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%