Community Grant Application ORGANIZATION INFORMATION CRA Registered Charitable # 107878415RR0001 CRA Registered Charitable Organization Name Resource Conservation Manitoba Address Line 1 3 rd Floor 303 Portage Ave Address Line 2 City Winnipeg Province Manitoba Postal Code (xxx xxx) R3B 2B4 Organization Phone (xxx) xxx-xxxx 204-555-1234 Organization Website www.resourceconservation.ca Year Established 02/14/1984 Annual Expense Budget $393,000 Please provide a brief description of your organization, including the services provided and population served. Resource Conservation Manitoba is a non-profit organization directed by an elected community Board. We promote ecological sustainability through environmental education and the development of alternatives to unsustainable current practices.
Primary Contact The Primary Contact is defined as the Organization s highest ranking staff member (eg. CEO or Executive Director) Prefix Mr. First Name John Last Name Smith Business Title Executive Director Email address jsmith@resourceconservation.ca GRANT REQUEST INFORMATION Project Contact The project contact is the main contact person for this grant application. This is the person we will contact if we have any questions about the project. Prefix Ms. First Name Shirley Last Name Johnson Title Project Coordinator Phone Number (xxx) xxx-xxxx 204-555-1234 E-mail address sjohnson@resourceconservation.ca Amount Requested $10,000 Project summary in 1 to 2 sentences, briefly describe your project. To establish a Master Composter Community Volunteer Network, expanding the role of trained volunteers in composting education in Winnipeg. Select the program area that best describes your project. Environment Select the project type that best describes your project. Program Operating
Describe the project, including the purpose and goals of the project. The Master Composters Community Volunteer Network is an initiative (a) to expand the role of community volunteers in composting education in Winnipeg; (b) to develop a co-ordinated Master Composter network for mutual support, information exchange and continued learning; (c) to strengthen RCM s own capacity to devise and disseminate composting innovations that emerge from the experience and advice of volunteers. The formal period of the project is date to date, but the network is seen as continuing into the indefinite future. Activities to be undertaken during the project of network development include (i) holding two Master Composter training courses; (ii) co-ordinating regular (monthly) meetings of Master Composter volunteers; (iii) developing a bi-monthly newsletter; (iv) arranging composting site visits and tours for volunteers; (v) supporting volunteers in developing their own ideas and innovations in public education on composting. With respect to the above, specific goals and objectives are: - To provide 30 hours of training to two groups of 15 volunteers - Receive 30 hours of volunteer time from each Master Composter over 2 years - To expand the reach of the Compost Project throughout Winnipeg through the activities of these trained volunteer presenters and educators - To incorporate new ideas into RCM s Compost Action Project - To promote backyard to mid-scale composting to residents, small businesses, neighborhood and community groups - To retain and motivate volunteer participation through an active peer network that provides opportunities for continuing contact, information updates, resource development, further learning, and appropriate recognition. For Master Composter volunteer participants, the personal benefits include: - Increase knowledge and skills in composting - Opportunity to promote waste reduction strategies in the community - Personal satisfaction from positive participation in community life - Opportunity to meet new people with similar values - Visibility in the community as an ambassador and advocate for composting Describe how you will implement the project, including specific activities and timelines. A broad range of suggested roles for volunteers is possible. A volunteer might, for example: - Deliver adult composting workshops - Represent Resource Conservation Manitoba and the Composting Action Project by working at citywide events (e.g. truckload bin sale) and community displays - Take Compost Infoline calls, responding to questions and preparing mail-outs during peak times - Research and write new fact sheets for CAP when there is a perceived need - Maintain compost demonstration sites (bin repair, compost turning, harvesting) - Prepare a Master Composter bi-monthly newsletter - Build compost screens and pallet bins for prizes at future workshops - Create and manage a quick and hot demonstration composting pile - Demonstrate the use of compost in a garden - Virtual volunteer (i.e. answer e-mail queries, contribute to the newsletter, do website updates) - Promote and advertise CAP resources during Compost Awareness Week in May, Waste reduction Week in October, and promotions on leaves and pumpkins - Participate in local Compost Awareness Week activities
