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DRC Annual Report for 2019

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Dovercourt Recreation Association <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />

Message from the President:<br />

Welcome to Dovercourt Recreation Association’s first – and I hope only – virtual <strong>Annual</strong><br />

General Meeting. Our meeting is taking place in unprecedented circumstances in our<br />

community, our city, our province, our country and, literally, the rest of the world.<br />

In regular times, strong teams and great organizations often go unnoticed. When things run<br />

smoothly, no one notices the good and hard work being done in the background to achieve<br />

that smoothness, the happy customers, and the impact on the community.<br />

But in times of crisis, strong teams and great organizations are easy to spot. We appreciate<br />

them <strong>for</strong> what is being done now, but also the solid foundation that ensures that Dovercourt<br />

is in a position to come out intact on the other side, ready to open its doors when it is safe to<br />

do so.<br />

Dovercourt is a great organization, and its team is strong. <strong>2019</strong> had many highlights, not the<br />

least of which was the selection and implementation of new registration software. The<br />

process took many months and hours of work, work that paid off in late <strong>2019</strong> when<br />

Dovercourt went live with it. As our treasurer will soon tell you, <strong>2019</strong> was also a good year<br />

financially —and it’s important that we have good years. Although Dovercourt is a not-<strong>for</strong>profit<br />

organization, it’s imperative that there are reserves built up over time that allow it to<br />

weather any storm. We should never <strong>for</strong>get the importance of our reserves and the<br />

necessity of building them up when they have been drawn upon. We cannot predict when<br />

the next crisis will hit, but we can be prepared <strong>for</strong> it.<br />

Let me conclude with a few “thank-yous”. Thank you to two of our board members: Gordon<br />

Voogd and Michael Peixoto. Michael’s contributions were incredibly valuable during the<br />

building expansion.<br />

Finally, and most importantly, thank you to the entire staff at Dovercourt.<br />

They have focused on the long-term health of Dovercourt and made<br />

difficult decisions to ensure it is ready when the time is appropriate. On<br />

behalf of the entire board, I extend our appreciation and gratitude.<br />

Bill Ranson<br />

President, Dovercourt Board of Directors


Executive Director’s report<br />

2020 has presented the most significant challenge our organization has ever faced: how to<br />

survive and hold on until we can return to what gives us our passion. In the context of our<br />

current situation with COVID, <strong>2019</strong> seems so much like a dream. We are a very peopleoriented<br />

business: taking our joy and purpose in serving all ages and abilities, with an<br />

enthusiastic, skilled, and caring team of all ages and abilities. As a social enterprise, we fuel<br />

our mission through the sale of programs and services that are congruent with our mission of<br />

a healthy, active and engaged community. In <strong>2019</strong>, we were a successful, self-sufficient,<br />

agile, and highly responsive organization offering an impressive menu of opportunities <strong>for</strong><br />

people of all ages and abilities, and with significant successes in each of our key result<br />

areas.<br />

KRA (KEY RESULT AREA) 1 – OUR CLIENTS<br />

Dovercourt is an innovative charitable social enterprise and is our clients’ first choice<br />

<strong>for</strong> quality recreation programs and related administrative services. Our clients feel<br />

welcome and very satisfied that they receive high value service.<br />

Finally, after a three-year adventure, our clients were able to enjoy the new spaces the<br />

program opportunities they will af<strong>for</strong>d us. The immediate effect was a significant<br />

improvement in quality, as our fitness and children’s programs moved into those spaces<br />

even as the paint was drying. We will continue to leverage the new areas to allow greater<br />

participation.<br />

<strong>2019</strong> saw continued growth in demand in our summer camp programs, particularly in<br />

accommodating children with special needs. Our steadfast determination to serve all ages<br />

and abilities has become well known, and we have become a destination <strong>for</strong> people with<br />

special needs from across the city. We were delighted to see a significant shift in the<br />

attitudes and capabilities of our competitors and partners in the service of people with<br />

special needs. We were happy to share our policies and procedures with others trying to<br />

raise their accessibility and inclusion practices.<br />

KRA 2 – OUR COMMUNITY<br />

Dovercourt is an inclusive and progressive charitable enterprise that leads the way in<br />

promoting and facilitating a healthy, active lifestyle. Dovercourt listens to and<br />

in<strong>for</strong>ms itself about its community, and acts on this research to provide better service.<br />

