35 hour/week – 17 month contract position
(May 4, 2015 – September 30, 2016)
Reporting to:  Executive Director, ONESTEP as Project Manager
Home Base: 166 Industry St., Weston Ontario (Black Creek Dr. & Trethewey Dr.)

Project Context:

The Ontario Network of Employment Skills Training Projects (ONESTEP) has partnered with Job Skills and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET) to provide focused resources to assist committed community based nonprofit organizations in developing earned income using internal corporate resources such as Finance/Accounting, IT Tech Support, Marketing, HR Management and Management Training. The Partners Group will be supported by a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) comprised of individuals contributing direct knowledge and expertise working with small business and social enterprise development.

Clusters of nonprofits in all four regions will be selected to participate in 1.5 day enterprise development institutes (6-8 groups/institutes; one each of 4/regions) followed by 6 monthly webinars and limited access to individualized coaching.  See attached project description for details.
The project goal is at completion to have 30 organizations with enterprise development plans and one or more secured contracts. 8 organizations will volunteer to provide mentoring resources. Initial preparations will be done for a provincial registry of nonprofit enterprise service providers and the framework for a clearinghouse facility.

Principal Job Responsibilities:

To coordinate implementation of the  project. Specifically:

• Support the Partners Group and PAC in fine-tuning a workplan and the design/ development of enterprise education tools and resources and communications strategies
• Lead the development work finalizing forms and processes for enterprise development institute participation, including a readiness survey tool, Expression of Interest application and related outreach communications
• Conduct research on best practices and models and draft institute materials for Partners Group and PAC review
• Schedule and facilitate the regional enterprise institute sessions at itinerant sites across the province with assistance from Project Manager staff (September/October 2015) with assistance from ONESTEP staff
• Conduct follow up webinars, and individualized e-coaching as feasible, to support participating groups in developing strategic business plans and enterprise contracting
• Liaise with the evaluation consultant in setting process and development criteria and assist in obtaining participant feedback and institute summary reports
• Draft progress, interim and final project reports under direction of Project Manager with the Partners Group and PAC input
• Ensure collection of forms and receipts related to project activities
• Other duties as required.

Qualifications:

• Three or more years work experience in adult education, training and project management
• Familiarity with organizational development and change management best practices
• Familiarity with social enterprise or  business and entrepreneurial development
• Post-secondary credentials in business, entrepreneurship or related disciplines
• Familiarity with the nonprofit community services sector
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills including workshop presentations
• Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills
• Self-motivating, proven initiative-taker and results oriented
• Ability to travel to off-site locations for regional sessions including overnights
• French language fluency a distinct asset.

Compensation: $65,000 annual salary (35 hour week.) + MERC. Mileage/parking allowance at ONESTEP staff rates.
Closing Date:  April 2, 2015 Noon Please site position title in cover letter.
Applications: Send your resume and cover letter to: hiringcommittee at onestep.on.ca

An equal opportunity employer, ONESTEP encourages applications from diverse communities.
Only successful applicants will be contacted for screening interviews.

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Earned Capacity: An Ontario Trillium Foundation Project

Who: The Ontario Network of Employment Skills Training Projects (ONESTEP) has partnered with Job Skills and the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNET) for this project running through September 2017. This Partnership Management Group will be supported by a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) comprised of 10 individuals contributing their direct knowledge and expertise working with small business development and nonprofit social enterprise.

What: The goal is to provide focused resources to assist committed community based nonprofits in developing earned income via service contracts with small nonprofits and small businesses.  By September 30 2016, 30 organizations from across the province will have adopted strategic commitments to enterprise development and will have secured at least one income contract.

Why: Transformative strategies for nonprofit resourcing are essential. Earned income generates discretionary funds enabling creative responses to changing social and fiscal environments. The Ontario Nonprofit Network’s Shaping the Future (2013) documented that funding uncertainty and non-competitive salaries hurt staff/manager attraction and retention of skilled staff across the spectrum. Social services are particularly stressed. Increasingly, funders require cash contributions for applications to be competitive. Most nonprofits have limited reserves to commit. Most funders provide just enough administration overhead to manage service delivery and accountability.

Leveraging multiple funders for sustainability requires considerable organizational capacities many groups cannot consistently maintain. Corporate sponsors respond more positively to groups demonstrating self-reliance through earned income and revenue diversification. In a highly competitive environment, sponsorships often combine access to expertise along with incremental growth in funding. First partnerships open doors to additional sponsors.

Earned income provides a supplementary source of funds that is totally discretionary.

How: Using the knowledge of the partners and PAC members plus business research, a self-assessment tool will assist groups in identifying their current organizational readiness and potential capacity for enterprise development. Via an Expression of Interest process, clusters of nonprofits in all four regions (6-8 groups/institute in each of 4 regions) will be selected to participate in 1.5 day enterprise institutes. Letters of Engagement will itemize key income generation targets as well as signaling board and management commitment.

The enterprise Institutes are 1.5 day offsite events engaging committed nonprofits in groups of 6-8 working towards a shared goal. After presenting defining principles and values related to business development and social enterprise, work would focus on an exploration of existing capacity and growth potential. This situates each group’s readiness status against a set of business development standards, a base line. The institutes will enable each organization to take concrete steps towards developing a customized development strategy. Follow up webinars and individual coaching over the ensuing 6 months will enable groups to finalize strategic plans and to flesh out action targets with specific objectives, responsibilities and accountability measures.

A supporting principle for this project is Whole Community Engagement. Developing mutually reinforcing networks in each region maximizes authentic ownership, shared resourcing and support for common goals. Our project aims to create new developmental resources, use peer leadership methods and regional support networks to accelerate committed action on earned income generation.  Promising practices and change models in one area can kickstart or accelerate activity in others.

Parallel work by an external evaluation consultant will provide interim suggestions of improvement as well as a final report on project achievements and lessons for future work.

When: A broad based invitation release in June 2015 will result in Expressions of Interest being submitted by July 15 for the first cohort of 4 regional clusters. Institutes will be scheduled in September/October and webinars/coaching starting November 2015. A final report on group successes, the institute model, materials and promising practices will be submitted in September 2016.