The Sun and Truth Capacity Building Program

This year, The Sun and Truth Foundation introduced a new initiative: The Sun and Truth Capacity Building Program. We developed this program with New Room Group (insert what New Room Group is), after speaking with Montreal community leaders who noted that funding alone doesn’t address many organizations’ operational challenges.

Through this free program, the Sun and Truth Foundation go beyond grants by fostering a learning community that strengthens leadership, builds organizational capacity, and connects charities with peers who can share knowledge and experience.

Its goal is to equip nonprofits and charitable organizations with the tools and insights they need to grow stronger and make informed decisions for their mission and teams.

The program took place over three workshops, focusing on the importance of storytelling and alternative funding models in the face of a changing philanthropic landscape; culture building and leadership; AI for impact and Financial Stewardship. Each program was tailored to the operational realities and challenges identified by the nine organizations in the room.

Session 1: Refining your story, refining your impact

This session focused on strengthening how we communicate our work and the impact we are making in ways that resonate with funder priorities, without compromising our mission and forgoing what is important to us. Through the support of a new room's founders, Erin Willit and Dani-Jo (Insert last name), participants engaged in thoughtful discussions, breakout sessions, and collaborative learning spaces that encouraged reflection and shared insights.

Key themes included the power of storytelling to drive funding, how we talk about what we do, developing clear and compelling impact statements, and exploring the ‘Thriving Nonprofit Honeycomb funding model’. Overall, the season created space for stronger messaging and more strategic approaches to building sustainable support for charitable work.

Session 2: Leadership Capacity and Culture Building

The second session focused on helping participants understand how to build cultures of belonging within their respective organizations and how those cultures can strengthen social impact, collaboration, and innovation. Through engaging discussions and the ‘Culture Pizza activity’, participants explored the key “ingredients” of a healthy organizational culture, including shared responsibility, distributed power, and personal agency, to name a few. The activity invited participants to reflect on what was already present in their organizational culture, what might be missing, and what developmental areas felt most important to focus on. Overall, the season created space for leaders to think more intentionally about the culture they want to build and the practices, support, and learning needed to bring that culture to life.

Session 3: Financial Stewardship and AI for Impact