Partnering
Collaboration
Everything the Corvus Centre does involves some type of collaboration. We operate within a networked system of NGOs, funding partners, governments, landowners, community groups, academics, industry, and individuals.
About half of our projects are initiated by us, and half initiated when a potential project partner approaches us. In all cases, the success of our work depends heavily on our funding partners and our project partners, and we are grateful for their collaboration.
What Our Partners Think
Brent Hoyland, Flagstaff County
If you want to effectively serve your citizens you need to recognize when you don’t have the expertise or capacity to deal with certain issues or challenges. That was the case for us when we looked into accessing funding for a wetland replacement program so we could restore wetland capacity within our municipality. That’s when we reached out to the Corvus Centre. It’s been wonderful working with the Corvus Centre, and I know we look forward to a continued long relationship.
Shari Clare, Fiera Biological Consulting
Just because we have environmental policy and law does not mean we actually get the outcomes that we’re looking for. That’s why having an organization like the Corvus Centre, in my opinion, is essential. I feel strongly that in order to have better conservation outcomes we need people and organizations that are committed to working as what I call ‘boundary-spanners’ - folks who are able to work in and translate between these three realms: science, policy, and practice. Having an organization that is wholly committed to working in the space is really important. I feel that the Corvus Centre fills a really important gap.
Renny Grilz, Meewasin Valley Authority
I had the pleasure of working with the Corvus Centre this last year, on two different projects, and it was a great experience. As part of a project with Parks Canada, we started looking at our conservation toolchest, and what tools we have available. Our policies were out of date, our conservation tool chest was a little bare, so had to re-look at our tools and out policies to see what we had available. We worked with the Corvus centre on doing a deep dive with our policies. It was a great process working with Guy and his team doing that deep dive on the work Meewasin does, and sort of envisioning where we could go. It has our management team and our Board at Meewasin really looking at what is the potential we can do as an organization. Also had the pleasure of working with Corvus with the Saskatchewan watershed groups. We’re going through a restructuring amongst all our nine groups in Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Association of Watersheds. Guy and his team really helped lead those discussions on the restructuring, really helped facilitate those discussions, and have us work together to develop a future vision that we all agreed upon. It was a really difficult discussion and really difficult thinking that we had to do as individual watershed groups. Guy was able to have those discussions with all the groups. Everyone was able to participate and share their concerns and expectations and their goals and we were able to come out of two different workshops with a shared vision. I was expecting a lot of posturing and fighting amongst the groups and people getting upset. But Corvus really helped us open up our eyes and see how we could make things better for all our groups together.
Renée Delorme, Bragg Creek Wild
From experience, I know that community process and asking the right questions are crucial aspects of a grassroots community voluntary initiative's success. My problem was that I did not know what questions to ask and even less what where the basic concepts and principles I needed to understand about wildlife-human conflicts. I knew I did not want to see wildlife killed by vehicles in my community anymore. Once a few posts in the community Facebook pages were up, a group soon started to meet to discuss the issues associated with human-wildlife conflicts, including accidents, wildlife alienation, disruption and more. One of the community members with expertise in the field recommended Guy. Guy took it upon himself to gently steer us in the right direction, asking pertinent questions, survey our views and ambitions. He then shared some key concepts, terminology and connected us to critical resources and studies. Finally, he explained (sometimes more than once since we were all new to this) potential pitfalls. He left us feeling in control and with a solid base to build on. We are grateful for Guy's counsel and gentle leadership. He saved us precious time and heartaches. Bragg creek Wild Country warmly recommends him.
Our Partners
Funding Partners
Project Partners
Working with Corvus
So, yes, we partner – but how do we approach partnering? Or more to the point, how can we work together to achieve nature-positive decision making?
Partnering with a not-for-profit charity that focuses on nature and policy can be unusual and a bit confusing (!), so here are some key guidelines we have to follow that can help explain.
Everything we do must be mission-aligned and in support of our charitable purposes. That’s not just a guideline, but a legal obligation as a charitable organization.
Mission forward
Like most not-for-profit environmental NGOs, the Corvus Centre does all its work on a project-by-project basis. We work with our partners to develop, fund, and execute these projects on a case by case basis.
Project based
Part of our mission is to make the information we generate available to support nature conservation. When we finish a project, we have to share the results. There are many ways to do that, and it does not mean we share personal or proprietary information.
Shared results
All of our work is funded on a project-by-project basis, through grants, fee-for-service contracts, or donations. Sometimes we seek the funds (sometimes with a partner), and sometimes we are approached to do a project.
Finding funding
Example Approaches
Question & Answer
Is the Corvus Centre a consultancy’?
No, we are a not-for-profit, charity. Our mandate and our charitable purposes dictate the work we can do.
Can Corvus Centre do fee for service work?
Yes, we can do fee-for-service work, provided it is aligned with and contributes to our charitable mandate
Does Corvus Centre partner with other groups?
Constantly! When the Corvus Centre was established, we recognized that our goals could only be achieved by working with like-minded partners. Get in touch button at the coordinates below.
Does Corvus Centre share its results?
Yes. In fact, doing so is central to our mandate. We don’t circulate personal information or other people’s proprietary work, but everything else we make freely available.
Check out all our results on the Projects page.
Can Corvus accept grants?
Yes, the Corvus Centre receives grants from philanthropic foundations and governments.
Is the Corvus Centre a registered charity?
Yes, we are a not-for-profit incorporated nationally and a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency (77535 2206 RR0001).
Does the Corvus Centre accept donations?
Yes [see the Donate button above]. And our ability to help smaller organizations and to undertake time-sensitive work is dependent on donated ‘unrestricted’ dollars.