We enthusiastically partner with organizations of all kinds to achieve a healthy, active<br />

and engaged community.<br />

Our list of community partners that assist us in enriching our menu of programs and services<br />

continues to grow. They lend us their expertise and enthusiasm to make our programs<br />

better, more complete, and available. Ottawa Bluesfest, The School of Dance, Ottawa<br />

Riverkeeper, MacSkimming Outdoor Education Centre, CHEO, Kitchissippi Centre, the<br />

Nepean Sailing Club and many more have enabled our clients to discover what could be a<br />

life-long passion.<br />

We have an even longer list of friends and like-minded organizations that help us in our<br />

mission of a healthy community. They include our local community Associations: Westboro,<br />

McKellar, McKellar Heights, and Westboro Beach; our three Community Health Centres:<br />

Carlington, Somerset West and Pinecrest Queensway, Cornerstone Housing <strong>for</strong> Women,<br />

Salus, Ottawa Carleton Association <strong>for</strong> People with Developmental Disabilities, Tamir,<br />

Ottawa Community Housing, Ottawa West Community Support and our local group homes;<br />

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as well as a growing list of social service organizations that refer people to our financial<br />

assistance and Last Minute Club programs to ensure that we can include those who need us.<br />

Our annual Social Service Lunch and “Speed Dating” event introduces those working in our<br />

community and highlights how we can share resources and ideas <strong>for</strong> a healthy community.<br />

We can celebrate a number of local sponsors whose contribution to finance or resources<br />

helps us in reach, quality and capacity. Our corporate donors include Morris Home Team<br />

Real Estate, Hobin Architecture, Farm Boy, Westboro Station Dental, Carling Motors, Ottawa<br />

Physiotherapy and Sport Clinics, Whispers Pub and Eatery, NeoLore Networks, Boston Pizza<br />

Carling Avenue, Allegra Print and Imaging Carling Avenue, Westboro Village Business<br />

Improvement Area, and many more. In almost all of these, our connections are personal, we<br />

have served them and their families, and they want to help us in return. Their contributions<br />

help us host community events, improve our facilities, and add equipment and resources<br />

that we can then share with our community. They rock.<br />

KRA 3 – OUR PEOPLE<br />

Dovercourt is a highly desirable place to work and volunteer. Dovercourt attracts,<br />

develops and retains talented, engaged and compassionate citizens and leaders.<br />

We have an outstanding Board of Directors, with dedication and commitment to our vision of<br />

an engaged community and our determination to do things the right way <strong>for</strong> the right<br />

results. Their skillset, experience and education serve us very well, but it is their<br />

commitment to being a caring community that we treasure.<br />

Dovercourt’s full-time staff is recognized across Canada in the recreation field as skilled,<br />

expert, and as innovators. Many of them have been with us <strong>for</strong> years; some even began in<br />

our ranks as part-time staff. I am extremely proud of their work, their “can do” attitude, and<br />

their commitment to inclusion by serving all of our clients in a caring and compassionate<br />

way.<br />

Our staff provide leadership and mentoring of over 200 part-time staff engaged in every<br />

aspect of our operations. An important part of our vision is to be a great employer, to<br />

support and teach our people how to be great employees, and to share our enthusiasm <strong>for</strong><br />

the very meaningful work that we get to do. Of course, that includes all ages and abilities.<br />

Our supported workers are very much a part of our team, having become, over the years,<br />

part of our extended family as well.<br />

We take great joy in seeing where our alumni have gone, and in hearing from them that<br />

their time with us was fun, rewarding, and something they treasure years afterwards. We<br />

love it when they come back as clients with their children.<br />

KRA 4 – OUR FACILITIES<br />

Dovercourt’s recreation facilities are fully accessible, welcoming and inclusive. Our<br />

facilities and programs adapt and expand to meet the changing needs of our<br />

community and clients.


