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On June 3, 2010 the Heebee-jeebees an internationally acclaimed, award-winning comic a cappella group will be performing at the Vertigo Theatre to help raise money for the Federation of Calgary Communities, an organization that works to support Calgary's community associations.
The Heebee-jeebees zany antics have entertained thousands of family audiences throughout North America for a dozen years and counting. They have released 7 CDs and won 3 international CARA awards - the Grammys of a cappella. The evening will also include a silent auction that promises to offer some great items to bid on.
Tickets are going fast!
We encourage you to purchase your tickets today.
Tickets for this event are $25 and can be purchased online at www.calgarycommunities.com, or by calling the Federation's office at 403-244-4111.
Parking at the Vertigo will not be a problem as the Tower Centre offers parking for a flat rate of $6.00 with plenty of space and is fully wheelchair accessible making this already great location even better!
In response to development pressure on a strategic piece of land, three neighbouring communities are working together to develop a vision that can influence the outcome, with a bit help from the Federation and some Urban Studies students.
50th Avenue SW between Macleod Trail and the Elbow River borders the communities of Elboya Heights, Windsor Park, and Britannia, and is recognized to function as a neighbourhood corridor and neighbourhood node in Plan It Calgary.
The north side of 50th Avenue is presently being used as a corridor for power transmission by AltaLink. AltaLink has plans to bury the power lines and develop on the land. Since learning about the proposal, the communities of Elboya Heights, Brtiannia and Windsor Park have committed to developing their own local plan that would be proactive and visionary rather than oppositional and reactive. Rather than opposing any change and/or density increase, the communities are interested in proposing alternative futures for the site based on what the community does want.
This is very timely given the approval of Plan It Calgary. The opportunity to develop a plan/vision around 50th Avenue addresses the redevelopment of an identified corridor/node specifically, and the impacts of Plan It more broadly.
Determining the community's vision for the area will aid in the development of future plans. A visioning session was held with a small group of residents from each of the three communities on January 25th at the Elboya Heights community hall. The session was facilitated by Federation planner Taryn Hayes and volunteer Liz Austrom, a member of the Federation’s Urban Planning Committee.
To further develop a vision, the group has enlisted the help of a University of Calgary Urban Studies class. The students will take a broad theoretical perspective rather than focusing only on land use and design. Their approach is to come up with a high-level generalized concept (or concepts) of the 50th Ave area, and some "best practices" for elements to be considered in redevelopment. Their work will be presented to the tri-communities at a public Town Hall meeting:
April 20th
7:00pm (doors at 6:30)
Temple B'Nai Tikvah Synagogue: 900-47th Ave SW
Please RSVP via email: 50avenue@gmail.com
The City of Calgary will be working on an official "Local Area Plan" for this corridor, to begin later this year. The community visioning process and the student project will give the communities a head start on defining how they would like the plan to evolve.
Every year in March Mayor Bronconnier proclaims March in Calgary to be "Membership Awareness Month". The Federation of Calgary Communities first came up with March Membership Awareness Month as a way of promoting the importance of community associations to Calgary and the value of membership in them.
March Membership means getting attention for Calgary's community associations. In order to do this we run a month long promotional campaign based on the value of belonging to your community association.
As part of Membership Awareness Month The Federation will hang eight massive banners (about 3'x30') over major road ways in Calgary for two weeks in March. This is an excellent way to get all of those commuters stuck in traffic to think about joining their community association!
The Federation also has materials for its members including a guide on how to run a membership campaign and promotional resources for community associations.
This March we will strive to increase calls about membership while raising the profile of community associations and the value they bring to Calgary as a whole.
Celebrating Communities is a new program that recognizes and celebrates community associations and the volunteers that make Calgary's communities a better place to live.
