The donor community is one of the powerhouses of every philanthropic group, and therefore must be given proper support and appreciation. Covenant House Vancouver, a non-profit organization supporting young people living in “hidden homelessness,” aims to boost their fundraising efforts through their newly created role: Director of Donor Engagement and Operations. Talking about the responsibilities and requirements of this position is Tracy Brown, Covenant House’s Chief Philanthropy Officer. She breaks down how this role will be instrumental in scaling their operations, establishing a new donor engagement hub, and providing the needed financial support for their newly established three-phase strategic plan.
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Listen to the podcast here
Covenant House Vancouver With Tracy Brown, Chief Philanthropy Officer
I have the great pleasure of speaking with Tracy Brown. Tracy is the Chief Philanthropy Officer of Covenant House Vancouver here in Vancouver. Welcome, Tracy, to the show.
Thanks, Christoph. Glad to be here.
Supporting Young People In Hidden Homelessness
I am glad to have you here, Tracy. We have so much to talk about. It is such an exciting opportunity. I do not know that much about Covenant House. I am really keen to learn. I am sure a lot of people know it by name, but do not necessarily know much about it, perhaps in depth. You are living and breathing it on a daily basis. Tracy, let us start there. Can you tell me a little bit about Covenant House Vancouver, then we can get started?
Covenant House Vancouver is a social service organization. We exist to support young people aged 16 to 24. Youth technically age out of our services at 25. These are youth who are at risk of homelessness, who are experiencing human trafficking, who are homeless, or who just plain need us. Any given night in Vancouver, there are between 500 to 1,000 youth experiencing homelessness. That includes a hidden homeless population, of which youth make up a large part.
Hidden homelessness means youth who might be couch surfing or just staying in inappropriate or unsafe places. Young people in your community will find themselves unhoused for many different reasons. Those can include leaving the foster care system, fleeing physical, mental, or sexual abuse in their homes, or family rejection due to sexual orientation. They could be newcomers to the country, or they could be youth escaping human trafficking.
Covenant House Vancouver opened its doors in 1997. We had twelve beds that first night. We were full that first night. We have more now. We have certainly grown and adapted over the years to meet the ever-evolving needs of our community and the young people who are there. As we are now Covenant House, we offer a continuum of core programs that include things like outreach, drop-in. We have short-term housing programs.
We have a long-term transitional housing program. We also provide a whole bunch of wraparound supports for youth, including mental health support, substance use support, education, life skills, recreation, and employment supports. We work with a one-size-fits-all model. Our philosophy is really to meet every young person where they are in their lives, in their journeys, without judgment and with values such as unconditional love and absolute respect. We are the largest we have ever been. We are serving about 162 youth every single day across all our programs.
From 12 to 162. If I were better at math, I could figure out what exactly that ratio what that growth represents. I love those few things that you have talked about there, that are really one size fits one, that tailoring services. You talked a little bit about the breadth and depth of the services. I truly mean that as I learn more about Covenant House, every time I learn about you, there is something new and intriguing and so compelling about the work that you are doing.
As a Vancouverite myself, the hidden homelessness, I see so much of it contemporarily, unfortunately, for all kinds of reasons. I know housing prices, situations that you have talked about, foster care, human trafficking, the things that you are trying to really work against or support you through, for that matter, are so important fundamentally. Tell me a bit about yourself, Tracy.
Introducing Tracy Brown, Chief Philanthropy Officer
I was mentioning this before when we spoke, before the mic came on, for that matter, before the mics came on, so many people at Covenant House are so compelled to work there. I do not think a few of the people that I have spoken to have been there for fewer than ten years, for that matter. What is your why? Why is it that you do the work that you do? What is so compelling about Covenant House?
There are a lot of us who have been around for a long time. It is pretty wonderful. I was born and raised in the Lower Mainland. I am one of the few. I do think this is such an incredibly beautiful part of the world. There is also a real dark side to our community. Over my lifetime here, I have certainly witnessed many youth who have had to deal with some really huge challenges, either on their own or with the support of people who do not always have their best interests at heart.
