FSQ

Navigating through these uncertain times can be daunting and difficult for many non-profits, especially in the face of decreasing funds and budget cuts. With more and more non-profits turning to the government for help, we take a deeper look into the available support and if it is enough to keep non-profits afloat.

FreshSight is back with a newly updated website just in time for the new school year! Check it out at https://www.freshsightqueens.ca/!

In our past posts, we talked about how non-profits are adapting to digital methods of fundraising. However, an important question to ask is: "How will these fundraising efforts be maintained? " This week, we will dive into how non-profits are keeping this momentum going!

COVID-19 has caused most of us to start working remotely, including non-profits. From wifi troubles to working outside, it comes with its own set of benefits and setbacks! Our post this week will touch upon how non-profits are adapting to the current situation and reshaping their programs!

Were excited to continue our non-profit series by spotlighting the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC). BLAC is a community clinic that provides free legal services for low or no income Black residents in Ontario. Read through our post to learn more about them and what you can do to help!

There's no doubt that social media has become ingrained in our daily lives, from sharing memories to reading up on current events. What is even more undeniable is that it provides a voice to inflict real change, especially for non-profits. This week, we navigate how non-profits can leverage the power of social media to create a positive impact!

With quarantine and social distancing in place, the supply of volunteers for non-profits all over the country has been greatly impacted. In this post, we explore this change and what has been done to help mitigate this problem! Many volunteer roles can be done while observing all public health guidelines. If you are interested, see if there are any non-profit volunteer opportunities around you!

How has COVID-19 affected non-profits? What about their fundraising? What changes have they adapted to? Up next in our series, we take a deeper look at how social distancing and quarantine policies have affected fundraising efforts and how non-profits are working around it!

With FreshSight's focus on non-profit organizations, we wanted to take some time to explore some non-profits in our own communities as well as delve into what the current environment for them might be like. We'll be kicking off this series with an introduction to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, an organization focusing on the conservation and restoration of wild pacific salmon and their habitats! Read through our post to learn more about them and what you can do to help!

From all of us at FreshSight Queen's, we have been listening to and learning from the stories posted onto @stolenbysmith. In disappointment, frustration, and anger, we continue to read about the jarring experiences of QTBIPOC students, despite little effort being made to eliminate these injustices. We would like to thank QTBIPOC students for their courage in sharing their personal experiences and we wholeheartedly offer our support. As a club, FreshSight will be revisiting our mandate and making the necessary changes to support and empower QTBIPOC students. However, this alone is not enough. We call on Smith and Queen's to recognize these issues, but more importantly enact real meaningful change.

FreshSight Queens stands as an ally to #blacklivesmatter. Each and every one of us is taking this time to learn, listen, and take action. We urge everyone in our communities to do the same, to come together and speak up about these injustices. Together, we must do better. To find additional resources on the actions you can take, please visit: https://docs.google.com//1Gwl9omY8l5dUCkK4Y2ll/mobilebasic.

We hope everyone is well and staying safe. Although it was an unfortunate end to the year, FreshSight successfully completed 10 projects, held various workshops with industry and alumni, and introduced the 2nd-year mentorship program wherein each 2nd year is paired with a FreshSight alum in consulting. Thank you to our clients for their fantastic projects, to our corporate partners for their mentorship, and to our whole team for their hard work and dedication. We look forward to seeing what Melissa and Veni will achieve in 2020-21! Matthew & Ethan

FreshSight Queen's is thrilled to announce our incoming 2020-2021 executive team! Looking forward to making an impact with this talented group of individuals next year!

Our fifth consulting team - Jordan Allen, Veni Subramanian, Melissa Wong, Martina Zou and Thomas Kooij - has been collaborating with the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital under the mentorship of Strategy&. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more about the work that they've completed!

Our fourth consulting team - Claire Wheler, Rachel Zigelstein, Jake Bradshaw, Angela Xu, and Seline Toksoy - has been working with the local organization the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area under the mentorship of Ernst & Young. Check out their midpoint update to see how CFKA gives back to the Kingston community and the work the team has accomplished thus far!

Our third consulting team - Dorian Ilczyszyn, Vinson Lee, Tina Huang, and Kanza Kibria - has been collaborating with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada under the mentorship of Coactuate. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more about the work that they've completed!

Our second consulting team - Bronwyn Vaisey, Adil Natalwalla, Akshay Maharaj, and Alex Hamilton - has been working hard with Habitat for Humanity Canada under the mentorship of Level5 Strategy. Take a look at their midpoint summary to learn about their organization and the progress made alongside FreshSight thus far!

