OTF grant opens new doors at A Place Called Home

Effective fundraising is about building strong community relationships. On July 1, 2022, A Place Called Home’s (APCH) emergency shelter was awarded a grant in the amount of $69,700.00 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Resilient Communities Fund for a new fund development coordinator position to help the agency build those essential donor relationships that are integral to the organization’s mission of ensuring everyone has a place to call home.

Jen Lopinski was hired as the new fund development coordinator at APCH. Lopinski who has been with the organization since 2004 and has been passionately working during this past year at increasing homeless awareness and building strong donor relationships in a post COVID-19 pandemic climate.

The OTF grant and the fund development coordinator position has made many impactful initiatives possible. Exciting new projects such as the Mural Art Project has been highly successful in creating increased homeless awareness in youth in our community, and has also served to build strong community relationships with the Kawartha Art Gallery and the United Way – CKL. Another thriving initiative that was made possible by the Ontario Trillium Grant is the agency’s new Bikeshare program that commenced in May 2023 that offers free and accessible transportation to their shelter and outreach clients.

Since March, Lopinski has been coordinating the agency’s biggest fundraising event, the Kawartha Lakes Classic Cycling Tour (August 26), with the support of the Kawartha Cycling Club. Lopinski states, “Events such as this and the Mark-a-thon (August 12) help our organization to meet our target of raising $150,000.00 per year. Our agency must raise more than $150,000.00 per year to ensure that we are able to provide effective shelter and outreach services to the homeless in the City of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton County. We greatly appreciate the Ontario Trillium Grant that we have been awarded as it has given our organization an essential tool that has bolstered our ability to raise funds for the homeless”.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations celebrates 40 years of grant-making in Ontario and making a lasting impact in communities. Last year, OTF invested over $110M into 1,022 community projects and partnerships. Visit otf.ca to learn more.

For more information about A Place Called Home, please visit A Place Called Home (apch.ca).