<strong>2019</strong> should have been the year that we fully enjoyed the results of our $1.7 million, 3000<br />

square foot addition to our mother ship, but like all projects, we had to spend a bit more<br />

time to get it right. But at least we got to enjoy that bright new gym <strong>for</strong> a good part of the<br />

year, and seem to be at the end of the minor bumps, tuning, fixes and final touches that are<br />

the norm in major projects. We continued to receive excellent support from Hobin<br />

Architecture (who had built the original centre in 1987), TALCO (our amazing construction<br />

Management team), many very skilled tradespeople, and the City of Ottawa.<br />

Our landlord/ partner, the City of Ottawa, has been making a concerted ef<strong>for</strong>t to tune up the<br />

rest of the building. We saw a significant investment from them in repair and improvements<br />

at Dovercourt and our McKellar community building.<br />

We continue to look after the wading pool and rinks at Westboro Kiwanis, Woodroffe, and<br />

McKellar Park, as well as the community buildings at Van Lang and McKellar, and the<br />

Bluesfest School of Music and Art (BSOMA) at Festival House.<br />

Our partnership at the Van Lang Fieldhouse is also thriving. We are seeing a very well used<br />

building and great community connections with the help of our partners Carlington<br />

Community Health Centre, Westboro Beach Community Association, and Ottawa<br />

Community Housing.<br />

KRA 5 – THE CITY<br />

Dovercourt is a highly regarded partner <strong>for</strong> the City of Ottawa.<br />

We celebrate the trust that the City of Ottawa has placed in us. We have been their<br />

recreation service provider in our part of the city, in an agreement that has remained<br />

fundamentally unchanged since 1987. We do our best to be both an efficient and effective<br />

supplier while continuing the innovation and community activism that are our roots. The<br />

secret to a great partnership is a shared vision. We pay close attention to their objectives<br />

and do our best to contribute to our mutual goals of a safe and caring community while<br />

doing it our way.<br />

We also solidified our partnership with another community builder, the NCC, as well as a<br />

number of local business sponsors supporting the vision of the SJAM Winter Trail. Led by the<br />

irrepressible Dave Adams, the tireless work of a team of volunteers allows the community to<br />

ski, fat bike, snowshoe, or walk along the beautiful riverfront, from the first snowfall to the<br />

last. It has been an excellent way <strong>for</strong> us to show we will partner with anybody who shares<br />

our vision of a healthy, active and engaged community.<br />

John Rapp<br />

Executive Director<br />

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John Rapp<br />

Director Team: Kathleen Finn, Robin Cloutier, Trish Stolte, Geoff Cass, Steve Nason


Summer Camps<br />

A major focus of this year’s summer program was an investment in staff development,<br />

training, and ongoing support. The investment began with a subscription to a new online<br />

training software that we tested during March Break. About ¾ of camp staff agreed that the<br />

training was useful in helping them feel prepared <strong>for</strong> working in camp. Another important<br />

step this summer was listening to ongoing weekly feedback from our camp directors. Each<br />

Wednesday morning the camp Manager and Coordinators held a breakfast round table<br />

discussion called “Chew On This”; each week, they discussed a different topic relevant to<br />

their role and their personal well-being. Topics included self-care, open and direct<br />

communication strategies, creativity in programming, inclusion, delivering feedback to<br />

young minds, and a comment/suggestion box.<br />

Another focus <strong>for</strong> the camp team this year was outdoor education in collaboration with<br />

Kitchissippi Centre, Ottawa City Rafting, Ottawa River Keepers and Ottawa River Canoe<br />

Club. Each of our outdoor adventure camps focused not only on the main activities, but also<br />

introduced components of water ecology, safety, and conservation. Dovercourt camps also<br />

adopted Westboro Beach with Ottawa River Keepers, and our campers took weekly water<br />

readings and recorded data to compare water quality over the summer. They participated in<br />

beach clean-ups, used aqua scopes to explore life along the shore, and learned about<br />

‘watershedding’ and water pollution.<br />

The completion of the Morris Home Team Room allowed <strong>for</strong> camps to be more com<strong>for</strong>table<br />

indoors when the weather didn’t cooperate. This new space also allowed our per<strong>for</strong>mancebased<br />

camps (Dance, Circus, Photography, Drama, Magic, etc.) to showcase their talents<br />

onsite at Dovercourt in a welcoming and accessible facility <strong>for</strong> all of their family and friends.<br />

Again this past summer, we were delighted with a visit from MP and Minister of the<br />

Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, who joined us out on the field. Her<br />

office approved funding <strong>for</strong> nine positions this summer, including support workers <strong>for</strong><br />

campers with special needs and bilingual staff.<br />

In its second year, the Jonas Mitchell Award was presented to camp director Liban Adam.<br />

Liban is a prime example of an exceptional staff, not only in program, but with staff and<br />

campers of all ages and within his own community. At this year’s camp banquet, Jonas’<br />

family members were honoured guests, presenting the award to Liban, and recognizing last<br />

year’s recipient Ben Blacklock. His family’s emotional speech touched and warmed the<br />

hearts of all the camp staff and acknowledged Jonas’ contribution to Dovercourt and his<br />

ongoing legacy.<br />

This year’s HIGH FIVE awards were:<br />

Caring Adult – Ella Simpson<br />

Friends – Pascal Hum<br />

Participation – Molly McCarthy<br />

Play – Neave Watson-Laird<br />

Mastery – Ben Cajka<br />

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Numbers<br />

We served 2955 campers in the summer of <strong>2019</strong>. Again, <strong>for</strong> more than five years in a row<br />

now, the retention rate has increased, as has the number of campers attending more weeks.<br />

Half of our campers attend multiple weeks, and this year our campers attended <strong>for</strong> an<br />

average of 2.2 weeks each.<br />

127 of our campers were part of our Inclusion & Integration program and identified as<br />

having special needs. Of these, 16 attended with 1:1 workers, and 39 were matched with<br />

camp buddies. Almost 50 of these campers were new to Dovercourt.<br />

For the second year in a row, Dovercourt saw a number of campers moved out of the<br />

Inclusion & Integration program and were no longer followed by the Inclusion Team <strong>for</strong> their<br />

second/third summer at Dovercourt. The success of these campers in managing on their<br />

own is not only a testament to the work by Dovercourt’s full-time Inclusion Coordinator, but<br />

to the full camp staff team, who are better trained and supported in behaviour management<br />

than ever be<strong>for</strong>e.<br />

172 youth went through our 2-week Leadership Programs. In responding to high demand,<br />

the July CIT program saw 80 participants, 13 of whom were hired <strong>for</strong> the remainder of the<br />

summer.


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Out of School<br />

In <strong>2019</strong>, the After School program<br />

provided quality programming to 150<br />

children from 10 different schools. The<br />

program is delivered by more than 50<br />

part-time staff ranging from Junior<br />

Counselors to experienced Program<br />

Leaders. It offers a variety of active and<br />

creative play opportunities during the<br />

critical after-school hours. Popular<br />

annual events include the holiday<br />

Twinkle Show, the end-of-year Rock<br />

Show, and the sleepover.<br />

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The After School program at Notre Dame<br />

High School is also delivered by the Out<br />

of School staff team and offers a variety<br />

of recreation experiences <strong>for</strong> students in<br />

grades 7 and 8. This program saw<br />

significant growth this past year with a<br />

dedicated team. Fully funded by a<br />

provincial grant, this program now has<br />

more than 100 participants and provides<br />

volunteer and job opportunities to high<br />

school students, many of whom were<br />

participants themselves. Activities vary<br />

depending on the season but include<br />

photography, drama, cake decorating, tutoring, basketball, and skateboarding.<br />

WAVE<br />

The WAVE (Work And Volunteer Experience) program has continued to grow and thrive<br />

under the direction and leadership of a full-time Program Coordinator and dedicated team<br />

of staff. The goal of this program is to help individuals reach their goals through community<br />

apprenticeships and social activities. Through strong ties with Dovercourt and the Westboro<br />

neighbourhood, the program focuses on enriching the lives of its participants through<br />

community connections and work or volunteer opportunities.<br />

The WAVE participants organized the second annual Halloween Dog Parade. This<br />

challenging yet rewarding project raised enough funds to support most of the group’s<br />

program supplies <strong>for</strong> the year.<br />

The WAVE program currently has almost 40 apprentices, working and/or volunteering at<br />

more than 10 different places including Ikea, Home Depot, Ottawa U Heart Institute,<br />

Boomerang Kids, the Village Quire and, as of this year, the Wild Child Coffee Project.


