green venture

Green VentureGreen Venture’s annual report for the 2008 calendar year. Please note: Green Ven-ture’s audited financial statements included in this document are for Green Venture’sfiscal year, which runs from June 1st to May 31st.

nothing ventured, nothing gained

2008 Annual Report

VisionA community where individual and collective

actions protect future generations by balancing

our environmental, social, and economic needs.

Mission Connecting ideas and people to facilitate sus-

tainable living and realize a cleaner, healthier

community.

Green Venture Believes In...

PracticalityWe meet people where they live, work, and

play. We design our programs and services to

provide positive, measurable benefits to them

and our community.

RespectA gracious, optimistic approach to personal

engagement helps us foster behavioural change.

We are honest and acknowledge differing

viewpoints without judgement.

Partnership Progress happens when individuals and

organizations collaborate and learn together.

We work with large and small businesses,

governments, community-based groups and

individuals to support and encourage change.

Innovation We continually learn how to best engage our

community. We welcome and promote new ideas,

technologies, and willingness to change.

Quality We care about our work and take a profes-

sional approach to everything we do. We are

committed to delivering valuable programs and

services with integrity and strong financial ac-

countability.

People Volunteers, staff, board members, funders,

partners, community leaders and the public each

play a vital role in fulfilling our mission. We work

hard, always encourage one another, have fun,

and celebrate our achievements.

Equality We support members of our community from

all social, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Mission, Vision, ValuesRevised 2008

Green Venture had a productive year in 2008,

despite many challenges. In addition to the hard

work of our staff, board and volunteers, the

public's heightened interest in climate change

and environmental issues has widened Green

Venture's audience. These two factors have

helped Green Venture to achieve our 2008 goals

and continue to provide measurable benefits to

our community.

Green Venture focused on three major goals

in 2008: working through the transition of our

Executive Director, beginning various organiza-

tional development initiatives, and building our

fee-for-service ecoENERGY business.

In 2007, Green Venture lost our long-standing,

and dedicated, Executive Director: Heather

Donison. Heather spent 12 years getting Green

Venture through some challenging early years

when the organization was on the brink of

collapse. She was then able to lead staff and

the board on a journey that built Green Venture

into the success it is today. However, we haven't

lost Heather altogether! She is now working as

Senior Project Manager - Sustainability for the

City of Hamilton and works closely with Green

Venture staff of various partnerships programs.

The board was proud to promote Pete Wob-

schall to the Executive Director position. Pete

has 8 years of service with the organization; first

as a Wise Water Use Coordinator, and then as

EcoHouse Manager. Pete has been able to take

the foundation that Heather built and begin the

process of taking it to the next level. Transition,

especially in a senior position such as Executive

Director, can be very difficult for an organization.

Pete has done a terrific job of steering through

the transitional period and the board is looking

forward to working with Pete to further develop

Green Venture's positive impact on the community.

2008 also saw a strong focus on organiza-

tional development. Funding was secured to

develop employee and board manuals, revise

our Mission, Vision, Values statements, and

conduct a thorough SWOT analysis of the

organization. Much work has been completed

in this area and the organization is looking for-

ward to capacity building initiatives over the

coming years.

Green Venture's major programming goal for

2008 was to increase our ecoENERGY home

energy evaluation service by 100%. The board

is proud of Pete and Green Venture staff, who

have worked so hard to help us achieve this goal.

On behalf of Green Venture's Board of

Directors, I would like to commend Green

Venture’s staff and volunteers for continuing to

educate and offer environmentally sound options

for our community to live greener lifestyles.

Tom Behroozi - Chair, Board of Directors

Message from the Chair

Partnerships• Develop formal partnership program with

Environment Hamilton.

Energy ProgrammingFee-for-Service

• Grow ecoENERGY for Homes program by 100%.

• Select and train two new Certified Energy

Advisors (CEAs) (increase by 100%).

• Increase quantity of completed home

evaluations (increase by a minimum of 100%).

Social Housing• Develop mechanisms and approach to partner

with municipalities and regions throughout

southern Ontario to deliver ecoENERGY

home evaluations to social housing (to access

Federal and Provincial Grants for energy retrofits).

• Begin evaluations of social housing and

establish lower cost structure.

City Funding• Work with city councillors and staff from various

city divisions/departments to establish a

system of awarding GV partnership funding

earlier in the calendar year.

• Upon establishing earlier funding regime,

begin 3-year goal to steadily increase funding

leveraged using city funding to expand on

program activities.

Economic Development• Provide work experience and assist in

developing employment skills:

• 4 summer students (post secondary)

• Work placement programs:

• 2 Goodwill

• 3 Ontario Works

• 2 Katimavik youth

• Provide for 1,000 hours of volunteer experience

with 30 volunteers

• Further develop fee-for-service programs to

generate funding to cover EcoHouse

maintenance costs (see above).

* Although Green Venture’s target geographical area for outreach and educationalprogramming is the Greater-Hamilton area, Green Venture’s geographical area forenergy fee-for-service programs includes Hamilton, Niagara, Brantford, Haldimand,and Norfolk.

2008 Organizational Goals The following goals were met or exceeded in 2008

Organizational Development• Revise Mission, Vision, and Values.

• Secure funding to conduct organizational

development.

• Complete organizational Strengths/

Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats (SWOT)

analysis with all levels of staff (including

Certified Energy Advisors) and board

members.

• Develop organizational manuals:

• Board manual, including:

• Executive Director and Board annual

evaluations templates and protocols,

• Organizational calendar with annual

dates for business and strategic

planning.

• Employee manual.

• Programs guide.

• Health & Safety policies and procedures.

FinancialsPlease note: Green Venture’s fiscal year is from June 1st, 2008 to May 31st, 2009.Audited statements for period 2005-2008 and projected budget for 2008-2009.

Audited 2007-2008 Budget 2008-2009

Program Revenue 531,421 517,000

Program Expenses 474,977 449,790

Other Revenue 64,047 62,000

Excess of Program Revenue + Other Revenues 120,491 129,210

Administrative Expenses 124,806 130,700

Excess of Revenue -4,315 -1,490

Outreach Statistics Total Direct EngagementGreen Venture directly engaged 12,871 residents

of the Greater-Hamilton area during 2008.

SummaryGV e-newsletters 400

Public Inquiries 1,003

ecoENERGY Home Evaluations (D only) 933

EcoHouse Visitors 4,400

Workshops 1,053

Presentations 4,989

Volunteers 93

Sub Total 12,871

Website 68,113

Total 80,984

Total Impressions2,000,000 + (includes media and events)

Public Inquiries Responded to 1,003 inquiries from residents on a

variety of environmental issues

Green Venture e-newsletters400 subscribers

ecoENERGY# of D Files (First Evaluation): 933

# of E Files (Follow-up Evaluation): 267

Total GHG Reduction: 801,000 tonnes

Amount of grants awarded: $1.6 million

EcoHouse Visitors: 4,400

Events Program Total Quantity Total # of Directly Engaged

Wise Water Use 5 190

Climate Change Champions 2 1,045

Air Quality 4 460

Total 11 1,695

Presentations Program Total Quantity Total # of Participants

Naturally Hamilton 22 403

PowerShift 1 134

Wise Water Use 41 1,287

Climate Change Champions 9 384

Air Quality 11 309

EcoHouse 19 2,472

Total 103 4,989

Volunteers Program Total Quantity Total # of Hours


PowerShift 3 24

Climate Change Champions 2 858

Air Quality 8 60

EcoHouse 56 2,950

Total 93 4,353

Workshops Program Total Quantity Total # of Participants


Wise Water Use 1 11

Climate Change Champions (Resource Audit Walkthroughs)

6 14

Air Quality 18 797

EcoHouse 7 156

Total 41 1,053

Media Program Media Type Name of Article/Topic

Naturally Hamilton Hamilton Magazine Pesticide-free Lawn & Garden

Hamilton Magazine General GV & Community Garden

Hamilton Spectator Community Garden

Television – Cable 14 Coffee Break, NH Presentations

Television – Cable 14 General GV

PowerShift Television – Cable 14 Urban Cut, Renewable Energy/OSEA Event

Wise Water Use Hamilton Spectator Rising Water Rates in Hamilton

Climate Change Champions Hamilton Spectator Emission reduction tool kit tops program agenda

Air Quality CHML Climate Change Champions

Dundas Star News Anti-Idling

Ancaster Journal Anti-Idling

NRCan Idle Free Zone Anti-Idling

Business Link Anti-Idling – Fuel Management

Individual School Newsletters to Parents Anti-Idling

K Lite FM Anti-Idling

Oldies AM 1150 Anti-Idling

Cable 14 – Urban Cut Anti-Idling

EcoHouse Hamilton Spectator Hamilton Reuses

Dundas Star Shaklee Creating Cleaner Environments for Children

Hamilton Spectator Solar Power workshop

Hamilton Spectator EcoHouse tours

Hamilton Spectator Native Trees giveaway

CHCH TV Earth Day

Total 23

Tom Behroozi,

Chair

AmCan Castings

Velma Grover,

Vice Chair

United Nations University

Brian Charlton,

Past Chair

Former MPP and Ontario Cabinet

Minister

Bob Korol,

Professor of Civil Engineering,

McMaster University

Romeo Palembello,

Pal-tech Consulting

Katherine J. Menyes

Director, Watershed Planning &

Engineering, Hamilton Conservation

Authority

Mark Stirrup, M.Eng., P.Eng.

