Family Councils & Fundraising
Par Family Councils Ontario
Each Family Council in Ontario operates in their own way with their own unique perspective giving families and friends involved with their Long Term Care Home a forum for sharing their experiences, learning and exchanging information. While each Council is unique, Councils share similar goals. The four common goals are support for families, enhancing communication between families, staff and residents, providing a forum for education, and discussing relevant issues and advocacy on behalf of all families and residents.
Family Councils have an important role as part of the health care team in the Home. Family Councils can help create a sense of community and belonging within the Home through their activities lending support to other families when needed and taking on creative projects. Councils can be an opportunity for families to work together enriching the experience of living in Long-Term Care for all involved.
Many Councils decide to do some fundraising to support their work, whether it’s for a specific project or for their ongoing activities. We do not encourage fundraising as a primary council activity as it may distract from the primary goals of support, communication, education, and advocacy. Many Councils do not fundraise and their work is as important and successful as those that do. Fundraising is not a requirement for a Council and is not something that needs to take place.
If your Council decides to fundraise there are several things that are very important to consider and discuss together.
- It is important to let the Home know of your plans. Many Homes have fundraising plans in place and the Council should work with the Home rather than compete with their efforts. Sometimes a Home has an Auxiliary whose mission is fundraising and it would be in the best interest of the Council to work with any fundraising projects that the auxiliary has planned.
- Handling money is an important aspect of fundraising so that all money raised is accounted for and the accounts are balanced and clear. Many Councils who do not consider this aspect of fundraising find themselves with challenges.
- Clarify first and foremost the reason the Council wants to fundraise. What is the money to be used for?
- If there is a need for a bank account talk to the bank about the responsibilities and various options for an account. Whose name with be on the account and who has signing authority?
- Will the Council have a treasurer? What are the treasurers’ responsibilities? It is important to think through not just the role but what the job of the treasurer will include. How will the treasurer report to the Council and how often?
- Who makes decisions about the money? How many members of the Council need to be present to make a funding decision?
- What happens when one of the signing authorities leaves the Council? Think through the process of how to ensure that the singing authority on the account does not leave with them.
- How will you communicate with family members, donors, the public and the administration of the Home about how the collected money was used?
- The decisions and discussion regarding fundraising needs to be documented. The best way is to include the Council’s decisions in the Terms of Reference in a section called fundraising.
Remember that fundraising is not needed and many Councils are very successful without fundraising. Fundraising is each Council’s decision and while it can work well if the details have been discussed and understood by all Council members it is not a necessary activity and should be planned thoughtfully.
You can find more information on fundraising and other Family Council activities in our Resources section.