Grow Beyond Grants: How working with Forward Avenue was a “drastic lifestyle choice” for Oddside Arts

Our client success stories continue with Oddside Arts, a cultural arts not-for-profit that merges art, technology, and wellness through Black speculative design. Co-leads Nico and Queen sat down with us to share how Forward Avenue helped them grow with intention and why the decision to work together was, in their words, "a drastic lifestyle choice."

"We knew we wanted a fundraiser," Nico recalls. "We asked other arts organizations who they would recommend, and Betty's name came up." After a first meeting, it was clear Forward Avenue brought something different: a deep familiarity with the arts sector and a hands-on willingness to help Oddside not just find grants, but rethink how they approached funding altogether. 

"Forward Avenue was able to bring that experience and handholding to help us see fundraising in a different light. Not just ‘let's look at these grants and create a project’, but how do we leverage what we've already been doing?"

One of the first breakthroughs was practical and long overdue. Yet, led to compounding wins for their community and capacity.

Oddside had been trying for years to establish a Canada Council for the Arts profile; a process that had always felt too daunting to complete. With Forward Avenue's support, they not only set up the profile but secured two CCA grants, putting them on track to apply for operating funding. From there, the wins compounded. 

Together, Oddside and Forward Avenue secured a $50,000 Canada Council Systems Innovations grant for the Archiving Black Futures research project: a landmark initiative examining the barriers Black artists face in Canada's public art sector across five provinces along with additional government funding (Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program) to expand their project team by 3 and broaden our research consultations to include 80+ artists. "This is a huge milestone for us," Nico says, "to shape the way in which we pass on our knowledge, how we operate within public art, and how we support Black artists." 

What made the partnership transformational, though, went beyond the grants themselves. "Having someone else that's solely focused and consistently looking for funding, for grants, for building partnerships… it's transformational to have that type of support," says Queen. 

Forward Avenue also helped Oddside look inward: at how they were structuring their finances, what they were spending on services, and most crucially, how they were paying themselves. "We couldn't fathom a world where we could be paying ourselves well for doing work we love," Queen reflects. "Having that outside voice saying, ‘no, you need to pay yourselves better and this is the path forward’ was a big win." 

Forward Avenue's presence was felt beyond the desk, too. 

It was felt in new connections to a broader ecosystem of peer organizations, and with their presence at their five-year anniversary celebration. "They were there running the fundraising raffle table," Nico says, "which meant we didn't have to get additional volunteers to support that part. But just to have you there, not just writing things with us or reaching out to partners, but actually physically being in a space and championing us to our network was meaningful." 

For organizations considering the investment, Nico and Queen are candid and enthusiastic. "Not having you folks versus having you folks is such a drastic lifestyle choice," says Queen. Nico adds that even a short engagement can be worthwhile: "Even if it's just for a couple of months to understand how a fundraiser thinks of your revenue and expenses, or to recognize that you have an untapped network of supporters you're not fully utilizing — that's needed." 

One of the lasting skills they've taken with them is knowing when to say no. "We're able to assess a grant a lot better and determine what it's going to take out of us and if it's worth our time," Nico says. An important skill that every nonprofit leader can benefit from.

Forward Avenue is honoured to walk with Oddside Arts in their path towards steady growth.

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Learn more about Oddside Arts at https://oddsidearts.ca/