How Small Nonprofits Make Big Policy Waves with Alison Stewart
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Advocating for change seems daunting, especially when you're working with limited resources and a small team. What if you knew the insider strategies to make a significant impact in your community and get your voice heard at city council meetings? In today's episode, we'll pull back the curtain on the power of local engagement and show you how a small team can pedal their message to the top.
Join us as we chat with the super inspiring Alison Stewart from Cycle Toronto. Her passion for sharing the joy of biking paired with her desire to make Toronto a vibrant cycling city led her to take on several volunteer roles since 2013. Her background includes senior leadership roles in the post secondary sector which saw her develop strategic plans that focused on supporting the diverse needs of international and domestic students on the one hand, while also securing funding and developing government and community partnerships on the other.
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Key Episode Highlights:
The Importance of Personal Stories: Alison spotlighted the strength of personal testimony in influencing policy. By encouraging community members to share their experiences during city council deputations, Cycle Toronto demonstrates the real-world impact of policies on individuals, adding a human element that stats alone can't convey.
Strategic Relationship Building: Developing collaborative relationships with city councillors and other stakeholders, as Alison outlines, is critical. Even if some aren't naturally aligned with your mission, finding mutual goals can lead to progress you might not achieve otherwise.
Leveraging Volunteer Passion: Alison's own journey from volunteer to advocacy leader exemplifies the multifaceted potential of volunteers in a small charity. They are not just a workforce; they're potential future leaders who bring energy and new insights to your core mission.
Effective Messaging Across Mediums: Whether it's supporting communications or getting involved with municipal staffers, clear and targeted messaging is pivotal. Alison's work on providing relevant and compelling content speaks to the importance of how you present your issues to the world, essential for any small nonprofit.
The Power of Collaboration: Alison and Cycle Toronto show us that partnerships extend your reach. By aligning with other organizations, community groups, and leveraging varied advocacy approaches, small nonprofits can amplify their influence and achieve common goals.
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Watch this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/cgxK1coghmU
Links and Resources:
Alison Stewart (LinkedIn): linkedin.com/in/alisonvstewart
Alison Stewart (Twitter): https://twitter.com/AlisonVStewart
Alison Stewart (Email): Alison.Stewart@CycleTO.ca
Cycle Toronto (Website): https://www.cycleto.ca/
Connect with Maria on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mariario/
Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/208666/supporters/new
Transcript:
00:00:00 Alison: Biking used to be viewed as a fringe activity, right? But because we've built some safe infrastructure where more people, including women and children, are able to bike comfortably, it becomes more of an attractive option. And increasingly, to help sell a bike lane, it's no longer just about bike lanes, it's about complete streets. Because where you have protected bike lanes, you also have an improved and attractive and comfortable pedestrian realm.
00:00:30 Maria: Hi friends, ever wondered how you could turn your big ideas into results? I'm Maria Rio, your go-to guide for helping small nonprofits have real world impacts. Together, let's reimagine a better sector, tackle systemic issues, and yes, raise some serious cash. Welcome back to The Small Nonprofit, the podcast where your passion meets action.
00:01:02 Maria: Hi friends, welcome back to The Small Nonprofit podcast. Today I have an amazing guest for you, planned. I have Alison Stewart on the line. Hello, Alison.
00:01:13 Alison: Hello Maria, happy to be here and happy new year.
00:01:15 Maria: Happy new year. We're recording this in January. So if you're hearing this a little bit later, happy new year to you too, future. But yeah, so today I'm joined by Alison and I'm really excited to have her share her insights with us because she has an incredibly unique role for someone who works in a nonprofit of our sizes. So I'm really excited for her to introduce herself and to share all her insight with you today. So, Alison, can you tell our audience a little bit more about who you are, what you do, and all that good stuff?
00:01:50 Alison: All right. Well, I will mention that I'm currently the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy for Cycle Toronto which is a grassroots charity that is member supported in Toronto, Ontario, that advocates, educates on building better cycling infrastructure and culture so that as many people as possible feel comfortable trying to bike, because it is the most efficient, practical and affordable way to get around Toronto these days.
