Building the Conditions for Collective Power
A leadership transition, slowed fundraising and stretched resources, while continuing work with Black, Indigenous and racialized young women and gender-diverse youth.
- Client
- Platform
- Timeframe
- Since 2023, ongoing
- Focus
- Fundraising
- Our work
- Fundraising strategyprogram developmentimpact frameworkgrant managementdonor stewardshiporganizational capacity
1,200+ direct participants in Cyber Bytes
10,000+ people reached by its digital content
Catapult Canada funding secured
Included in Toronto Foundation Good to Give 2026
The partnership
Staying steady through change
When we joined Platform in 2023, the organization was navigating a delicate transition away from founder-led leadership while continuing its work with Black, Indigenous, and racialized young women and gender-diverse youth.
The commitment
We just could not leave
Fundraising and stewardship had slowed, resources were stretched, and the organization needed space to strengthen its foundations. When Platform could no longer sustain our full retainer, we adapted our scope and maintained a smaller but consistent effort. We were invested in the mission.
We did not promise to return the organization to its previous size. We promised consistent, tailored support that responded to where Platform actually was. For an organization working to change civic spaces and reshape who gets to lead within them, strengthening the organization itself is part of strengthening that work.
Impact framework
Let impact guide funding
As Platform moved into its next chapter, we rethought its impact framework together, connecting programs more clearly to the changes it wants to create in people, communities and systems.
Instead of asking how Platform could fit a funding opportunity, we could increasingly ask what Platform wanted to change and what resources would make that possible. That changed how we approached program design, measurement, grant writing and grant management.
The Rideau Hall Foundation's Catapult Canada funding was an important example. The fund placed significant emphasis on program design, capacity, evaluation and learning, and we were able to demonstrate Platform's intended outcomes and approach to measuring change, helping secure support for its civic learning work with newcomer and refugee youth.
Cyber Bytes
Building our flexible muscles
Sustainable organizations also need to respond when the world around their communities changes. Part of our work together has been developing the flexibility to recognise emerging needs, build thoughtful responses and find funding that allows Platform to act.
As civic life increasingly moved online, young queer, Black, Indigenous and racialized organizers were navigating harassment, surveillance, privacy risks and technology-facilitated violence alongside the opportunities of digital participation. With CIRA's support, Platform developed Cyber Bytes, beginning with research into what communities were actually experiencing and turning that learning into practical digital safety programming.
Being responsive does not mean chasing trends. It means having enough clarity and capacity to respond when your community needs something new.
Cyber Bytes in numbers
- 01
1,200+ people participated directly
- 02
10,000+ people encountered the digital content
- 03
Research turned into practical digital safety programming
- 04
Evidence Platform can use to expand the work
Ecosystem
From funding programs to strengthening an ecosystem
Platform's mission depends on relationships: between young leaders, community organizations, civic institutions, funders and others working to create more equitable spaces for participation and leadership. Our fundraising approach increasingly reflected that.
Our relationship with Toronto Foundation helped open pathways to more flexible, unrestricted support while connecting Platform to a wider ecosystem of community philanthropy. Platform's inclusion in Toronto Foundation's Good to Give 2026 is part of that journey, creating new visibility and opportunities for donor-advised funding.
The goal is not simply to secure more grants. It is to build relationships, trust and funding pathways that allow the work to grow without losing its purpose.
Credit where it belongs
Platform's team did the work
They built the programs, showed up for communities, navigated leadership change, tested new ideas and kept moving through difficult moments.
We managed much of what happens in the background: research, grant writing, applications, reporting systems, reminders, follow-ups, stewardship, and the many conversations that happen between one funding decision and the next. And, just as importantly, we kept each other cheerful through the many rejections.
What began as fundraising support has become a long-term partnership around building the conditions for collective power.
Read more about Platform
Toronto Foundation Good to Give 2026 and the Rideau Hall Foundation community profile.
“We did not promise to return the organization to its previous size. We promised something more realistic: consistent, tailored support that responded to where Platform actually was.”
YAMM · Fundraising team
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