The latest message from Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada (July 3). Full transcript below.

With summer here, I know that Clubs are shifting focus. Usually we go from out of school programs to summer camps, typically an intense period at most Clubs. I’m going to step away from the camera for the summer—at least for these weekly updates.

Summer camps are in for many, but not for all. And where they are in, they don’t look like normal camps—staff to camper ratios are higher, and more activities are done over a distance or in different ways, with masks, hand sanitizer, and frequent cleaning.

It’s complicated and difficult, yet you are doing the work with kids to ensure they have something that looks like a summer.

This is important not just for families who need this—a way to access childcare while they work, or seek work. This is important because kids need it. Several articles and studies are now out looking at the impact the quarantine has on kids.

Because humans are social beings, the developmental stages of childhood are vital to forming the social behaviours that are critical for adult success.

Kids learn from others. They learn how to interact, how to negotiate, how to function socially. They learn what works, and what doesn’t. They learn social instincts, and how to work and play with others. They learn ethics, responsibility, and morals.

Sure they can learn from the adults in their lives, but it is not the same as the constant interaction that comes from being with your peers.

While some time in quarantine and away from other kids is an inconvenience, the longer kids stay away from others the more detrimental the effects. We need to work on and implement safe ways for kids to get back to being kids.  To seeing their friends, interacting with their peers.

The kids are increasingly not alright. It’s not just the support system that Clubs provide outside of school and home—it’s the very nature of being young, of needing to socialize and connect.

As adults, we can often find creative ways to connect with family and friends. We can rationalize the problem and have patience.

These are not options for children and youth. They need to connect, and this summer, they need to find their peers and interact. Safely.

Let’s work together to find ways to support the children and youth of Canada. Let’s keep them safe—physically and mentally.

Stay safe, be strong, be well.

The latest message from Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada (June 26). Full transcript below.

This may not be as exciting a topic as some of the other weeks, but I think it’s an important one. I want to talk balance sheets and business.

Carolyn Tuckwell, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of South Coast BC, noted this week that charities and nonprofits are being treated the same as for profits in many of the government conversations and support programs that have been central in the last few months, and this is a refreshing change. I’ve joked that charities often feel like they are at the ‘kids table’ at the dinner party, so it’s nice to be at the adult table. Usually, we may be in the room, but we don’t always get to play with the adults—that’s reserved for the big corporations.

Well, if we are to be treated the same as business, then we need to act like it. That means we need to pay attention to one vital tool of organizational health—the balance sheet. The balance sheet is your bank account. What cash do you have available? What do you owe? What do you own? And most importantly—in a crisis, how much do you have available quickly to pay bills and keep you afloat? It’s where the emergency savings are stashed. A good balance sheet is a sign of fiscal health. We need to pay attention to the fiscal health of all charities—we will be tested again beyond this initial pandemic lockdown. And we need to be prepared.

Unfortunately, too many donors frown on a strong balance sheet. Why isn’t that cash being put to immediate use? Why not spend every last dollar on the immediate needs of today? Unrestricted giving is low on the priority list, if even a consideration. Yet unrestricted dollars support the most essential work—making sure the organization is strong enough to do the work that’s demanded of it. And part of that is a healthy balance sheet to ensure that the organization can survive fiscal downturns like the recession we’re in today—our Clubs need to be able to survive to provide services.

Yet there is one way we are not like businesses—supply and demand come from different places. Supply of cash and resources, and demand for our services, that is. More people, more families will be demanding our services—and already are. Clubs have already said there are waiting lists that they can’t fulfil. But unlike in a business, the supply—the cash to do the work—comes from other sources: donors, funders, governments. This can lead to a fundamental mis-match—high demand, but weakening supply.

We need funders to step up, to see the demand, and to understand that charities—like our Clubs—are part of the vital social safety net that is needed to catch those who are struggling, and prop up those who need a push. Otherwise, they will not benefit from an economic recovery.

The latest message from Owen Charters, President & CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (June 5). Full transcript below.

Today is Unplug to Connect, a day where we celebrate the work we do in Clubs face to face.

Unplug to Connect emphasizes how important it is to get disconnected from our devices and meet in person. Ironically, the only way for me to connect today is virtually, through this video, for instance.

And I am going to tell you that I am tired. Really tired.

Tired of connecting virtually and not in person. And really tired of the same problems that don’t get fixed.

This was a week of unrest and upheaval—protests against anti-Black racism in the US and around the world.

These protests are against a system that has serious flaws, serious problems that are not getting fixed.

My family knows racism. When my Japanese grandparents arrived on the shores of Canada, it wasn’t long before institutionalized racism meant they were stripped of all their belongings—their homes, their business—and incarcerated in internment camps in the interior of British Columbia as enemy aliens. It’s only one incident in a legacy of racism that continues today in this country.

Racism against Blacks, Indigenous, and People of Colour is insidious. It is what our Clubs contend with each and every day—the effects of pervasive racism.

I’m not alone in being tired of this fight—our National Youth Council have stated that “we are frustrated, angry, and emotionally exhausted.” Read their full statement here, and read Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada’s statement here.

Clubs are part of the solution, and they continue to work hard to confront and eradicate the effects of racism. They teach core values like Belonging, Respect, Speaking Out, which are central to creating inclusion.

It is also the start of Pride Month. Our work to create a society that is just, equitable, and safe for all is paramount. Our goal is to ensure youth can see and access all the opportunities that should be open to them.

I know that despite my heritage I now stand here as a person with privilege, and as an ally. I must take action. You must take action.

We must have the difficult conversations and open dialogue that are necessary to move forward and ensure Black, Indigenous, and all youth of colour have the right to be full participants in society and to walk without fear. Be an active part of the solution.  Do as our national youth council asks: Sign petitions. Call, text, and email. Write letters. Walk, demonstrate, donate. Educate yourself and your family. Check on your affected friends.

And take care of yourself.