Organizations require financial predictability to plan and deliver effectively, as well as time to think, collaborate, innovate, and develop leadership. A consistent message we heard from grantees in our Inclusive Local Economies program 10-year review was the importance of stable and flexible funding to underpin strategic experimentation and success. 

We responded to this feedback by creating Grounded Leadership, a new funding envelope for Opportunities Fund grantees whose strategies focus on changing systems and building innovative models, with the potential for outsized impact on the lives of low-income people in Toronto. 

We invited the following organizations to join us in Grounded Leadership, committing approximately $2.5 million over the next three years to their strategies:

• Building Up – Raising the Roof
• Migrant Workers Alliance for Change – OEERC
• Neighbourhood Land Trust
• Ontario Employment Education & Research Centre (OEERC)
• Toronto Community Benefits Network – Labour Community Services

These community organizations possess the leadership, credibility, and engagement with low-income people and communities, have strategies with the potential for significant and sustainable impact, and exhibit a strong understanding of the landscape. They provide leadership in the inclusive economic ecosystem and have demonstrated effective organizational capacity.