00:02:23 Alison: That said, before I started this amazing role, I come with multi-sector experience and beginning, back in the day as a designer for shoes and accessories and sales, marketing, communications and advertising, followed by government. So I actually work for an officer of the assembly, doing complaint resolutions and community liaison, advocating for the rights of linguistic minority francophones in Ontario followed by post-secondary.
00:03:00 Alison: So one of the things that I love about my career path is that, you know, having that multi-sector approach, you realize that regardless of the industry, job, or even geography where you're living, there are certain foundations that are transferable everywhere. So as we're gonna talk today, you know, in my current role, there's sort of a mix of, you know, advocacy, government relations, community building, organizing, those are all things that transfer well.
00:03:34 Alison: So I am looking forward to sharing some of my experience and some of the new insights that I've gained in my current role, because even though I have been volunteering throughout my life for different organizations and I actually began volunteering for Cycle Toronto in 2013, this is the first time that I've actually worked full time for a non-for-profit. So that also has been a learning curve for me.
00:04:02 Maria: I didn't know your career was so different. It's like four different sectors. That's really, really interesting. And I'd love to hear more about how those skills, like, have been brought forward to your current role. That sounds really exciting. But just for our audience, like many small nonprofits, they don't have a director of policy. That's just something that they're never going to have. And I wish, usually it's being done off the side of the desk, if there's any organizing at all. Can you tell us, what is a director of policy? What does your role look like?
00:04:36 Alison: Well, so yeah, so when you are a small team, and, you know, as a Director of Advocacy and Public Policy, my role on the one hand, you know, that advocacy, so advocating to deliver our mandate. So whereas a big role for Cycle Toronto is trying to convince our civic leaders in Toronto that it makes sense to build cycling infrastructure and to build a cycling culture because it will make, it makes, it improves the public health, it improves the sustainability, it reduces congestion, you know, all these great reasons. And so that advocacy part involves, one, building support from our supporters and members to support us by writing letters to council or come, to IEC to depute.
00:05:35 Alison: On the other hand, building the public policy lens, that's really analyzing some of the city's programs, initiatives, and providing recommendations on how they can be improved. So for example, that they take an equity lens impact and that the impact of their objective is going to be as they've intended, if you will. So for example, if, you know, bike share, for example, announced that they were modernizing their price structure last year, and I quickly took a look at what they were proposing and started working with other partners, other people in the community, to try to get a handle on what we should be asking for, to make sure that it would support those most in need.
00:06:31 Alison: So for example, reaching out to the Gig Workers United, who have a better handle of some of the immediate challenges of their base of people that deliver our food and who were deemed essential workers throughout the pandemic. So I like to say that without Public Policy, Advocacy is just yelling about what I want, right? Because that public policy research analysis is really integral to making sure that what you're advocating makes the most sense for, and it will benefit as many people as possible.
00:07:10 Maria: And how big is CycleTO?
00:07:12 Alison: We are currently a staff contingent of five.
00:07:19 Maria: Five. So I guess that means that Advocating and Public Policy is a big part of the program delivery. Is that correct?
00:07:29 Alison: It's certainly part of the program delivery centered around advocating for better and more cycling infrastructure. But it, also obviously being a small organization, I collaborate and work with my colleagues who oversee our partnerships and events, right? Because there's often, you know, if you can feed as many birds with a grain, then that really is to your best interest. So I like to try to infuse in any event that I'm organizing, I want to make sure that it includes an element of fun, of engagement, of knowledge as a way of really trying to engage our people and get them to venture into different aspects of Cycle Toronto.
00:08:16 Alison: And in fact, it's really no different than my experience as a volunteer. I began by just following their newsletters, I then became a member, and then I thought, why wouldn't I volunteer and started volunteering at bike stations before I jumped into becoming a ward advocacy volunteer. So, you know, really, as you likely know, when you're working for a small charity, you all wear multiple hats and you may have a specific title or role. But there's a lot of intermingling or dipping your toes and other people's projects to support.
