Media Coverage

The Dragon's Den of Giving

Tides Canada Website Monday November 16, 2009

It may sound scary but in truth The Funding Network is a cool experience for everyone involved. Their next event will be held on November 26th in Toronto.

Tides Canada fund The Funding Network brings together a bunch of people for just two reasons: to meet each other and to support worthwhile local programs.

How does it work?

Three local charities each “pitch” a program that needs support. You get to hear from them directly, you get to ask questions. You get to hear what other people think. Then, with the charities out of the room, we all get to decide what, if anything, we want to support.

This part is a blast! It’s sort of like a trading floor with people throwing their hands up and offering to support a charity with whatever amount they want.
No pressure, no minimums, lots of laughs and inspiring presentations from the charities. You will be amazed what people in your own backyard are doing to make the world a better place.

Featured Charities:

First Three Years
Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (Canada)
Street Kids International

Where and When?

40 King St West, Scotia Plaza downtown Toronto
(44th floor, in the offices of Borden Ladner Gervais.)
please rsvp to Janis Rukavina at
janisr@woodbridge.com

Time: 6pm (cocktails and food!)
Everyone is welcome and we encourage people to bring along colleagues, friends and family to share the experience.

Charity's anti-gala: Fundraising that's more auction house than high-roller event

Kelly Patrick National Post Saturday, November 11, 2006.

At first, The Funding Network's concept made David Schatzky a little uneasy. The psychotherapist and former CBC Radio host was used to supporting charities anonymously, by signing a cheque or by donating his time to pet causes. So, he was pleasantly surprised at the "satisfying rush" he felt while shouting out cash pledges to five small charities at The Funding Network's first auction-style event last fall. "In the opening seconds it was maybe a little bit intimidating," Schatzky says, "but everyone was so enthusiastic and the amounts people were giving were relatively modest. It was very easy to participate." More important, Schatzky says, The Funding Network (TFN) allowed him to meet the people whose organizations his dollars would help immediately before the pledging session began.

TFN is an unusual new fundraising mechanism that acts as a "marketplace," hooking up small charities with potential donors looking to give to deserving but little-known groups struggling for funds. "The attraction of our events is you actually get to speak to the people who do these things," says Sandra Shaul, a founding member of TFN's new Toronto chapter, the first in North America. "This is not about getting a brochure or a cold call. It's a connection you rarely have."

Here is how TFN events work. A five-person board selects five small or mid-size charities to deliver six-minute presentations to a room of potential donors. The donors ask questions of the charity presenters. They mingle during a brief break. The charity representatives then leave the room and TFN's volunteers lead a "pledging session" during which donors yell out contributions to the various charities or write down their gifts on a slip of paper. At the end of the night, the figures are tallied up and the totals relayed to the charities.

In many cases, donations have continued to roll in long after the event, Shaul says. TFN Toronto has held two events so far and plans to host a third the night of Nov. 15 at an insurance brokerage office at 595 Bay St. At its inaugural event in October, 2005, $86,500 was raised for five featured charities. Slightly more than $85,000 was raised at the group's second funding night last May.

Marlon Merraro was one of the presenters at TFN's first event. The 38-year-old manager of youth services at St. Stephen's Community House in Kensington Market was seeking funds for a program called REPLAY, which helps teenagers who have been expelled or suspended from school get back on track. Merraro was initially nervous about pitching his program to a group of strangers, but his jitters vanished when he saw how eager his audience was to help. "That was a key moment in my presentation because they were genuinely interested," he says. "You can't get that in a proposal form."

TFN members donated $16,168 to REPLAY, an amount Merraro says made a huge difference to the survival of a great project with a perpetual waiting list. "When they told us how much we got, I was jumping for joy. They could hear me screaming when I got the e-mail," Merraro said in an interview at St. Stephen's brightly painted youth arcade. "That amount felt like $12-million to us."

Shaul, the TFN board member, says REPLAY is a perfect example of the specific "social change" projects likely to be accepted by the TFN board. TFN does not accept unsolicited proposals. Instead, it asks members -- who pay a nominal fee to join the group -- to "sponsor" charities by bringing them to the board's attention and promising to make the first donation to the charity if it is accepted for a funding event.

Shaul says the first two events attracted about 60 people from all walks of life. "This is not just the high-rollers crowd," she says. "This is the anti-gala. You feel like you're pulling together. There's a real sense of collegiality."

For more information on The Funding Network, visit tfntoronto.com.