To be part of an organization that really does have a young person’s best interest at heart, that will bend over backwards to help them on their journeys. That values and respects them as individuals. For me, it is an absolute no-brainer to work at Covenant House. We have such a huge need for youth-centered supports in our communities.
It is an absolute no-brainer to work at an organization that will bend over backwards to help young people in their journeys. Share on XThere is a difference between young people and adults, certainly. Before age 25, it is such an important time in a person’s life. Your brain is still developing. It is still changing and growing. By helping with support at that time in life, we can absolutely change the trajectory of a person’s life for the better.
We know that a huge number of homeless adults first experienced homelessness in their youth. Covenant House helps to change those journeys. That is a pretty wonderful journey process to be a part of. I have been at Covenant House for a little over ten years now. I have just been consistently grateful to be a part of this work and to be a part of this team. The people at Covenant House are pretty darn wonderful.
We are going to talk a bit more about the culture, but that is so compelling, isn’t it? That is why someone with that seeing that difference that you can make in an actual tangible way for them. We were talking before about where your facilities are located, where your programs are also run, for that matter. The fundraising team, the philanthropy team are not separated from the programs, the services, the people you are working with, and ultimately working for in some way. It has got to be so gratifying to do that work and see those results daily.
It is very special to be able to share the elevator with a young person and to see folks day after day and see some of the changes in their life that are happening. It is really wonderful.
What It Is Like To Work At Covenant House Vancouver
We have talked about that growth, your ten-plus years at Covenant House. What are you most proud of in the time that you have been there? Is there something that you can really point to or something that really jumps to mind for you that you really found particularly gratifying in your time there?
I thought this was a really great question. I thought about it a lot. You are welcome. I am constantly proud of the work that my program colleagues accomplish year over year. It is an ever-changing and complex reality that our youth are facing. They are constantly upping their game to really meet the needs and to help people. Covenant House is an organization that is constantly evolving and leveling up. We see an issue, we address it. We are always working to make things better.
Donor Engagement: No one is left behind at Covenant House. Everyone is moving together to get to the right place.
Covenant House has never, in my ten years of being there, been a place that says, “That is just the way we do it.” Everything is always changing. We ask why, if it is not working, we change it. Covenant House Vancouver is also an organization that is about 80% privately funded. The work we do is not possible without the support of our community. I am also just incredibly proud of how our community steps up year over year to support the work and the young people at Covenant House. Of course, I am super proud of the work of the philanthropy team to continue to engage with our donors in such meaningful and inspiring ways. They are a great group of folks for sure.
Understanding The Culture At Covenant House Vancouver
Tell me about that great group. Every candidate I speak to, anybody who wants to know about an organization, wants to know what the culture is like. What are the people like? What is it like to work there? Tell me a bit more about the culture that you have in the philanthropy team, the culture at large at Covenant House, for that matter.
This is something I would definitely want to know going into a new role. We very much embrace a culture of we. We do it together. No one is left behind. We are all moving together to get to the right place. We really do embrace a culture of philanthropy at Covenant House. We encourage all staff across the organization to understand how the work we do would not be possible without our donor community.
Everyone has a role to play in fundraising. That culture of philanthropy is actually a part of our newest strategic plan as well. Personally, people do their best work when they feel really supported, when they are not afraid to potentially make a mistake. I really value trust, open communication, and collaboration on the team. The great thing about Covenant House is that everyone is so committed to the work we do.
People do their best work when they feel supported and unafraid to make mistakes. Share on XFolks are always willing to go above and beyond to make things happen, which is a super inspiring place to work. Personally, I do think work should be joyful. We take time to celebrate successes, to celebrate together, to have fun. We also really do embrace a work-life balance. I think that is super important as well. I absolutely expect people to take their holidays, to not consistently be on call. We are committed to Covenant House, but we need to be committed to our own lives as well. That is important for us.
Sometimes easier said than done, but I do appreciate that. I know you do as well. At the risk of taking non-serious things seriously, I would appreciate you having fun, but you are doing serious work. If you cannot have some levity, if you cannot look at the whole human, then what are we really doing here fundamentally? We need to really live those values fundamentally. Tracy, you have touched on a few things that I want to pick up on.
