Community & Primary Health Care (CPHC) provides universally accessible and comprehensive primary health care and community support services to a diverse population. Boasting 11 sites across Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, Ontario, the organization will soon be celebrating its 100th year in operations.

Executive Director Ruth Kitson spoke with CharityVillage® about what keeps them going strong despite challenges they face along the way.

CPHC’s story is one of resilience. Tell us what happened almost 13 years ago.

Well, 13 years ago we almost went out of business because we lost all the visiting nursing; we dropped from about a $2 million budget to a $300,000 one. We dropped from 100 staff to about nine staff. It was one of our biggest programs but someone else got the RFP [request for proposal for service delivery].

What I admire most about the organization is that the board sat down and asked, “Do we close the doors or do we find out if there’s still gaps? If there are gaps then we’re needed.” And it’s grown from there. Now there’s over 100 staff, 1,000 volunteers and an $8 million budget. And we’re filling gaps and there’s no competition either.

What accomplishments are you most proud of as an organization?

How we meet people where they’re at, as far as their needs go. I think that’s why we’ve grown so quickly. One of the things the board decided years ago is that it wasn’t going to compete or try to take services away from organizations that already have them. We just look for gaps.

So every three years we do an external needs assessment. It’s good to hear from the community about what they really need but can’t access. I think that’s what we need to be most proud of — putting the services in place that the community has indicated they need and are not available. For example, some said they don’t have a cardiac rehab and it’s too far to drive to a big city. And the hospital took it on. So it doesn’t mean we’re the one to take care of every single need and I think that’s unique. You should never be an organization that thinks you have to do everything.

Then, of course, there’s [the organization’s ability at] meeting people where they’re at…because everyone has different needs. For example, our overall purpose in the organization is to keep people in their homes as long as possible, from the new baby to end of life. And one of the things about our vision is it’s about optimum health. We feel that it’s different for different people and I think that’s unique too. The question is: what does this person need to keep them at home?

The biggest thing is many have trouble navigating the system and we help them. Systems are confusing no matter how much we think they may not be. We can say to them, “such and such agency provides x, would you like us to give them a call?” Some clients are well enough to handle that, though for others, having to make that call could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

What are your greatest challenges?

I would say it’s financial. I could use at least three more staff. Our community support services, which is the one we got the Donner Award for, have only about 10% of fees that go to administration, which is really low for the size of a $3 million program. Take 10% of that and how many staff could you really have? And yet there are about 3,000 clients and a thousand volunteers.

Fundraising is the biggest problem. Last year we raised $30,000. But you keep trying to balance fundraising with the fact that maybe you could be spending more time on services if you didn’t have to do all that fundraising. Thankfully we have a lot of great volunteers.

We also grew so fast and when you do, it’s so hard to keep up. And yet, as our board says, whenever we take on a new program, “if we don’t do it today, it won’t get done.” Growth is good but we probably grew faster than we would have liked.

Our biggest challenge, much more so the last couple of years, is that our senior programs are only funded about 65%. The rest is client fees, fundraising and donations. We haven’t had any substantial funding, maybe 2% since 2006 and yet our units of service have grown from 60,000 to 100,000. So the needs keep growing and the funding available through the Ministry hasn’t, so we have to look at unique ways to get around these obstacles.

Tell me about the ways you’ve overcome those challenges.

The staff introduced something five years ago. They said, “Fundraising takes a lot of time and energy and we want to focus on services, so we want to raise a fair amount of money with the least amount of effort.” In a very small community, maybe 500 people, they introduced the Rock-a-Thon. People — children right up to seniors — get together and rock in rocking chairs and get sponsors ahead of time. They also have entertainment, a bake sale and a raffle. Two little communities on April 16th raised over $6,000 and over 5,000 people sponsored the rocking chairs.

And our seniors exercise program was struggling recently. There wasn’t enough revenue and we can’t be running deficits. So, in the beginning of March, I wrote [supporters] a note telling them we need $10,000 to balance the budget because the program is so critical. And you know what? As of yesterday we’ll probably make the $10,000, if not a bit more thanks to people sending donations. That particular program has about 600 participants across 21 sites and the exercise program is certified through the University of Western Ontario. It’s phenomenal.

What are some lessons learned in running an award-winning organization?

The staff and volunteers are so busy serving people that it takes something like this [the Donner award] for them to realize we’re really making a difference. You really are doing an excellent job serving people and it’s very fulfilling, but how often do you take time to stop and think about it?

And the more you are recognized, the more is expected of you. People come up to me all the time and say, “What’s next?”

You can always pick something out of it that you can do better or differently — we learn a lot from other organizations. And it’s amazing how much you can do with limited resources.

The Donner Awards is Canada’s largest nonprofit awards program. An award valued at $5,000 is presented to a winning organization in each of seven different categories. One of these organizations is also granted the William H. Donner Award for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services, valued at $20,000. May 31 is the deadline to apply. www.donnerwawards.org.

Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is also president of Elle Communications and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.

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