00:08:58 Maria: Yeah, definitely. Oh, yeah, we're all very familiar with doing 17 jobs at once. So you're definitely preaching to the choir. But yeah, it's just really interesting because so many nonprofits at around this size or even larger, I've seen nonprofits up to like 50, 70 people who don't prioritize this kind of Public Policy Advocacy as part of their program delivery. It's always seen as a communication piece, if that's, if that's, and there's not usually a dedicated staff person. So that's why I was so interested in bringing you on to talk about your experience because I don't know many people in your role.
00:09:39 Maria: So I'd love to hear a little bit about how you use your role and how you position your organization to interact with the government. And is that all levels of government, municipal? I guess it's mostly just municipal. I don't know, tell me about it.
00:09:53 Alison: For one, communications is a big part. And so for example, we have a communications manager and I support him by providing a lot of the information and content to then package up for our different mediums, if you will. In terms of my role dealing with government, Cycle Toronto is definitely, our mandate is really centered on Toronto. And so we work largely with the municipality, but we also occasionally work provincially as well, because as you know, a lot of the legislation, that is, governed and overseen that impacts us in our daily lives in municipalities stem from the province.
00:10:43 Alison: So notably the Highway Traffic Act, which governs how our roads function, but also we recently supported an MPP, Joel Harden from Ottawa to make amendments to the Highway Traffic Act, to improve the safety of vulnerable road users. So in terms of my main function on a daily basis, I collaborate and reach out to Toronto City staff, to councillors from across the wards, as well as BIAs, residents associations and different community groups, and as well as our supporter base from the different wards. Because it's really important to make sure that the councillors are hearing from their local residents. Right.
00:11:36 Alison: Because Cycle Toronto has been successful at having a strong brand that's known for advocating for all things cycling in Toronto, we are sometimes perceived or referred to as the bike lobby. And so it's more valuable if, you know, we can support some of the local constituents that are trying to make improvements versus Cycle Toronto. Right. So we do it all. Right. We won, like in terms of the government relations. I try to build productive relationships with all counselors, even those that may not be natural supporters of cycling infrastructure. Finding that common ground is at the root of any effective relationship building, client relations, stewardship, or advocacy. That is really the bulk of what I do.
00:12:26 Alison: And so to give you an example, because on Tuesday, the first Infrastructure and Environment Committee of the year is taking place. For many of your listeners who may not know what that is, it's a committee of councillors that review any projects that are related to infrastructure or the environment before they then pass it on or refer it back to council for approval. So in terms of cycling infrastructure, any and all projects that we are specifically and very interested in, we'll go through this committee first.
00:13:01 Alison: So the first step, for example, to getting a kilometer of a new bikeway approved begins by going to this committee. So once the agenda drops, we take a look at it, see what's important to us, and then start formulating what we like, what we don't like, what we should say. And we reach out to those counselors at the committee to see if we can chat to them and figure out what they're thinking, what they'd like to see, why they'll support it, why they won't and start addressing those questions before the committee.
00:13:35 Alison: And then at the other hand, we're also sending out action alerts to our supporters and inviting people to write letters of support, as well as to join me at City Hall to make deputations, which is a really fun way of discovering the municipal process that takes place. So that's one of the fun things that I love most about my job is educating and supporting people, make their first deputation.
00:14:06 Maria: That's so exciting. Okay, so let me just summarize it just because it's a lot to take in for someone like me who doesn't do government relations as often as I would like. So first, be friends with all the counselors, at least get to know them, even the ones who are not going to support you. That's an important part of relationship building X, Y and Z.
00:14:26 Maria: Then you're looking for the agendas for these specific committees. And then do you have to submit that you want to speak, that you want to depute, or can you just show up and be like, I want to talk about this?
