Investee Update - Winter 2009

MicroSkills Update

In spring 2009, we set our initial focus as supporting Community MicroSkills Development Centre to create a Centre of Excellence for Women and Newcomers, to generate new approaches, models and strategies to help women and newcomers, especially professionals, fulfill their economic and social potential. To build support for the Centre and to achieve quick profile and service reach MicroSkills decided to hold a women's leadership forum. Accordingly, much of our early volunteer support was aimed at ensuring a successful kick-off event.

Lead Partners Denise Zarn and Joanna Robertson, worked with additional partners to provide forum planning consultation; help develop agenda content, identify speakers, recruit attendees and market the forum. During the summer, we contributed to developing a formal strategy for the Centre of Excellence, including consulting re focus group processes & strategy/program development. The Leadership Forum was held in late September (attended by two SVPT partners) & deemed successful in terms of agenda/speakers, turnout (over-subscribed) and subjective participant response.

Since the forum, our focus has been on setting a next stage workplan such that SVPT’s voluntary services emphasize organizational capacity. The workplan, which is near completion, focuses on

  • fundraising systems & practices, analysis & improvement.
  • information Technology systems, analysis & improvement.
  • strategic planning for the Centre for Excellence; ensuring that the new Centre drives forward service and mission of MicroSkills and responds effectively to identified needs of clients/community.

For each area of focus, first-stage work is being identified. For instance, as the first step to improve fundraising, MicroSills (which relies heavily on government grants and requests to clients) will analyze its major funding raising event (an annual gala) practices with our help, including creating a tool that can be used for further funding analysis by MicroSkills and hopefully other investees.

Geri Berholz & Imran Yousuf have volunteered to work with MicroSkills. There may be opportunities to assign other volunteers as well. 

Eva's Print Shop Update

There have been some changes at the Phoenix Print Shop at Eva's Initiatives since our May update. Andrew Macdonald, who has been the business manager since it was founded,    has been promoted to General Manager of Eva's Phoenix, one of the three shelters operated by Eva's Initiatives, the parent organization. In his new position. Andrew retains a supervisory role with the Phoenix Print Shop, so we continue to work with him as well as with Alexandra Djukic, who is now the interim manager of the enterprise.

This year the focus of SVP partner efforts will again be on increasing sales and marketing and, in addition, support for the upcoming move to larger premises. Debra Campbell remains lead partner. The sales person that was hired last spring has left PPS, having decided that sales was not the right career for her. Building what was learned from that experience as well as the human resources work SVPT supported (clarifying roles and responsibilities, identifying gaps and redundancies) last year with Kelly Donaher, the team at PPS has decided  not to hire a new salesperson in the short term. A senior trainee will be hired and an existing staff member (a program graduate) will take on more customer service support tasks. This will free Alexandra to focus more on sales larger customers, where she can offer added value because of her technical knowledge and ability to problem solve with clients. Steve White continues to support Alexandra on sales related issues, including assessing new estimating software and investigating the use of Sales Force for sales campaigns. Anil Patel will be assisting on the latter. Anil is also working with PPS to continue the development of the Print Club- a targeted sales strategy to increase business with non-profit clients. An ongoing major effort that will have an impact on sales and marketing is a branding review, lead by Roanne Argyle and Sandra Manolescu. Finally, a friend of SVP is about to start providing assistance to Andrew on managing the move to the new premises, scheduled for late spring 2010.