Category: News & Press

Muskoka Community Foundation is responding to the growing demand for good governance by hosting their 2^nd Annual Governance Workshop for Muskoka’s Charities and Non-Profits on Saturday, October 18, 2014 at the Nipissing University Lecture Hall, Muskoka Campus in Bracebridge.

 

Don McCreesh will facilitate the Workshop. An active leader in voluntary sector governance with more than three decades experience, Don has served as a leader on the boards of 13 different nonprofit organizations. He is past Chair of the Board and HR and Governance Committee of Imagine Canada, where he led an initiative to bring governance, fundraising, accountability and management standards to Canada’s charitable sector.

 

The Foundation has expanded the curriculum from last year’s half-day workshop into a full day. The morning session will introduce the concept of good governance, and Board roles and duties, focusing on accountability, transparency and fiduciary responsibility. These topics will provide a background and foundation on the purpose of Boards and will set the foundation to carry out the director’s role.

 

The afternoon will be an in-depth workshop suited for staff leaders and senior volunteers that explores their unique relationship. The goal will be to cultivate a partnership between staff and the board of directors that respects and appreciates their distinct roles. Those who register for this session will have the opportunity to actively participate in the format by emailing discussion questions ahead of time. Don will use those questions to create the agenda.

We’re offering several registration options including online payment.

Marg French was elected the new Chair of the Muskoka Community Foundation at their Annual General Meeting on June 26, 2014. She has been MCFs Vice Chair since 2009.

Marg is a Registered Professional Planner and prior to assuming her current role as a principal of French Planning Services, was Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development with the District Municipality of Muskoka. She retired from the District in June 2013 after 30 years in regional government.

Other officers of the Board elected at the AGM were Gord Durnan, Vice Chair, Daniel Bradbury, Treasurer, and Jodi Holder, Secretary. Evelyn Archibald, CPA, CA, and Chris Gun-Munro were also elected as Directors.

Three Muskoka charitable organizations are the first recipients of grants from Muskoka Community Foundation’s Smart & Caring Muskoka Fund. District Chair, John Klinck presented cheques for $ 1,000.00 each to the Muskoka Student Nutrition Program, the Table Soup Kitchen Foundation and YWCA Muskoka on Friday, November 15, 2013 for their initiatives that address poverty in Muskoka.

The Muskoka Student Nutrition Program is a partnership between Muskoka, Nipissing and Parry Sound. Each community’s program is led by a volunteer committee and funds raised in that community are kept in that community. The MCF grant will be allocated to Muskoka schools who participate in the breakfast and snack programs and have been affected by increased enrollment due to the implementation of full-day kindergarten.

The Table Soup Kitchen Foundation will use the funds for their Men’s Shelter, which they will operate alongside their Soup Kitchen and Food Bank. Presently the nearest men’s shelters are in Orillia and North Bay.

YWCA Muskoka will use the funds towards their “Bridges out of Poverty” workshop, which is happening on December 2, 2013. The workshop will introduce a fresh perspective on the strengths, and challenges, faced by people living in poverty and offer a way of thinking, together, about how to build the bridges to help people make the transition out of poverty.

Photo (L-R): Gord Durnan (Muskoka Community Foundation Board Chair), John Klinck (District Chair, District of Muskoka), Fran Coleman (Councillor, District of Muskoka), Heather Berg (Table Soup Foundation, grant recipient), Lisette Nault (Community Living North Bay, Student Nutrition Program Coordinator, grant recipient), Lynda Hutt (YWCA Muskoka, Program Facilitator, grant recipient), Ellen Frood (Habitat for Humanity Executive Director), Betsy Rothwell (Treasurer, YWCA Muskoka)

Don McCreesh, an active leader in voluntary sector governance with more than three decades experience, facilitates Muskoka Community Foundation’s Governance Workshop at Nipissing University on Saturday, September 28, 2013. Fifty-six volunteer and staff leaders from Muskoka’s non-profit sector attended the half-day session, which introduced the concept of good governance and the role and duties of the Board. Emphasis was on the importance of accountability, transparency and fiduciary responsibility as well as the purpose of Boards and how to carry out the Director’s role.