00:14:38 Alison: Great question. Yes, you need to, all the agendas come with links that you can, you know, each item you can submit to speak or you can submit to email your comments. And one of the things we do on our deputation trainings is help people navigate the City of Toronto website and also make it easy for people to sign up. So for example, right now, we've sent out a mailing and a signup sheet and are trying to get as many people to sign up to depute.
00:15:09 Alison: And then to help them, I can, my team and I, we can help specifically register them to make sure that they're gonna be on the speakers list or that they know how to depute, from home because they have that option.
00:15:22 Maria: That's awesome. And for the people that you're inviting to the pew on this issue, that you're telling them like, hey, this might be interesting to you. Are these people your donors or are they your service users? What does that look like?
00:15:36 Alison: They are a mix of our members who are paid members. There are supporters who have signed up to receive our newsletters. There are volunteers. It's a mix of anyone, right? That's something they're part of our community. So anyone that wants to engage with the civic process and wants to help make the city a better, more vibrant cycling city, then we will help bring them along. And that's part of, and then that will channel into the ladder of engagement.
00:16:14 Maria: Nice, okay, so you're friends with the counselors, you are set to depute, you are bringing in your different community members to depute. Now, what's the set of deputation actually look like? How long is it? How much research do people have to put into it themselves? Like, are you presenting other kinds of research done from different organizations or is it only yours?
00:16:36 Alison: Well, at the end of the day, a deputation is essentially a three to five minute elevator pitch where you introduce yourself, you explain why you're there, why you're hoping the counselors should care as well, and you're providing a specific personal story about why and how that policy impacts you and what you'd like to see change. What we do is we will provide talking points based on our position, but absolutely we encourage that, there's a difference between Cycle Toronto deputing, right? We have an organization, we have specific policies, we work with city staff and counselors to formulate and find a solution.
00:17:22 Alison: But when you're a person deputing, it's really important that they share that personal experience. Because, you know, it's not often that someone takes the time to either write in to counsel or to depute, right? When you think about all the things that people are just trying to do to get through their day. I mean, even a simple thing of calling 311 to report, you know, a dead raccoon on the street or something, right? That takes additional time. And that's something that we have increasingly less of.
00:17:54 Alison: One thing I would just like to mention when you said be friends with counselors, it's not a matter of seeking to be friends with counselors, but rather build a respectful, productive relationship that where you can find the common ground and agree to disagree, but just focus on what you do agree on. And hey, sometimes you may become friends, but really at the end of the day, counselors are really busy. And so, in any form of government relations or stewardship, it's always really important to be as respectful as their time, because as much as I have a really busy schedule, I can't imagine what the daily routine of a city counselor is in Toronto.
00:18:36 Alison: So making sure that any kind of comments, suggestions, or discussion items that I want to put to them, I do so very clearly, in a helpful manner, where I try to give them, like here's the, it's like a briefing notes, like, I would be briefing, say, a deputy minister of the provincial government. Like, here's your issue. Here's the concerns. Here's how it can be improved. And putting together those briefing notes, not only is it easy to circulate to, you know, the current members that you're targeting in advance of a meeting, but also informing other counselors that may want to be aware of the situation.
00:19:13 Alison: Cause it might be an item that you know, as important to them in advance of counsel. Because anything that's approved to IEC then needs to go to council. So it's really just about how do I make other people's lives easier so that they can help me, if you will.
00:19:31 Maria: Yes, for sure. I wanted to circle back to something that you said earlier around connecting with someone in Ottawa. So for some of our listeners who may be living in the States, Toronto and Ottawa are not super close together. It's about like a five hour drive. So it's just really interesting that you connected with someone who is a provincial representative in Ottawa to talk about this. So how do relationships like that come about?
00:20:00 Alison: So for example, it all has to do with when someone has an issue that they want addressed, you take a look at, okay, if I want to solve this issue, who do I need to speak to that will be aligned with my objectives and that may be able to help me and that may be interested in helping me. And so applying that strategy to MPP Joel Harden, who literally rode his bike and built a tour from Ottawa all the way to Queens Park in Toronto to generate awareness and build support for his moving Ontarians safely act. And so–
00:20:42 Maria: That sounds like an insane bike ride.
