney, Blue Mountain Resort; and Mike Robbins, Conversation Economy. Through the course of the discussion period, participants agreed that our region needed to work on a Green Economy Hub Pilot Project…the next question was – how do we do that?!

The Inaugural Sustainability Summit

In 2024, the Institute, Collingwood Climate Action Team and Green Economy Canada collaborated with TBM on a workshop as part of the inaugural 2024 The Blue Mountains and Area Annual Sustainability Summit. With over 70 attendees, it provided an opportunity to gain further knowledge about elements for such a project and to discuss ideas for how to support and fund a pilot project. The project would focus on working with businesses and organizations in our region to learn how to track, measure, and reduce their use of energy, water, and waste. Collingwood Climate Action Team (CCAT) agreed to be the lead non-profit, charitable partner on this pilot project for our region, something totally new for them!

It does take courage and strength to do things we have never done before: municipalities to create climate action plans; businesses to track, measure and reduce their carbon footprint; and nonprofits to take leadership roles in regional projects.

Launching the Green Economy Hub Pilot Project

It also takes strong relationships, determination, financial resources, and commitment to see it through. Last year the Institute made a significant Endowment grant of $15,000 to CCAT, our largest grant ever, to seed the Green Economy Hub Pilot Project for Southern Georgian Bay. The next commitment for the project – of $5,000 – came from the SGB Innovation Fund. The Town of the Blue Mountains is contributing $10,000, the Town of Collingwood $8,500, and Wasaga Beach $6,000. This group of funders, along with the climate action teams across the region form the multi-sector partnership Advisory Committee.

There’s lots more work to do in terms of raising more funds and attracting more businesses and non-profit organizations to be part of the Pilot.  If you are a business or organization who would like to learn more about being in the Pilot, or a resident who would like to participate in a growing movement to support local climate action, you can become involved in this innovative and challenging project https://www.collingwoodclimateaction.com/greeneconomy

How long does it take to bring people together and commit to a new project?

The Institute Board has found that it takes our communities about three years to commit to learning together, discussing options, landing on a collaborative project, and having the first seed funding put down on the table. The Institute’s model of:

-convening residents and business, government, non-profit, and philanthropic leaders; 

-mapping out key organizations and other resources; 

-keeping a core group of people active; and 

-attracting investment 

is playing a significant and unique role in our region. 

Can we make that go faster? Yes – if we are all involved and aligned!

Value of the Institute and your support

If you think this kind of community engagement, convening, communications, and knowledge-sharing is important for our region, you can become involved – share the newsletters with your friends and colleagues and suggest they subscribe at www.tisgb.com,  participate in events, and support our core programming here – https://tisgb.com/joinus/ . 

We can be “all in” as a region and achieve a more innovative, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable Southern Georgian Bay!