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WAVE participants with Spartacat<br />

HIGH FIVE ACCREDITATION:<br />

HIGH FIVE® is Canada’s only comprehensive quality standard <strong>for</strong> children’s sport and<br />

recreation. Founded in 2001 by Parks and Recreation Ontario, HIGH FIVE® offers a holistic<br />

approach to healthy child development, based on years of research, and validated by<br />

experts in related fields.<br />

HIGH FIVE® promotes the following five principles of healthy child development that<br />

research says are essential <strong>for</strong> quality programs: a caring adult, friends, play, mastery, and<br />

participation.<br />

HIGH FIVE® accreditation is the benchmark <strong>for</strong> excellence in children’s recreation and<br />

sport in Canada. As a HIGH FIVE® accredited organization, Dovercourt has met the highest<br />

standard of excellence in providing sport and recreation programs <strong>for</strong> children.<br />

Dovercourt has been accredited since 2014, and <strong>2019</strong> marked a re-verification year, which<br />

involves a full audit process with two representatives from HIGH FIVE® National. Dovercourt<br />

continues to be recognized <strong>for</strong> its program leaders —all certified by HIGH FIVE®, its use of<br />

quality and standardized assessment tools to evaluate programs, and its child-centered<br />

policies and procedures.<br />

The recipient of this year’s HIGH FIVE Leader of the Year award is Grayson Warawa.


BSOMA – Bluesfest School of Music and Arts<br />

Participation in music and arts programming at BSOMA continues to climb. Our growing<br />

roster of music teachers (now 32) delivered 5000+ private lessons in <strong>2019</strong> in vocals, guitar,<br />

ukulele, drums and more. Participation in group classes and camps remained strong, with<br />

354 participants and 138, respectively. Our students per<strong>for</strong>med at RBC Bluesfest, CityFolk,<br />

Westboro Fuse, Concert in the Park, and the McKellar Park Fall Festival, entertaining crowds<br />

with their fine musicianship.<br />

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Arts and Culture<br />

We have continued our commitment to employing great community artists as our visual arts<br />

instructors and developed our own courses <strong>for</strong> all age groups, rather than relying on thirdparty<br />

providers. The results have been a greater variety of visual arts programs that<br />

maximize the strengths of our instructors and better suit the needs of our clients, along with<br />

stronger revenue margins. Our investment in a highly skilled Program Development<br />

Specialist in our Dance program resulted in a much higher quality program, greater training<br />

and development of staff, and many new little dancers in the program. <strong>2019</strong> saw 366<br />

participants, a solid increase in registrations from 2018. Pottery registrations were again<br />

strong, maintaining the same number of participants as in 2018 (200+).


Sports<br />

In <strong>2019</strong>, with the building expansion completed, we were able to move several previously<br />

offsite sports programs such as Basketball and Multi Sport into the Morris Home Team room.<br />

We were able to expand our Jr NBA program and increase the number of Taekwondo<br />

courses offered. The sports department continued to develop its own programming and<br />

lesson plans, embodying the Sport <strong>for</strong> Life and HighFive® principles of healthy child<br />

development, to create well-rounded and dynamic classes.<br />

Check out some of these amazing new programs, including TBall, Cycling <strong>for</strong> Kids and Rope<br />

Skipping!<br />

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Birthday Parties<br />

Our Cool Cat swim and Commando parties, which were launched in 2018, continue to be<br />

popular; however, the top sellers <strong>for</strong> <strong>2019</strong> were Kids in Motion and our Superhero and Fairy<br />

tale Fantasy Theme parties. The addition of the Morris Home Team Room allowed us to add<br />

an early afternoon Sports party on Saturdays, which continues to grow in popularity.<br />

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Aquatics<br />

Our highly skilled aquatic team delivers quality instruction in a warm water pool to ensure<br />

all learners and visitors have a safe and enjoyable experience in the pool. In <strong>2019</strong> we added<br />

a lap swim on Sunday mornings, which has become very popular.<br />

Many aquatic facilities across the country are cancelling swim lesson and eliminating public<br />

swims, because of a staffing shortage. Dovercourt, however, has been able to grow its<br />

offerings primarily due to our cradle-to-grave system of in-house training <strong>for</strong> aquatic<br />

leadership.