00:20:44 Alison: Yeah. It's not something that I have done yet. It's on my list. The fact that he did it in less than six days is pretty impressive. And so part of his ambition was he made several stops on route, including Scarborough and Toronto. And so to help get him, he reached out to us and we helped connect him with other cycling organizations and constituents to ensure that when he arrived, to at least the Scarborough leg, that he was greeted by a strong community of supporters that wanted to share their stories.
00:21:23 Alison: And then we greeted him in Toronto along with Mayor Chow and MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam and others at Queens Park. And it was a wonderful day. So for example, we held, like a sharing circle and he spoke about his tour. And everyone got the opportunity to speak and share examples of why improving the safety for vulnerable road users is so important. So it was a great community building, and it was nice, for example, to work with a provincial leader. And we also got to join him along with our other community supporters at Queens Park when he held a press release to announce his posing of the law, of the bill. So that's how that happened.
00:22:12 Maria: Okay, great. Yeah, wow, that sounds like a lot of collaboration. So that's super nice to hear. What is the role of collaboration when it comes to pushing for bills or any kind of thing that you'd like from the government? So for example, you mentioned collaborating with some of your community members, so individuals, but how often do you collaborate with other organizations?
00:22:37 Alison: All the time. So for example, as a small organization and, you know, collaboration is really key to getting anything done. And I will say that across all of my roles and sectors, I have always been in a position where I haven't been able to deliver on my project without successful collaboration with others, and that is no different regarding building community support and encouraging people to connect. And for example, in the active transportation sector, especially in charities, we're all small organizations, right? So we have shared objectives. And so there are various coalitions.
00:23:27 Alison: We have an Alliance for the Safe and Active Streets in Toronto that is composed of other organizations that may have somewhat different mandates, but we all share the ultimate objective of building complete streets that include protected bikeways, that include better pedestrian realm, that includes road safety initiatives that will slow the speed of motor vehicle, improve pedestrian crossings. You know, we all support transit because we recognize, you know, transit really represents the majority mode of how people get around in Toronto. Right. They represent almost half of all road users. And then you have people that walk and bike.
00:24:12 Alison: So really the people that get around by driving are really in the minority. It just looks like they are the majority because they take up so much darn space. And because we've spent the past 70 years building our cities around the automobile. So that collaboration with like-minded organizations is really helpful, especially when we're organizing rallies, when we're organizing letter writing campaigns, they're part of our network and people who we can call to with let's say less than two days notice to say, hey, you going to IEC, any chance you can support, you know, write a letter for this item.
00:24:54 Alison: So there's a bit of quid pro quo and that kind of collaboration taking place. And as well, community groups, right? So for example, especially since Cycle Toronto has been successful at supporting the city build a grid of connected bikeways in the core, it's really now important that that minimum grid be fast-tracked and expedited out to the inner suburbs. So for example, working with different community groups in Scarborough, North York, and Etobicoke to help bring that advocacy that was needed and achieved towards building the current bikeways in Toronto.
00:25:33 Alison: And so one of our priorities now is building out and reaching out to community groups that will be aligned to help build that support for bikeways where it becomes a bit more of a different cell, if you will.
00:25:48 Maria: Yeah, I'd love to hear a little bit more about the different cell approach because I don't know, like something like poverty seems to more neatly fit into different mandates that different representatives or levels of government might have. But what about something as unique as biking? Or I'll give you an example based on your dead raccoon on the street. I want to set up a raccoon sanctuary, right? That doesn't fit in anybody's mandate letter. How could an organization sell that so they can gain support?
00:26:23 Alison: Well, for example, you know, there's public health. So one of the things where we talk about biking, I mean, biking used to be viewed as a fringe activity, right? But because we've built some safe infrastructure where more people, including women and children, are able to bike comfortably, it becomes more of an attractive option. And increasingly to help sell a bike lane, it's no longer just about bike lanes, it's about complete streets. Because where you have protected bike lanes, you also have an improved and attractive and comfortable pedestrian realm, right?
00:26:57 Alison: Essentially, when you're next to an arterial or a strobe, you know, four lanes of highway that are speeding over 60 kilometers an hour, and you have narrow sidewalks and long distances between transit stops, that's a completely unsafe environment. And so finding that connection, right? So for example, part of my advocacy last week with our Alliance was reaching out to, you know, the chair of economic and community development to help see how they can help support or how we can build cases of support for, for example, pedestrianizing areas, right? And to sort of dial up how areas that have protected bike lanes, really those communities thrive, right.
00:27:43 Alison: Despite the perception people like to say, Oh, my business is going to go down. Well, what we've seen in actual case studies is that store owners overestimate the number of customers that visit them by car. And I'm speaking specifically about, you know, Bloor West and Danforth that may change depending on, you know, Etobicoke, areas of Etobicoke or Scarborough. But essentially it's also connecting it to things like public health, right? I mean, we have a public health crisis and biking, not, is part of that solution. Right. The… you're moving. They've done studies that prove that people that commute by bike are the healthiest and happiest commuters, right?
00:28:27 Alison: Because you're moving, you have time to reflect, and hey, if you don't have time to make it to your workout or get some exercise in, biking, you're still actively working. So it's really trying to find out, how does this impact the city? And so back to your question about the dead raccoon on the street, well, when there's public health, I mean, that's how diseases can spread if you leave rotting animal carcasses in the street, that's certainly not healthy. What if someone's dog or birds eat it?
00:29:01 Alison: There's also waste services and public morale. I mean, imagine if dead raccoons were left across the streets and are overflowing, garbage. Well, it begins to paint a picture of a city that isn't healthy and vibrant. And we've sort of been seeing some of that over the past few years. So we're looking forward to, under this new leadership of Mayor Chow, find ways of cleaning up the city so that people do feel safer and more comfortable.
00:29:33 Maria: So it's basically finding different, kind of, government groups that you can collaborate with. So maybe not exactly political representatives, but other bodies of government services.
00:29:48 Alison: Well, for one, it's always good to first call your counselor, right? So you reach out to your counselor so that they can advise on what you can do. That's your first stop if you wanna try to improve something. And counselors are great at providing advice because I don't know any counselor that would want their ward to be known as the ward that has dead raccoons on the street. And why we keep going back to this dead raccoon because one, it's so very Toronto. And there have been instances over the past couple of years, as I'm sure you recall, where people have created vigils, where animals have been left on the street. So–
00:30:26 Maria: Which in itself can be a form of organizing and advocacy. So I'm super excited about that. Sorry to our listeners about the dead raccoon, sorry.
00:30:36 Alison: But absolutely. And when we're talking about government, I mean, our, municipally, we have an elected body of officials, right? And they represent our neighbors, they're people that may live down your street. And anyone that takes the time and money to seek election, you know, they're all people that are invested in, you know, creating a better city. They may have different views of what that's like, but they're people and they're there to make a change. So it's really important to reach out and try to get to know your counselor.
00:31:14 Alison: And the best way to do that is to, you know, let them know of some of the issues that they may not be aware of and start that conversation and also take a look at, you know, their website. They all have platforms that they put forward to get elected. And so before going to city council with any, or your local counselor with a specific request, it's always helpful to take a look at what their campaign priority is so that you can target your ask.
00:31:44 Alison: So you can say, hey, this may just seem, this may be about a bike lane that has nothing to do with your concern for the unhoused, our healthcare crisis, but this is how we can improve and tackle these issues in the ward by doing X, Y, and Z. Right, so it's...
00:32:04 Maria: And is it a shared vision when you're pitching X, Y, and Z, or is it like a quid pro quo?
00:32:11 Alison: Well, you try to find… It's like marketing, right? You’re, or your sales, you're trying to, you know, get their interest in an item that you think they should be interested in or that you would like them to be interested in. And so you want to try to position it to how it should be an interest to them and how it might help them move some of their priorities that they have committed to when they got office. And if it doesn't, you know, you can adapt and you can say, is this something like, do you have any advice? How can we advance this?
