A society has been formed aimed at fostering communication, sharing knowledge and encouraging collaboration among the many organizations in Delta.
Several residents got together to form Collaborate Delta in the hopes it would become a valuable resource that can be utilized in North Delta, Tsawassen and Ladner.
"Some of the groups like us or Deltasssist work across Delta, but it's not always easy to reach everyone. We figure that if we're in that situation, then there's probably a lot of other organizations in Delta that are in that situation," explained Mark Sakai, executive director of the Delta Museum and Archives and one of the first members of Collaborate Delta.
"Our goals as a museum are very similar to the goals of this organization: looking for opportunities to collaborate and ways to share knowledge and even do things as simple as, let's say, if you're doing a major fundraiser, two organizations are not doing their fundraisers on the same night, or plan their AGMs on the same afternoon," Sakai said.
Deltassist executive director Doug Sabourin as well as John Thornburn and former municipal councillor Anne Peterson helped form the group, which is having an official launch on Monday, Oct. 15.
Sakai said they saw a gap when it came to community non-profit organizations networking to share resources, knowledge or collaborating, and possibly even forming partnerships.
"Delta, as everyone knows, is a diverse community both demographically and geographically, so a lot of times it's difficult for community not-for-profits to get together to try to develop a synergy that helps everybody out... Over the past eight months to a year, we've been working at this idea, getting the society set up and doing the mission, vision and goals work you need to do," Sakai said.
He noted it's still early days for the organization and members will have to wait for the response from community groups, but it's hoped the concept will be embraced.
"Most of the people we've been talking to, so far, think it's a great idea. We're hoping on the (Oct.) 15th we'll have a good turnout and people will be excited. We'll have speakers talk about some of the non-traditional partnerships they've been involved with and say how these kinds of relationships can work and can be beneficial for everyone," Sakai added.
Peterson said Collaborate Delta would provide an opportunity for people to engage and find out what's going on in the three communities.
"What we will be doing is providing opportunities for people to get together, network, share information, share resources, do all those kinds of things that can stretch that grant dollar even further, or coordinate activities so a bunch of charity events don't happen on the same day.
"One of the things we've discovered in this processes of developing the society is how many organizations exist in Delta. My list has about 350 organizations and counting, and this does not include all the school PACs and all the different sports organizations. That's an amazing group of organizations and people doing everything from arts right down to a zoology club in a school," Peterson said.
She said groups can assist each other in many ways, including sharing knowledge and experiences when it comes to making grant applications, for example, or accessing the results of studies conducted by local service groups.
The website at collaberatedelta.org will be up and running at the official launch, as well as the group's Facebook page.
The official launch on Oct. 15 will take place at Envision Financial's Sunshine Hills branch, 6481 Scott Rd., North Delta, starting at 5:30 p.m.
For more information about the event or the society, e-mail coordinator@collaboratedelta.org or call 604-317-0934.