Starting January, FreshSight partnered with five non-profit organizations to initiate new consulting projects. We are excited to highlight the progress that each team has made, starting with our collaboration with Teaching Awareness through Puppetry (TAP). Nicole, Aysha, Mark, Samantha, and Emika have been working hard with TAP under the mentorship of Boston Consulting Group. Check out our midpoint update to learn more about TAP and see the progress made by the FreshSight team.

FreshSight is excited to announce Veni Subramanian and Melissa Wong as the Directors for next year. Both of them have displayed leadership abilities, work ethic, and a passion for FreshSight. We are confident that they will take FreshSight to new heights next year! Veni and Melissa will be hiring for all consultant, senior consultant, and executive positions in March, so stay tuned!

This semester, the FreshSight team is looking forward to collaborating with five outstanding clients. Below is a quick description of the impactful work that each organization does: The Community Foundation for Kingston & Area (CFKA) strengthens our community by connecting the generosity of donors with the energy and ideas of people and charities addressing local community needs. CFKA been making meaningful and lasting impacts in our community since 1995. Habitat for Humanity... is a non-profit organization working to empower people in the worlds poorest communities to overcome the chronic lack of decent housing. Their vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Furthermore, Habitat for Humanity is constantly looking for new solutions that would make adequate housing accessible and affordable for all. Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital cares for kids with disabilities, kids needing rehabilitation after illness or trauma, and kids whose medical complexity requires a kind of care they cant get elsewhere. With a mix of services not offered anywhere else in Ontario, Holland Bloorview partners to provide the best interprofessional care within their walls. Since 1948, the MS Society have been proud to be a part of a community of people living with MS, families, friends, volunteers, donors, researchers, clinicians, and many more in funding research, providing support to people affected by MS, and advocating for supports and systems that allow people living with MS to live a full and inclusive life. Their vision is a world free of MS. Teaching Awareness through Puppetry (TAP) is an educational awareness program that teaches children in grades K-6 about awareness and understanding of differences. Their interactive workshops use lively, life size puppets to engage youth to help them learn important life skills and coping techniques. TAP is an approved partner of the Toronto District School Board. As the projects progress, we will be posting updates!

Last Saturday, each team delivered their final presentations to the FreshSight team. The hard work and dedication put into these projects was on display, as well as the impact they will bring to our clients. Thank you to BCG, Coactuate, EY, Level5 and Strategy& for your mentorship and guidance throughout the semester. Thank you to Jack.org, Routes Connecting Communities, Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, Jericho Youth Services and Partners In Health for collaborating with th...e FreshSight team on one of your business challenges. We are looking forward to next semester, where we will be working with another group of 5 non-profits!

Yesterday, the FreshSight team had the chance to hear 2015/2016 FreshSight Co-Director Oren Redinger speak about his work experience in private equity, investment banking, and his life in NYC. The session was followed by project updates on each team's progress so far. We look forward to final presentations!

Our fifth consulting team - Stella, Seline, Julia, Jake and Akshay - have been working with Jack.org and have been receiving mentorship from Boston Consulting Group. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more about Jack.org and the progress made by the FreshSight team thus far.

Our fourth consulting team - Dorian, Salman, Kelly, Samantha, Emika and Andre - have been working with Jericho Youth Services and have been receiving mentorship from Level 5. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more Jericho Youth Services and the progress made by the FreshSight team thus far.

Our third consulting team - Bronwyn, Aysha, Jordan, Kanza, Mark and Veni - have been working with Partners In Health and have been receiving mentorship from Coactuate. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more Partners In Health and the progress made by the FreshSight team thus far.

Our second consulting team - Nicole, Ceci, Adil, Tina, and Martina - have been working with Routes Connecting Communities Inc. and have been receiving mentorship from EY Advisory. Check out their midpoint summary to learn more about RCC and the progress made by the FreshSight team thus far.

Since September, FreshSight has been engaged in consulting projects with five non-profit organizations, and we are excited to show the progress that each team has made so far! Haydn, Vinson, Rachel and Angela have been working with the Frontenac Arch Biosphere, and have been receiving mentorship from consulting firm Strategy&. Check out the midpoint summary to learn more about FABN and the progress made by the FreshSight team thus far.

The FreshSight Queens 2019-2020 executive team is thrilled about the upcoming year! Project updates coming soon, stay tuned!

Meet the FreshSight 2019 / 2020 Team!

