The Sun and Truth Capacity Building Program
The Sun and Truth Capacity Building Program helps nonprofits strengthen their leadership, operations, and impact.
This year, The Sun and Truth Foundation launched a new initiative: the Sun and Truth Capacity Building Program, developed in partnership with New Room Group. The program was created in response to conversations with Montreal community leaders who shared that funding alone does not address many of the operational challenges their organizations face.
Through this free program, the Sun and Truth Foundation goes 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 2026 cohort 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; and AI for Impact and Financial Stewardship. Each workshop 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 workshop 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 New Room's founders, Erin Willett and Dani-Jo Otou, 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 session created space for stronger messaging and more strategic approaches to building 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 session 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
The final session in the series focused on financial stewardship and AI for impact. Mike Bird from BoxOne Ventures led a session on how AI can be used as a tool for nonprofits and charities to reduce operational burden. As for the financial stewardship segment, forecasting and planning were the priorities. Nathaniel Kirsh, from BoxOne Ventures, discussed how nonprofits and charities can plan, make decisions, and steward limited resources.
The Sun and Truth Foundation would like to thank our partners, New Room, Mike Bird, and Nathaniel Kirsh, for their exceptional program design and facilitation, as well as all participating organizations, who were eager to contribute meaningful insights and hold space for each other.
2026 Participating Organizations:
