Whitewater Ontario Strategic Planning at Minden December 1st

Whitewater Ontario Strategic Planning Session

Members of Whitewater Ontario are invited to participate in our upcoming 2007 Strategic Planning Session to be held on December 1 at the Minden Whitewater Preserve on the Gull River. The purpose of the planning session is to review and revise our organization’s mission, vision, and goals for the coming year and thereafter. Your voice is needed to ensure we have a range of views, ideas, and suggestions to help improve our organizational focus and planning.

Members may participate in two ways. Firstly, the planning session begins Saturday, December 1 at 10:00a.m. sharp and concludes no later than 3p.m. The session will be facilitated by Jim Tayler, Whitewater Ontario VP Communications.

Secondly, members who are unable to attend can send their comments directly to Jim at jetayler@rogers.com. Comments collected from members will be included as discussion points during the session. We need your input on the following three questions:

1. What do you see as the main purpose of Whitewater Ontario?

2. What do you see as our major strengths?

3. Which aspects of Whitewater Ontario require the most attention to improve the organization?

Please make your comments brief and specific. Feel free to add additional comments that will help us during this planning session. Comments sent via email need to be received by 6:00p.m.on Friday, November 30th.

If you are able to participate at the Gull session on December 1, please confirm your attendance with Gary George (ggeorge@nexicom.net) - we need to know how many donuts to order.

Information about the results of the Strategic Planning Session will be available on the Whitewater Ontario website within a few weeks - www.whitewaterontario.ca.

We are looking forward to your support and involvement in this process.


Jim Tayler
VP Communications
Whitewater Ontario


Some Background information

Over the past 25 years the focus of provincial funding has changed many times. At one time, monies were received for many categories of participation - competitive activities (camps, racing competitions, athlete support, event hosting, games support, training centres, provincial team programs and training), instructor/coaching certification programs, adminstrative services (limited funding) and even for some programs in Minden (training centre). The focus of provincial funding has always been on the competitive sector and that membership base.

Grass roots activities (recreational) were intended to be the avenue to attract competitve participants and to ensure that safety and risk management factors are looked after. Provincial organizations are able to use recreational instruction programs and camping and rentals in Minden in our case, as a means to attain financial self-sufficiency (also a requirement). Administrative and organizational support comes largely from these self-generated funds. An organization cannot run solely on grant funding (again by Ministry requirement). You must be able to prove financial viability in order to receive grant funding on the provincial level. Insurance for sanctioned organizational events and participants is mandatory in order to qualify for grant funds, and must be paid for using self-generated revenues (memberships, fundraising, sales etc). Volunteer and officials support for training and event participation was also available and still is I believe.

Funding was granted in some cases for marketing and activities that would encourage an increased membership base (membership recruitment programs). Environmental concerns and waterway preservation has always been a key issue for Whitewater Ontario and that focus touches all paddlers alike, both competitive and recreational, members and non members. I have not seen the current (2007-08 funding guidelines) and so am unaware of the details of "base funding" therein as it stands today. My perspective and opinions come from the 25 years in which I have been involved with paddling both on the volunteer and adminstrative ends of the spectrum. Special interest groups have always been alive and well within the paddling disciplines and should learn to work together in order to achieve what is best for the paddling community both recreationally and competitively. The financial picture and requirements are not as simple as they might initially appear to be.

There are two separate issues.

1. Who does WO represent?

The Ministry of Health's Health Promotion Branch provides $ with some strings attached - generally to support competive programming (currently slalom, cvould expand to freestyle) - we have directed it more to general admin to support variety of activities - including river preservation, instructional programs and Minden. This pie is so small, and getting smaller. There is an umbrella organization, canoe ontario which has three affiliates: White Ontario, sprint racing, Marathon racing. They all share a ministry of Health, Health promotions branch grant. IN the past WO got $20,000, but its being reduced this year to 16500 based on our membership.

The bulk of the money is to support slalom racing. We also get camping fees at Minden (which we own some and rent some land from Orillia Light and power), we also get club memberships, commerical memberships.
Its a lean budget. In the past WO has applied for a federal student employment grant which has given us extra help at Minden. We have difficulty getting people to pay the memberships because there is a mandatory insurance charge per member in order to have insurance for our racers, demonstrations and clinics.


2. Where do we get our funding (and how is it directed)

It is a top down process - Ministry of Health directed. The Ministry contact is Scott Cooper.

If we define our membership more broadly and provide specific tangible member services we can grow and be strong - and generate our own revenues independent of shrinking ministry grant. This in my mind is the real challane, and one we need to address Saturday. If we don't we're history.

Whitewater Ontario represents a recognized entity within the paddling community. What we are and what we could be is to be determined at least partially on Saturday at the strategic planning session described above. Programming is a constantly changing entity and we must learn to adapt and adopt accordingly.


For more information:


Whitewater Ontario office
1-888-322-2849
905 985-5256 (fax)
411 Carnegie Beach Road
Port Perry, ON L9L 1B6