Senior Project Manager, Associate

Hatch Mott MacDonald

John Lewis

Legal Advisor

Program Absolute Unique Visitors* Absolute Unique Pageviews*

www.greenventure.ca (main site) 31,262 72,878

Naturally Hamilton 4,834 11,689

kids.greenventure.ca 64 121

Wise Water Use 12,117 18,543

Waste Watch 2,595 4,003

Air Quality 1,428 2,526

Energy 2,684 5,623

EcoHouse 10,895 21,341

Tree Planting Program 2,225 2,596

Total 68,113 139,330

*Google Analytics terminology

Website StatsCompiled with Google Analytics

Board of Directors

Pete Wobschall, EnvTech

Executive Director

Michael Gemmell, MA

Office Manager

(ecoENERGY, EcoHouse Manager)

Ken Baigent

Certified Home Energy Advisor

Jordan Fysh, B.Sc.

Energy Coordinator

Sapphire Singh, BA

Garden Coordinator

Kathryn Gold, BA, MES

Water Coordinator

Muriel Clemens

Volunteer Coordinator

Lynn Ryerson

Bookkeeper

Welcomed Additions

Will Klassen,


Mike Masney


Gerald Field


Paul Barrett, B.Comm.

Air Quality Coordinator

Kenneth Hearns

Maintenance Chief

Moved On - We'll Miss You!

Nick Ehlert, P. Eng., NECA trained


Thom Oommen, BA, MA


Toni MacNeil, MA

Education Coordinator

Charles “Chuck” Griffin

Maintenance Chief

Staff

Idling Stinks The Idling Stinks campaign is a public education campaign aimed at reducing unnecessary vehicle

idling in Hamilton.

Totally TransitWhat modes of travel will the next generation of Hamiltonians embrace? Totally Transit's goals are to

reach elementary students and educate them about the importance of public transit.

Liveable Cities Through our Liveable Cities presentation series the public is exposed to the great things that intensi-

fication must include.

EcoDriver EcoDriver presentations, public outreach, workshops and materials provide entertaining tips from

drivers to help drivers increase the distance they can travel on a tank of gas. The program also en-

courages people to leave the car at home and opt for active and sustainable transportation on a regu-

lar basis.

Car ShareCar sharing programs provide their members access to a vehicle when necessary, without the ex-

pense of ownership or the allure of just going for a drive. Green Venture will convene a public presen-

tation and gauge interest for a Hamilton Car Share program.

Programs

Air Quality

EcoHouse

Energy

EcoHouse is Green Venture's demonstration building combining environmental awareness with

community-building and heritage. The former Glen Manor, a 150-year old farm house has been retro-

fitted with green technology and sustainable living products like composters, energy-efficient appli-

ances, rain barrels, etc. The grounds feature native species gardens, natural landscaping, and

renewable energy generation.

Creating Environmental ChampionsA partnership with the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, this program provides

EcoHouse tours for all grade 2 and 3 students within the HWCDSB.

EcoHouse Group ToursWe offer: curriculum-based school group tours and activities, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts badge-re-

lated tours and activities, church groups and other special interest group tours and activities. Select

from a variety of topics including Wise Water Use, Waste Watch, Renewable Energy, Energy Conser-

vation, and more.

ecoENERGYOperating under the name of EnerGuide Program from 1995-2007, Green Venture’s energy program

is now known as ecoENERGY, which is based on a home retrofit incentive program of the federal gov-

ernment.

Climate Change ChampionsThe objective of this pilot partnership program with Environment Hamilton is to engage businesses,

community organizations, schools and institutions in Hamilton-Wentworth in activities to reduce their

GHG emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

HERITAGE

Lawn& Garden Community GardenGreen Venture's Community Garden program offers volunteers hands-on experience planning, main-

taining and harvesting an edible organic garden.

Hamilton Community Garden Network The HCGN works collaboratively to support and promote individuals and communities in developing

and maintaining community gardens in Hamilton from the perspective of improving food security and

increasing community involvement.