Fitness<br />

In <strong>2019</strong> the most dramatic growth in fitness took place within our membership programs.<br />

Group Fitness, Gold Club, Fitness Center, and the Summer Specialty Fitness Pass all gained<br />

new participants. The program that garnered the most positive feedback is the inclusive<br />

pass we introduced in 2016, the Summer Specialty Fitness Pass. Since launching the SSFP in<br />

2016, usage has increased by 65% over four summers.<br />

The Youth Services Bureau (YSB) continues to be a great partner: their grant allowed us to<br />

double our Youth Job initiative. In <strong>2019</strong>, we hired ten summer interns, provided professional<br />

fitness certification courses in their training, and integrated skill development <strong>for</strong> them into<br />

our summer programs. Truly a win-win!<br />

Our warm-water pool continues to make our Aquafitness participants happy to exercise in<br />

this environment. Our most popular <strong>2019</strong> programs included prenatal aquafitness and<br />

rehabilitation programs like Aqua Arthritis and Aqua Healthy Back .<br />

Evenings at Dovercourt continue to be dominated by a wide variety of specialty fitness<br />

classes. This year one of the new —and most well attended— offerings was MyoFacial<br />

Release, where participants use yoga tuneup balls to release tightness and pain in the<br />

muscles and fascia.<br />

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SJAM<br />

The SJAM Winter Trail entered its fourth official season and has become a household name<br />

in our city. Residents can take a short trip down to the Ottawa river by car, public transit or<br />

by foot, to enjoy skiing, snowshoeing, fat tire cycling, or walking on a high-quality winter<br />

pathway that is maintained daily, all winter long.<br />

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This facility continues to be managed professionally by Dovercourt’s Dave Adams and<br />

operated by volunteers. The fundraising season begins in September; by November, we<br />

ramp up into operational mode and carry on until the end of March.<br />

Fundraising has three sources of revenue. Individual donations remain to be our most<br />

significant stream due to the popularity of the trail, netting approximately $33,000. Business<br />

sponsorship, our second stream, generates $12,000. And finally, there is a combined<br />

contribution by both the National Capital Commission (NCC) and the City of Ottawa of<br />

$17,000. Our annual budget to operate the SJAM Winter Trail is in the $45-$50,000 range. Up<br />

until the emergence of COVID-19, we considered ourselves to have a sustainable funding<br />

model that could carry us from season to season.<br />

Preparation <strong>for</strong> next winter has already begun. On behalf of Dovercourt, Dave Adams will<br />

be joining other trail networks throughout the city to create an Urban Winter Trails Alliance.<br />

The Alliance is the recommended mechanism to accept public funding from the City of<br />

Ottawa and the NCC; as such, it will be an incorporated, not-<strong>for</strong>-profit organization.<br />

Finally, there is no doubt that with Covid-19, the economic challenges by all three revenue<br />

streams will be difficult. Still, we consider that urban winter trails are very well-positioned as<br />

essential recreational facilities <strong>for</strong> our city. By nature, they encourage people to get outside<br />

and get active. Social distancing is easy, and the trails are located right within our<br />

community.<br />

We need to keep going (and grooming)!


Marketing and Communications<br />

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Print – Ads, Brochures, Display<br />

We continued our relationship with Kitchissippi Times/ Great River Media in <strong>2019</strong>. Each<br />

issue of the KT community paper features a regular half page ad page 5, as well as<br />

sponsored content articles and ads in feature sections. Summer camps have the largest<br />

campaign of print advertising in our budget, with ads placed from January to June, including<br />

the Ottawa citizen, KT, Hill Times, Ottawa Jewish Bulletin, Canadian Military Magazine and<br />

Aylmer Bulletin.<br />

Brochures & Flyers<br />

The KT/GRM design team produces our sessional guides, which are inserted and distributed<br />

through the KT, by Canada Post.<br />

This year we did an RFP <strong>for</strong> our summer camp guide, and the team at KT won the job with<br />

their creative and well-priced proposal. We printed 12,000 copies of the gorgeous 2020<br />

Summer Camp Guide and Family Wall Calendar.<br />

Other flyers, including Holiday and March Break camp flyers and swim flyers are designed<br />

by Red Wagon studio/ Julie Dorion.<br />

Display<br />

We have maintained the large, outdoor, 2-sided display board by Curbex, the “Mini B”,<br />

which sits at the top of the driveway.<br />

Digital signage was launched in late 2018. We maintain 4 TV screens (three at Dovercourt,<br />

one at BSOMA). We’re pleased with the colourful displays of content we design and control<br />

entirely, and feel it cuts down on some of the paper signage in the Centre which can<br />

become visually overwhelming.<br />

SJAM fundraising signage – We continued with new signage <strong>for</strong> the trail, including<br />

sponsored segment signs and wayfinding. Next season, we will redesign to included<br />

bilingual signage.