Covenant House Vancouver’s Director Of Donor Engagement And Operations
I really want to dive into the role. I should have said at the very top, for that matter. We are here to talk about the Director of Donor Engagement and Operations. It is a newly created role. When you talk about innovation, doing things new, questioning, this really represents a lot of those values. Tell me a bit about the Director. Why this role? Why now? What is exciting about this opportunity in your mind?
Covenant House has grown a lot over the last five years. We completed a very successful capital campaign. We have two new buildings and a refurbished building over on Pender as well. We have also, of course, seen with that the expansion of our services and programs. We are serving more youth than ever before. Unfortunately, that need continues to grow. We know that we need to maintain our donor support and grow that support to continue to serve the young people who need us. As I mentioned, we are predominantly privately funded.
We do need to continue to invite our donors into our work and encourage them to support it. It is absolutely critical to our future. What is new and exciting at Covenant House? Why is it a great time to join? We have just unveiled a new strategic plan that is going to help us provide focus for our next chapter. As we look to the future, we have three key themes we are looking at that are youth-facing.
We have a prevention theme. That encompasses things like advocacy and stopping youth homelessness before it starts. How do we get upstream of this issue? Our second theme here is intervention. That really speaks to us continuing to level up our core programs, what we have traditionally done, our wraparound services.
How do we make those better and support youth better? Our third theme is restoration, which is really aftercare. We are looking at how we can continue to support youth in their successful journeys once they move on to independence. They still might need a little support getting there. How do we make that as successful as possible? We know that this role, this new role, is going to help us level up and grow that donor support.
Donor engagement is just so huge to our current and future success. This role is super exciting. This person will be taking over leadership of some incredibly successful teams and systems, and programs. There is this piece of where do we grow? What do we build to support the future success? That is going to be a really cool and fun piece of this role going forward.
It is such a nice problem to have in some ways that you have grown so much. In some ways, some of the systems and processes, your donors, I like how you phrase that, you have invited so many donors in. Many donors have accepted that invitation. In some ways, you have exceeded your systems and capabilities in some key ways. It is really an opportunity to build out some of those infrastructure operations, engagement pieces. With that in mind, tell me a little bit more about what you envision the Director doing. What is going to be in their purview, for that matter?
What are they going to be doing? Great question.
If it has a direct answer.
That is a great answer. As you mentioned, this is a brand new role at Covenant House. Our new person will need to start learning about the organization. We will need to work together to establish the priorities and create some plans for where we are going. In those first few months, I do foresee just really learning and taking things in and starting to understand the organization. Covenant House is a pretty big organization, and there is a lot of stuff going on.
Honestly, I am always learning something new about Covenant House. There are a lot of wonderful things always happening. There will definitely be a learning period, and understanding how the teams work. After that role will really take on and centralize some really successful philanthropic operation functions that we have already got going on. They are going to take on our amazing volunteer and gift-in-kind team, a very solid team. They know what they are doing.
They just get the barriers out of the way, let them do their thing. We also have a really great and talented donor services team that will be taking over leadership for us. They absolutely know where they are going, know what they are doing. Taking over the leadership of some funding opportunities and donor engagement systems that we have in place to oversee them and help to grow them.
From there, I see this role starting to dig into our funding and donor engagement opportunities and starting to understand what might make sense for our team, how to prioritize those. There will be a lot of work with the team, with me, with our philanthropy leadership. What we will probably do at that point is to start to create a plan that prioritizes and maximizes potential revenue to Covenant House.
We know that we need to keep leveling up those funding opportunities to continue to inspire giving to the organization. I would like to start getting ahead of opportunities before they come, to be a little less reactive as we go forward. We know that we need to build some systems for things like gift fulfillment, recognition, and stewardship.
Ultimately, our vision is down the road to create a donor engagement hub that this person will help us create and will oversee to create services for our fundraisers to connect with, to increase efficiency on the team, to ensure that we are all singing off the same song sheet, and to allow frontline fundraisers as much time as possible working with our donors. I can appreciate that is a lot. If you are listening to this, do not be worried. We are going to do this together. It is a wonderful team that is invested in the success of this role. We will do it together.