Celebrating Communities' Successes
We are proud to celebrate communities by sharing their successes amongst our members and with the general public. We achieve this through:
- Online: We promote community successes on our website's home page
- Network: Our newsletter 'Get Engaged!' reaches over 1,700 recipients and profiles different community successes on a monthly basis
- Local Media: Raising awareness of community events in the local media including a weekly page in the Calgary Real Estate News
Celebrating Communities Events
Throughout the year The Federation hosts special events to bring community associations together:
- Annual Celebrating Communities Event
- March Membership Awareness Month
- Community networking events, meetings and conferences
Celebrating Communities' Volunteers
The Federation is dedicated to celebrating community volunteers and the hard work they do to improve neighbourhood life in all of our communities.
These awards are:
- Toole Peet Community Hero: Federation staff and board members present this award to volunteers throughout the city for all their hard work
- Community Builder Award: A single volunteer is chosen through a nomination and selection process and awarded at the Federation's Annual General Meeting in October
The Federation is proud to offer it's members a low cost program to help them steer their way through the complicated process of not-for-profit or charity financial management. Our Bookkeeping service provides Federation members with:
Full Cycle Accounting (fee for service)
- Regular bookkeeping (monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly)
- Financial statements
- On-site support
Financial Statement Preparation (fee for service)
We have trained individuals available to:
- Teach you how to prepare financial statements
- Prepare financial statements for you, using your records that will assist you with your decision making
Financial Workshops
The Federation Financial Services offers various workshops designed to give community volunteers a better understanding of their organization's financial position. These workshops include:
- Treasurer's Workshop for the Non-Accountant
- Treasurer's Workshop for the Trained Accountant
- GST for Not-for-Profits
- GST for Charities
- Reading Financial Statements
- Internal Controls and Financial Policies
- Governance
Financial Reporting (fee for service)
Assistance is available to prepare reports required by Alberta Gaming including Reports for:
- Casino
- Pull Tickets
- Bingo
- GST: Preperation & Reporting
- Payroll systems/summaries
- T4 Slips
- T3010 and T2's
Does my organization need a Bookkeeper?
- Is my organization's treasurer working without an accounting background?
- Is my Board not receiving regular financial statements, or receiving statements that are confusing?
- Is my organization managing multiple bank accounts and/or grants?
- Is my organization experiencing financial pressures or distress?
- Is my organization using a manual record keeping system?
- Is my board having concerns about financial management and/or internal controls?
- Have problems appeared related to data entries, missing information, and improper management of funds?
If you have answered 'yes' to the above questions about your organization, it might be time to schedule a meeting with our bookkeeping team.
In 2011 the Federation will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. Stay tuned for more details...
The Calgary Foundation, established in 1955, facilitates collaborative philanthropy by making powerful connections between donors and community organizations for the long term benefit of Calgary and surrounding areas.
The Calgary Foundation believes that strong and vibrant neighbourhoods and communities are the heart of any great city. So too are local people who engage neighbours, groups and public institutions in dialogue and shared projects.
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Neighbour Grants offers grants of up to $5,000 to support resident-involved projects that engage people in the well-being of their neighbourhoods and communities.
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Neighbour Grants looks to support projects that:
- Create a new or renewed sense of belonging, welcome and neighbourliness.
- Have meaningful resident leadership and involvement and affect a wide and diverse circle of the community.
- Have the potential to spark further involvement of residents and new local opportunities.
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Neighbour Grants generally supports public participation-related expenses for community projects. Neighbour Grants cannot support ongoing operating costs; community hall upgrades, repairs or other facility improvements, retroactive expenses or debt retirements.
Neighbour Grants are accessible to registered Canadian charitable organizations. Non-profit group without charitable status must formally partner with a charitable organization to apply. The Friends of the Federation of Calgary Communities has partnered with its member community associations on various Neighbour Grants-funded projects. Member community associations are encouraged to contact The Federation of Calgary Communities to discuss their project idea.
For more information on Neighbour Grants, visit www.thecalgaryfoundation.org/gsa_neighbourgrants.htm or contact the Neighbour Grants Program at ngp@thecalgaryfoundation.org
Click on the following links for examples of community association projects that were supported by the Neighbour Grants Program.
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