Niagara Community Foundation is regularly invited to participate in community initiatives and collaborations. Our involvement has varied and has included: consultation with respect to strategic plan development; participation in focus groups around particular initiatives or issues; membership on collaboratives, steering or advisory committees for region wide initiatives or acting as financial host for a regional initiative. Typically our involvement fits into one of the following categories: organizational development, community development or project development and it needs to meet the following criteria:
- Reflects key principles of trust, flexibility, respect and collaboration and is consistent with the mission, vision and values of NCF
- Acknowledges that change takes time
- Embraces clear and measurable outcomes - recognizing community building is evolutionary by nature
- Brings a diverse group of people to the table
- Is committed to a common purpose
- Avoids duplicating what currently exists in the community, or will in the future
- Produces a clear community benefit
- Is action-oriented in both planning and implementation