Naturally HamiltonNaturally Hamilton is an education program created out of collaboration between the City of Hamil-

ton and Green Venture that offers citizens practical information and resources to help them reduce or

eliminate the cosmetic use of pesticides on lawns and gardens.

Wise Water UseGreen Venture and the City of Hamilton are partnered in an initiative called the Wise Water Use pro-

gram. Established in October 2000, the goal of this program is to help residents use water wisely in

order to preserve our most precious natural resource.

Water Community PresentationsOffering a variety of water-related topics to select from, Green Venture will come to your location and

will provide community presentations for all ages and all group types.

Wise Water Use

• Healthy Living Hamilton Steering Committee

• Active and Safe Routes to School (ASRTS)

Committee

• Partners for Healthy Weights - Policy

Sub-Committee

• Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

Transportation Committee

• Waste Reduction Task Force

• Clean Air Hamilton

• Hamilton Cycling Committee

• Hamilton Air Pollutant and GHG Inventory

Advisory Committee

• Gore Park Master Plan Stakeholders

Committee

• Creating a Great Durand Community

• Hamilton Coalition on Pesticide Issues

• Hamilton and District Conserver Society

• Nature Walk-A-Thon

• Hamilton Administrators of Volunteers

• North Central Community Centre

• Conservation Authority Committees / Working

Groups

• Children's Water Festival Organizing

Committee

• Stoney Creek Canada Flag Day

• Stoney Creek Historical Society

• Stoney Creek Optimist Club

• Doors Open Hamilton

• Hamilton-Wentworth Heritage Association

• Head of the Lake Historical Society

• Tree Symposium

• Hamilton Community Garden Network

(HCGN)

• Hamilton Community Foundation (HCF) Hub

• MACgreen, McMaster University Students'

Union

• Revolution Wear/RevWear Fashion Show

• Slow Food Hamilton

Community Committeesand Stakeholder Groups

Green Venture staff are active in the community

are represented on the following committees and

stakeholder groups.

Waste Watch hamilton.reuses.comhamilton.reuses.com is a new web-based program to encourage residents in Hamilton and sur-

rounding area to offer usable items to others for free or for minimal-cost.

Waste Race Community PresentationsIn partnership with the City of Hamilton Waste Management Department, Green Venture provides a

community presentation for all groups and ages where participants learn what goes into the Blue

Boxes, Green Cart, and garbage.

• Green Communities Canada (founding member)

• Hamilton and Area EcoNet (founding member)

• Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

• Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce

• Hamilton-Halton Home Builders Association

• Environment Hamilton

• Conserver Society of Hamilton and District

• Ontario Environmental Network

• Hamilton Coalition on Pesticide Issues

• Hamilton Administrators of Volunteers

• Volunteer Hamilton

Organizational Memberships

Green Venture is a proud member of the

following organizations:

• City of Hamilton:

Planning and Economic Development

Clean Air Hamilton

Public Health

Public Works

Culture and Recreation

Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology

Hamilton Children's Museum

• Natural Resources Canada

• Ministry of the Environment – Ontario

• Environment Hamilton

• Children’s International Learning Centre

• Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District

School Board

• First Unitarian Church

• Hamilton Industrial Environmental Association

(HIEA)

• Slow Food Hamilton

• Binbrook Agricultural Association

• Goodness Me

• Community Access to Child Health (CATCH)

• Hamilton Community Garden Network (HCGN)

• Ontario Trillium Foundation

• Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA)

• Hughson Street Baptist Church

• Eva Rothwell Center

• Strathcona Neighbourhood Association

• Chris Charlton, MP

• Conserver Society of Hamilton and District

• MACgreen, McMaster University Students'

Union

Partners and FundersIn 2008, Green Venture partnered with, and / or

was funded by the following organizations and

governments to deliver outreach programming:

OrganizationalStructure

2008

Volunteers,Coop Students, andSummer Students

Managed by all staff when required for individual tasks or

activities

Executive Director

Water Coordinator

Garden Coordinator


Energy Coordinator

Book Keeper

Admin Assistant / Receptionist

EcoHouse /ecoENERGY

ManagerEnergy Advisor Auditor 1

Energy Advisor Auditor 2


Board of Directors

Volunteer Coordinator

Maintenance Chief


Volunteers

EcoNet Coordinator

Green Venture22 Veevers Drive,

Hamilton, Ontario L8K 5P5

Fax: (905) 540-8882

Tel: (905) 540-8787

green venture

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