Rotary Club of Kitchener

e-Newsletter

May 10, 2021

Meeting Recording

A recording of Today’s Meeting can be found here.

President's Comments

Due to the ongoing provincial stay-at-home order it is likely that our Dom Cardillo Trail Clean Up rescheduled for May 19 will need to be rescheduled yet again.  Updated information will be provided as we get closer to the date. 
 
As part of the 5-Club Cluster Membership and PR Committee work arrangements have been made for Rotary to be featured each month on the Mike Farwell show on radio station 570.  The next session will be on May 26th at 10:30 a.m. - KidsAbility Then and Now with Louise Gardiner and Linda Kenny. 
 
Another 5-club active committee is the Cluster Peace Committee.  One of the ongoing porojects right now is looking at improvements to the Rotary Peace Park at RIM Park.  They have made arrangements to have maintenance on the site done by the city in May or June and they are working with the original artist to have the signs on the main display repaired and updated.
 
All Rotarians and guests are invited and encouraged to attend the virtual District Conference on Saturday May 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.  Registration and a link to the full conference details can be found here:
 
 
Members are also encouraged to attend the virtual RI Convention, June 12 to 16 
 
 

Guests

Renata Rusiniak, Green Horseshoe Solutions, Guest Speaker
Ailton Santana, Guest of Mike Morrice, Prospective Member
Heidi and Bill Oliver, Friends of Rotary
Judy Proctor, Guest of Bill Proctor
 

Happy Jar

 
Gary Parker is very pleased that is youngest granddaughter has just graduated from the University of western Ontario with a Bachelor of Science and has been accepted into Medical School.
 
Martin Jones was pleased to announce that another ZOOM call has been arranged with many of our RAWEF students in Kenya.  It is scheduled for 1:00 this Thursday. Please contact Martin for additional information. 
 
President Louise, although a bit sore, is happy that, after 3 trips to the nursery and the emptying of 20 bags, her garden mulching is done for the year.
 

Club Announcements

Paul Rostrup reminded members that ongoing donation for items such as Happy Bucks and Birthday donations can be done online through Canada Helps here: Donate to Kitchener Rotary Club Charitable Foundation 
 
Paul also let us know that the Catch the Ace progressive jack pot is now at $28,899 with just 18 cards left to go.  Buy your tickets and spread the word!
 
 

Program Highlights

Our speaker today was Renata Rusiniak, from Green Horseshoe Solutions, Introduced by President Louise:
 
Renata Rusiniak is an employer brand builder fueled by a  desire to foster connected corporate cultures and increased employee engagement.  With a blended background in human resources, marketing, communications, and corporate social responsibility, Renata is well-positioned to engage audiences with authentic story-telling about people, products, and social
governance.  She has worked across multiple business sectors including cybersecurity (eSentire), finance (Manulife), technology devices (BlackBerry and L3-Wescam), and food (Cadbury- Schweppes) within Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
 
Her 20 years of corporate experience has led Renata to her next career challenge as the Principal and Founder of Green Horseshoe Solutions – enabling companies to build their employer branding through revitalizing engagement programs, forging community partnerships, instituting corporate social responsibility practices, and communicating impacts that matter.  Renata holds a joint honours BA in Psychology and Recreation & Leisure Studies from the University of Waterloo and a Certificate of Community Involvement from Boston College Centre for Corporate Citizenship.
 
Originally from Hamilton and currently residing in Guelph with her husband and two sons, Renata is active in her local community.  She has served as a Board Director with the Greater Kitchener- Waterloo Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Waterloo.  Renata volunteers in the equine community with Equine Guelph, served as a member of the University of Waterloo Alumni Council, and became a certified adaptive ski instructor with Track 3.  Renata is an avid skier, accomplished equestrian, and general advocate of all things outdoorsy.
 
Renata spoke today on Non-profit and Corporate Partnerships.
 
PROBLEM: The rapid shift to remote work has caused challenges in traditional approaches to attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent.
Employer brand is everything.
 
SOLUTION: Green Horseshoe Solutions (GHS) enables companies to fuel their employer branding through revitalizing engagement programs, forging community partnerships, instituting corporate social responsibility practices, and communicating impacts that matter.
 
She indicated that there are four key elements to the solution:
  • Employer Branding
  • Employee & Community Engagement
  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Culture Communication
 
There are also three primary objectives corporations have for engaging in non-profit Corporate Partnerships:
To Build brand awareness
  • Lead generation through non-profit partnerships
  • Exposure to new audiences
  • Create local impact to attract local customers
  • Builds reputation as a caring company
 
To Attract and retain talent
  • Can be a differentiator in attracting top talent
  • Strong CSR has proven to increase engagement and connection to your workplace
  • Employer brand as a caring company
 
To Attract investors
  • Private equity firms care about CSR and often report on it as “Sustainable Investing”
  • Allows your company to stand out in your investors’ portfolio as a caring company
 
Renata emphasized that e approach to developing partnerships should include five key partnership considerations:
  • Be Strategic, not generic –  research and know the right corporations to approach
  • Calculated, not spontaneous – know the culture of the corporation and their philanthropic interests
  • Balanced, not one-sided – make sure the partnership will be a win-win for both parties
  • Quantitative, not qualitative – have measurable outcomes for the corporation
  • Longevity, not brevity – seek, where possible, longer term partnerships
 
She acknowledged that partnering with corporations in the Tech sector can have its own challenges and suggested it is important to recognize that these corporations tend to be looking for partnerships that are:
Innovative
  • Net-new, fresh, one-of-a-kind programs
  • Challenges the status quo, grass-roots orgs
Engaging
  • Something to rally employees – fun
  • Incredibly inclusive
Flexible
  • Can be dialed up or down
  • Single year commitments
Impactful
  • Direct correlation of action to impact
  •  Measurable
Tech-Enabled
  • Makes best use of available tech
  • Can be applied to remote workers
 
In summary Renata emphasized the following key take-aways:
  • Create win-win-win scenarios for the non-profit, the corporation, and society
  • SMBs raise brand awareness to attract talent, investors, and customers
  • Start with the “why” of the who, what where, when, why and how alignment
  • Take a strategic approach to partnership
  • Recall the 5 ways to engage with the tech sector and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Closing Remarks & Reminders

President Louise thanked the speaker. In appreciation, Louise noted that a donation will be made to The Rotary Foundation to innoculate 100 children against polio.
 
President Louise also reminded the group about upcoming meetings. 
 
Speakers
May 10, 2021 12:00 PM
Green Horseshoe Solutions - Navigating non-profit corporate partnerships
May 17, 2021 12:00 PM
May 19, 2021 4:00 PM
Volunteer opportunity for Members and Friends of Rotary to clean up their individual neighbourhoods
May 24, 2021
Victoria Day Holiday
May 29, 2021 8:30 AM
Register at https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50042/Event/rotary-district-7080-virtual-conference-2021
May 31, 2021 7:00 PM
Artistic Director & CEO Drayton Entertainment
View entire list
Birthdays & Membership Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Laura Mae Lindo
May 6
 
Tom Mennill
May 14
 
Pete Gray
May 16
 
Martin Jones
May 19
 
David Chatson
May 31
 
Join Date
Bill Krohn
May 17, 2010
11 years
 
Sponsors