A diverse group of people from the corporate world to the non-profit sector gathered on Thursday to discuss collaboration.
The event, which was held at the Innovation Centre in Kelowna, B.C., was organized by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
“The Association of Fundraising Professionals is a professional association for those of us who are fundraising in the community, we do put on education sessions once a month,” said The Association of Fundraising Professionals vice-president of Education Richelle Leckey.
“Today we are bringing together non-profits, as well as the corporate world, government and individuals all around collaboration and the importance of us working together to support our communities.”
Among the crowd were representatives from BGC Okanagan, the Bridge Youth and Family Services, UBC Okanagan, as well as Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran who was invited to sit on the discussion panel.
“Collaboration to me means being open to all perspectives and having an opening mind. And doing things differently and I think that is more important than ever given the complexities that the city is facing,” said Basran during the panel discussion.
Shane Worman who is a local businessman also sat on the panel. He said their company normally works alongside many of the community groups.
“I am here representing the for-profit sector on the panel but trying to find ways that we can all work together to better solve our communities’ issues,” said Worman.
The group had the opportunity to listen to keynote speakers and take part in the discussion panel before being led through round table discussions.
“Today was a slightly different approach because we hadn’t been together in a long time so we wanted to bring everyone together so that we could be really true and honest and try and ensure that we are able to communicate in a way that gets us to the place that we want to get to,” said Leckey.
She added that the pandemic was hard on the non-profit sector, making collaboration even more important.
“We’re here at this point where how do we make sure that if anything like this happens again that we are able to rise above it all and ensure that everyone in our community is supported,” said Leckey.
Leckey said that the event was also to celebrate the continued efforts of local community groups who kept their doors open and services running, despite facing challenges due to the pandemic.