Through better donor engagement, a non-profit organization can increase its team efficiency and ensure everyone is singing off the same song sheet. Share on XThat is the sense I get. I know that the way the group operates is such a team environment. This person is not going to be in a silo. They are going to be fully integrated into the philanthropy team. As you said, it is a very collaborative cooperative group for that matter as well. There is a lot to take on. There is going to be some ambiguity in the role in terms of what direction they can go in and how to prioritize these particular things.
As you said, it is leveling up. It is that full scope of stewardship, donor mapping, and donor engagement. What do these things look like? We were speaking before that you are fortunate to have so many donors that are so invested in undesignated gifts and unrestricted gifts to really support the operations and the great services that Covenant House is providing. You really have this base that really trusts you. There is so much that can be grown from that, fundamentally, is not there?
Yeah. Our donor community is incredible. We have great bones. We are ready to grow a little bit for sure.
The Ideal Person To Fill In Covenant House Vancouver’s Newest Role
Thinking about some measures of success, some things that you might be looking for this person to achieve, for instance, how would they achieve a gold star on your team? What might you be looking for early on or perhaps later on in their tenure with you?
At first, really focusing in on connecting with the team, both on the philanthropy team and for the organization. The key to this role is creating those relationships with, say, our finance team, with our program team, really everyone throughout, really getting to know the people on the team, understanding what they do, starting to see how everything connects.
As I said, we have some great bones. Things are working. We just want to enhance what is happening. We just want to do what we are doing a little bit better. The first few months would really be a time to learn. There is so much to learn about Covenant House. I was thinking about what a gold star is. It’s the curveballs that maybe come to us. We are a social service organization.
We work with youth. Things can change very quickly. Being able to pivot, to roll with things, is going to be an important part of this person’s personality. It is going to be inevitable that there is going to be something that we will need this person to jump in on sooner than anyone would have expected. It always happens.
This is the world of philanthropy. It happens.
That ability to take the lead on a project, to be okay in uncertainty, ambiguity, as you said, Christoph. Starting to look at that long-term plan. What did that look like six months from now, a year from now? Where are we going and how are we doing it?
Why You Should Join Covenant House Vancouver
That is great. It is a lot of gold star opportunities. That is fantastic. In closing, what are some compelling reasons for someone to come join you at Covenant House? Somebody is enjoying where they are, or they think they are enjoying where they are. They see this opportunity, or they think about Covenant House, or they think they have a conception of it. Why do you think they should come join you? What is the elevator pitch? What is the case?
It is just a wonderful group of people to work with. The people I get to work with day in, day out, genuinely care about the work that happens there and care about each other as people. I find that just a lovely work environment. Covenant House is a place where you can be you. We embrace diversity. We know that our differences make us stronger. Ultimately, if you want to make a difference in the lives of others and help to change our community and our world, we work in Vancouver.
We work with other organizations and other Covenant Houses across the Americas to change the world. This role gives you an opportunity to grow, create, be creative, and be collaborative. Honestly, it is just it can be hard work for sure. The work is, however, always worth it. The people just make it a wonderful place to be. We love food. We love to celebrate as much as possible. You will be valued as a human being. If you are curious at all, there are lots of great reasons.
Donor Engagement: As the Director of Donor Engagement and Operations, you have the opportunity to grow, create, be creative, and be collaborative.
Fair enough. It should be said, “I had the great pleasure of being in the office during Halloween or on Halloween as well.” You and I are two of the few people who were not dressed up in costume. In hindsight, maybe I should have. That speaks to the culture and context of the creative group that you have.
As you say, where you can be you. I wish people could see the way you light up when you talk about Covenant House. This is an occasion I would love to have. Maybe next time we will do a video podcast for that matter. You can really get a sense of it. This has been a really thrilling conversation. I’m excited about the role, the opportunity.
Looking forward to bringing some candidates forward to really meet you in person and understand this passion and the important work that is really happening. Anybody interested, that is curious, should reach out to me or check out CovenantHouseBC.org is your website for that matter. Any closing messages or anything else you want to share with potential candidates or curious people?
I look forward to meeting you if you are curious about what we are doing over at Covenant House. Honestly, it is a wonderful place to work. It will be one of the most meaningful things you do in your life.