00:32:47 Alison: And so for example, some of the feedback we were given when we went as an Alliance to Councillor Alejandra Bravo, who's chair of the economic and community development committee, you know, she loved the fact that we came as an Alliance and that we had a diverse range of people around the table. And because that's important to them, right? Seeing that we're not just coming in with one specific focus, but that we're talking to other organizations and other people about how we can advance their priorities. So that's really important.
00:33:23 Alison: And again, councillors are busy. So if they can talk to, you know, an organized group of maybe 10 different organizations that are seeking similar things, and we can bring our people together, then they get the opportunity to represent their issues to a wider audience.
00:33:41 Maria: What about for, you know, those smaller organizations that are listening right now, they are loving what you're saying, but they don't know where to start. What would you say to them?
00:33:53 Alison: Well, I would say you're probably already doing it. I mean, stewardship at the end of the day, nurturing your donors, it's really no different than advocating with, you know, civic leaders. I mean, I think all non or charities and nonprofits, if they aren't already, haven't introduced themselves or reached out to their local councillor, their MP or their MPP, then that's something they should do immediately because they wanna know who are the civil society organizations that are trying to, you know, working on the ground level trying to make our city better, especially now because the government over the past 20 years have been offloading a lot of their services and programs to the nonprofit sector, right?
00:34:46 Alison: So they are relying on the nonprofit sector to really deliver on their policy objectives, which is how they build their grants. So I think if nurturing your donors is important, well, nurturing those government constituents is just as important. And really that advocacy element is no different than the type of work you're doing to advance your cause, whether it's raising funds for cancer research, for breast cancer, or for sending kids from equity deserving communities to camp, it's really very similar. It's just, change a few of the words and put that call in.
00:35:36 Maria: I love that, yes. And I definitely agree, like relationship building and advocacy goes so hand in hand. So for anybody who has those skills and is interested in something like this, it's great to start trying it.
00:35:51 Alison: And people want to be on a successful campaign, right? Governments that give out money to deliver on their objectives and priorities, they want to see that success, right? So the more that organizations are communicating and advocating, you're demonstrating to government officials or to your funders or to your potential donors that you are an energetic and hardworking organization that is really seeking to deliver maximum value for your donor or grant dollars.
00:36:28 Maria: Alison, thank you so much for joining me today. Where can people find you to continue the conversation?
00:36:35 Alison: Well, my preferred social media is Twitter or X, whatever it's called, Alison V Stewart and/or on LinkedIn or at Cycle Toronto, Alison.Stewart@CycleTO.ca. Please reach out and it's what, the first week of January, if you're looking for new things to try this year. Or get on a bike and see how easy and efficient it can be.
00:37:06 Maria: Thanks for all you do when it comes to this form of public policy, because as we were just talking about, I just recently got back from vacation and on the island, they had so many opportunities to bike and it just felt so safe. So I hope that's what the Toronto future looks like because of people like you, Alison.
00:37:26 Alison: Thank you, Maria. And you know what? Toronto is already becoming that city, at least parts of Toronto, where it's become so much more comfortable to bike. So, you know, there is progress and thank you for your wonderful podcast and inspiring small nonprofits who sometimes are too busy to see the tree through the forest or the forest through the trees, however that goes.
00:37:51 Maria: I don't know. Okay, well, thank you everybody for tuning into today's episode of The Small Nonprofit. I hope you are having a great year. And remember we are on YouTube now. So if you want to see our lovely faces, you can find us there. That will be linked in the show notes below and also Alison's X and LinkedIn will also be in the show notes, but thank you again for tuning in and bye for now.
00:38:20 Maria: Thank you for listening to another episode of The Small Nonprofit. If you want to continue the conversation, feel free to connect with our guests directly or find me on LinkedIn. Let's keep moving money to mission and prioritizing our well-being. Bye for now.