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Email<br />

Email marketing includes quarterly Centre newsletters as well as many targeted campaigns<br />

<strong>for</strong> programs like swim lessons, dance, fitness, BSOMA, PD days, camps, employment,<br />

birthday parties, sports. The launch of Perfect Mind registration software in Dec <strong>2019</strong> will<br />

enable broader access by <strong>DRC</strong> staff to contact clients in specific programs as well as to send<br />

general alerts.<br />

Strategy<br />

We have engaged Karmadharma to work with us on Google Ad Words campaigns, to take<br />

advantage of the NFP Ad Grant credits available to us, though there was a delay getting our<br />

account sorted out. Geoff worked with KD on some paid social media ads in fall <strong>2019</strong> which<br />

were successful in attracting registration <strong>for</strong> dance programs and lessons at BSOMA. Our<br />

plan <strong>for</strong> 2020 was to implement the plan that Karmadharma proposed <strong>for</strong> paid social <strong>for</strong> all of<br />

our program areas, but there is likely on hold due to COVID-19.<br />

Social Media<br />

Our presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has greatly increased and improved,<br />

thanks to Devon McNiven’s expanded role in social. We began using Hootsuite, a social<br />

media tool that allows a more integrated approach to creating and scheduling posts, as well<br />

as generating reports.<br />

New website late <strong>2019</strong><br />

Once we had configured Perfect Mind registration software and agreed upon the<br />

organization of programs, we worked with Karmadharma partners U7 Web Design to help us<br />

design and develop a new website, which would launch just ahead of the switch over the<br />

Perfect Mind. This was necessary because our front end website was provided by Legend,<br />

our previous registration software provider.<br />

The new website uses a WordPress plat<strong>for</strong>m, and is infinitely easier to update than the<br />

previous Legend CMS site (a huge relief). Aside from the improved aesthetics and flow of<br />

the 90+ page site, the biggest feature is the ability to embed Perfect Mind widgets directly<br />

into the program webpages, allowing clients to browse programs from the front-end site<br />

and have fewer impediments to registration.<br />

There are a number of improvements/ additions we would like to make as part of a phase 2<br />

project with U7 in 2020.


17


18<br />

Stats at a Glance<br />

<strong>2019</strong> Sports courses by age<br />

0-4yrs<br />

20%<br />

55+yrs<br />

15%<br />

35-54 yrs<br />

8%<br />

20-34yrs<br />

6%<br />

5-12yrs<br />

43%<br />

13-19 yrs<br />

8%<br />

Sport Courses Registration by Age, 2018 vs <strong>2019</strong><br />

2018 <strong>2019</strong><br />

16870<br />

15802<br />

4359<br />

2834<br />

5911<br />

5208<br />

1064 1064 790 777<br />

12181137<br />

22132060<br />

0-4 yrs 5-12 yrs 13-19 yrs 20-34 yrs 35-54 yrs 55+


Financials<br />

Revenue vs Expenses <strong>for</strong> 2017-<strong>2019</strong><br />

19<br />

$6,200,000.00<br />

$6,100,000.00<br />

$6,000,000.00<br />

$5,900,000.00<br />

$5,800,000.00<br />

$5,700,000.00<br />

$5,600,000.00<br />

Revenue<br />

Expenses<br />

$5,500,000.00<br />

$5,400,000.00<br />

$5,300,000.00<br />

$5,200,000.00<br />

2017 2018 <strong>2019</strong><br />

Revenue Sources <strong>2019</strong><br />

City Funding<br />

7%<br />

CD, Grants &<br />

Rentals<br />

11%<br />

Program fees<br />

82%

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