- Set up a composting program at work - Create a composting video for schools and the community - and more! We know that volunteers themselves will be a rich source of new ideas and will put their own talents to work in support of composting education Cite evidence of need for the project, and how it will strengthen your organization and/or your community. RCM s Compost Action Project (of which the proposed Network will be a part) started in 1995 as a summer project with support from The Winnipeg Foundation. The Foundation s astute investment in that pilot program enabled RCM to identify community needs and build the necessary capacity to deliver compost education services. We ran similar summer programs from date to date. Then, in date, on the strength of this demonstrated success, the City of Winnipeg and the Province of Manitoba partnered with RCM to make the program a province-wide, year-round service. This support, now in the form of annual grants, covers salaries (1.8 FTE positions) and operating expenses for a program of basic information services on composting. Key goals of RCM s Compost Action Project (CAP) are to increase participation in backyard composting in Winnipeg and to raise awareness of the multiple benefits of organic waste diversion. Main activities of the overall project include: - Free public workshops on backyard composting basics - Distribution of fact sheets and brochures through displays - Demonstration sites with model bins and interpretive signs - Educational services for purchasers of Earth Machine composters in the City of Winnipeg (sold through truckload bin sales) - Toll-free composting helpline - Website access to project publications Some of CAP s significant achievements in date : - The Compost Infoline received over 1,100 calls/ inquiries on composting, 1,036 of which originated in Winnipeg. - 582 children and youth were taught composting throughout the year at day camps, and daycares. - Over 40 schools in Winnipeg contacted the Compost Project for help in setting up compost programs, primarily vermicomposting. - 929 adults attended composting workshops at different locations around Winnipeg. - 755 adults visited compost displays at numerous community events and garden tours to ask composting questions. - Thousands of how-to-compost information sheets were distributed at displays and events. Particularly in the past year, the growth of community interest in composting has outpaced the capacity of project staff to respond to requests for presentations. Gratified by Winnipeggers burgeoning enthusiasm as we certainly were, RCM felt pressed to extend the reach of the composting program. But adding new project staff was not financially possible. Accordingly, in 2004, RCM developed and piloted a Master Composter Training Course and Volunteer Program through a small grant from the Pollution Prevention Branch of Manitoba Conservation. A survey of Master Composters in Edmonton and Regina determined that one Master Composter can reach approximately 2,200-2,500 people over two years. Even with the small number of Master Composter volunteer RCM has trained in two courses to date, our own Compost Action Project has been able to greatly extend its outreach and delivery of presentations, thereby increasing the number of households engaging in composting, and diverting more organics from landfills. RCM credits our Master Composter volunteers with diversion of 29 tonnes of organic waste, and estimates a potential diversion of 618 tonnes annually from initiatives undertaken by these volunteers. (Please see Appendix A)
Through the sustained involvement of Master Composter volunteers, RCM can increase our program reach by 30 times based on the current number of trained volunteers. To reach all of the single family households that are not yet composting in Winnipeg (not to mention businesses, schools and institutions), RCM would need 75-80 active Master Composter volunteers. (See Appendix B for City of Winnipeg estimates of composting in Winnipeg.) Following initial publicity about RCM s Master Composter course, we were startled to receive more than 60 calls inquiring about the program and requesting application forms. Participants to fill the 15 available spaces were selected based on a written letter of interest and reference letters. As a result of the unanticipated response, RCM staff decided to offer a second course. Advertising for this course produced a further 120 calls, and led to the creation of another waiting list for a third (not yet scheduled) course. The signals from the community could hardly be clearer! Winnipeggers want and need this service. And a heartening number of them want to be visible ambassadors, advocates and resources on composting. In terms of waste reduction, the important role of backyard composting is well established. (Please also see Appendix B.) Some 35 per cent of household garbage can be diverted from landfill, amounting to approximately 350 kg per household per year. Home composting not only reduces the amount of garbage