This year, we are fortunate to have 5 corporate sponsors who we are collaborating with and offering mentorship to our project teams. We are excited to be working together on achieving a common goal of bringing value to our non-profit clients!

Today, more than ever, non-profits are looking for ways to scale their operations and expand their social footprint. The scaling process is not easily navigated, thus many have turned to seasoned non-profit leaders for advice and insights. This knowledge sharing has cultivated a burgeoning non-profit consulting industry, in which large scale non-profit organizations offer consulting services to help their peers expand their operations effectively. Two emerging leaders in the ...field, Venture and FareStart, have experienced positive results since their inception in the last five years. To see how they have successfully established their non-profit consulting practices and the effect consulting has on small non-profits, check out the following article they wrote in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org//scaling_nonprofit_impact_through_consult

CAWST (Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology) is a not-for-profit consultancy that provides training to both global and local organizations to address the need for clean water, sanitation and hygiene. Over 2 billion people around the world lack access to local clean water, especially in developing countries. By teaching global and local organizations how to receive safe drinking water through technology, CAWST helps solves many of the technical challenges that... people face. Currently, CAWSTs projects cover Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Recently, CAWST was able to receive a donation that will help them scale and launch further campaigns to provide sanitation technology. This will be critical for developing countries and will help alleviate the poverty cycle. Learn more about how CAWST is impacting the world here: https://www.cawst.org https://www.consulting.ca//not-for-profit-consultancy-caws

Pathways to Education Kingston supports high school students in north Kingston who traditionally face higher dropout rates and poverty. Beyond being just a program that enables students to access tutoring and academic services, It teaches students important life skills such as budgeting, staying active and cooking. Pathways enables students to break out of the cycle of poverty by setting them up for success throughout high school and to prepare them for post-secondary educati...on. This past Friday, 54 students graduated from the program with 75% of them heading off to college or university next year! Congratulations to both the students as well as the Pathways to Education staff and volunteers who work hard to ensure the success of this program year after year. Learn more about the work Pathways is doing here: https://www.pathwaystoeducation.ca/ https://www.thewhig.com//schools-out-for-pathways-to-educa

Following the 2016 European referendum, the United Kingdom's scheduled departure from the European Union has suffered setback after setback. Once most citizens voted to leave the economic bloc, politicians from the U.K. dreaded the implementation of this novel concept. Consequently, Brexit has played a pivotal role in impacting United Kingdom's government, economy, external relationships and the organization of the state. As such, according to the National Audit Office, the p...olitical dilemma has prompted the government to spend approximately 97 million enlisting external consultants to resolve tasks associated with the Brexit process. The majority of the consultants hired come from the six following firms: Deloitte, PA Consulting, PwC, EY, Bain & Company, BCG. Given the severity of this ongoing conflict and the extension of the original deadline from March 29 to October 31 2019, it is expected that consulting expenses will continue to increase exponentially. https://qz.com//the-uk-government-has-spent-more-than-120/

As humanity is gradually forced to adopt sustainable business practises, companies are often criticized for claiming their commitment to sustainability without actually enacting change within their operations; in other words, simply green-washing their marketing efforts. As a whole, the consulting industry has managed to avoid such critique by developing a reputation for undertaking projects which sincerely focus on building a better future for the next generation. Althoug...h often overshadowed in the global consultancy world, IBM has been at the forefront of corporate social responsibility and environmental stewardship since the 1960s. Today, the company offers a broad range of consulting services which include the development of smart buildings that reduce resource consumption by 50% as well as use of the worlds most energy efficient data centres. With decades of leadership in environmental stewardship and unmatched talent in IT, IBM is unique in its ability to foster a sustainable future for its clients, for itself, and for society as a whole. Learn more about careers in consulting at IBM here: https://www.ibm.com/services/careers Learn more about IBMs long-lasting commitment to the environment here: https://www.ibm.com/ibm/green/stewardship.html

Last year, one of our teams worked with Partners in Health (PIH) Canada, a non-profit organization with a mission of providing high-quality health care to impoverished countries. PIH Canada believes that health care is a human right and the absence of modern health care in settings of poverty is preventable. Through the development of long-term relationships with sister organizations in global communities, PIH is bringing the benefits of modern medical science to those most i...n need of them and redefining what is possible in global health. Our team developed target market specific engagement strategies, and a corporate partnership plan to increase national awareness of PIH Canadas global health care movement and stimulate growth in their donor base. Check out the story to learn about PIH Canadas recent initiative to expand their work in Haiti to improve treatment for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. https://pihcanada.org/pih-to-strengthen-sgbv-treatment-and/