being landfilled but it also impacts climate change by: - Reducing the amount of methane produced at the landfill by one tonne for every three houses participating in backyard composting - Reducing nitrogen fertilizer use by providing an alternative, natural product (nitrogen fertilizer accounts for 25 percent of Canada s total emissions of nitrous oxide, a powerful greenhouse gas) - Reducing waste disposal fleet fuel consumption - Helping the growth of plants (which absorbs carbon) Describe the involvement of your community and other organizations in the development and implementation of the project. Community members are crucial to how the Compost Action Project runs its workshops and programs in the community. We also work closely with our major program funders (the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba Conservation). At every opportunity the Compost Project receives feedback from workshop participants on how effectively the information was presented and what could be done better. Through surveys and discussions at community displays, we also ask people what they need in order to compost successfully. As a result, we have identified many opportunities to improve services more workshops on a variety of subjects, home visits to show the process and help solve composting problems, information sheets on new topics. This kind of feedback prompted us to develop a Master Composter program for Winnipeg. RCM has also received participant evaluations on every part of the Master Composter training course itself. We have already incorporated a number of recommended changes (such as an increase in the length of the course from 24 to 30 hours). The course draws on community knowledge by inviting small businesses (Lumberlovers, Wriggler Wranch) and topic experts (disease suppression, organic gardening, ecological footprint) to the class. We also take tours of compost facilities to learn about the composting process from local institutions and businesses (Loveday Mushroom Farms, Red River College, Mountain Equipment Co-op). Indicate how you will measure the success of the project. RCM s Compost Action Project tracks of the number of people being reached and assesses whether or not our work contributes to change in waste disposal habits by providing Master Composters with evaluation forms for use at workshops and displays. These forms enable us to record the venue and contact person, the number of people reached, and number
of fact sheets given out, and to log on the number of volunteer hours contributed, and the retention rate for Master Composter course graduates at six-month, one year, and two-year intervals. By providing appropriate volunteer management (including appreciation of efforts), networking and communication, continued learning opportunities, guest speakers, monthly meetings, and tours, RCM aims to develop a dedicated corps of compost ambassadors who will stick with our program over the longer term, effectively strengthening the composting movement in Winnipeg. Identify sources of financial support for ongoing operating costs for this project. Please be as specific as possible; identify other funders if applicable. RCM s intent is to develop a volunteer-centered program that can be managed as a core function of project staff, within the operating budget of the ongoing program. As with any non-profit organization that is dependent on project grants, there are no guarantees that future resources will be available. However, we have no indications that the City and the Province are in any way unhappy with RCM s delivery of services. Further, RCM s record is notably positive in this regard. The composting project itself is an example of how RCM has been able to secure support for sustained programs of environmental education beyond pilot stages. As well, our Environmental Speakers Bureau is entering its eighth year in date. The sixth annual Commuter Challenge is scheduled for date. Not least, an active and safe routes to school program (called SAGE ) and a high school trip reduction program (Off Ramp Manitoba), both of which were piloted with contributions from the Winnipeg Foundation, have subsequently secured support from the Province of Manitoba through a multi-year funding agreement. In date, RCM celebrates 20 years as a community organization that has repeatedly earned the confidence of funding partners through the cost-effective delivery of targeted environmental education programs. Required ATTACHMENTS List of Board of Directors (upload required to successfully submit application) Project Budget (upload required to successfully submit application) The following documents are required however if you do not have them in an electronic format please mail them to The Winnipeg Foundation: Attention Online Grant Application List of Board of Directors/Officers and their affiliation Most recent audited financial statements Most recent annual report Income and expense budget for the current fiscal year Other (ie: quotes for renovations or purchase of capital items, letters of support)