Vital Signs FAQ
What is Vital Signs?
Which communities are participating in Vital Signs?
When are you publishing the next Vital Signs reports?
How can my community produce a Vital Signs report card?
Which indicators are community foundations measuring?
Why did community foundations establish this program?
Where did the idea for Vital Signs come from?
How is Vital Signs different from other indicator initiatives?
How does Vital Signs add value to current research?
How can I get more information?
What is Vital Signs?
Vital Signs is an annual community check-up, conducted by community foundations across Canada, that measures the vitality of our communities, identifies significant trends, and assigns grades in a range of areas critical to quality of life.
Vital Signs is based on a project of the Toronto Community Foundation and is coordinated nationally by Community Foundations of Canada (CFC). The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation provided critical support for the program’s national expansion.
Each community's report card data is a compilation of research from numerous sources, many of them local, which help communities make connections between issues and trends in different areas. The findings are presented in a reader friendly format to make them as accessible as possible. An expanded, in-depth report is also made available on each community foundation's website, complete with links to original community research.
CFC also releases Canada’s Vital Signs, a national snapshot of issues facing communities across the country.
Which communities are participating in Vital Signs?
Participants in 2011 Vital Signs are:
- Victoria
- Central Okanagan
- North Okanagan*
- South Okanagan*
- Golden and District*
- Sunshine Coast
- Powell River*
- Squamish*
- Calgary
- Grande Prairie*
- Medicine Hat and Southeastern Alberta
- Red Deer and District
- Kingston and Area
- Oakville
- Hamilton
- Sudbury
- Toronto
- Mississauga*
- York Region*
- Greater Montreal
- Greater Saint John
- Nova Scotia
*participating in Vital Signs for the first time.
Participants in last year's Vital Signs can always be found on our Local Reports page.
When are you publishing the next Vital Signs reports?
The 2011 Vital Signs reports will be released on October 4, 2011.
How can my community produce a Vital Signs report card?
Participation in the Vital Signs program is open to members of Community Foundations of Canada that agree to the terms for participation in the program.
The name Vital Signs is a registered trademark in Canada administered by Community Foundations of Canada (CFC).
Members of CFC
Please see our Members Area for more information and read our Tips and Tools.
If you are not a member of CFC
In Canada
Please consult the resources listed under Key Sources of Data for Canadian Communities and Resources for Civic Indicator Development at http://www.vitalsignscanada.ca/related-links-e.html
Communities and organizations outside of Canada
Please contact us.
Which indicators are community foundations measuring?
Each community chooses its own indicators, but every year there are a set of common issue areas and core indicators that all foundations include in their reports and upon which Community Foundations of Canada bases its national report.
Community foundations consult with a wide range of local groups to ensure their indicators capture their area's unique issues and attributes. For instance this set of core indicators may include:
- Violent crime rate
- Aboriginal high school completion rates
- Youth unemployment rate
- Birth weights
Why did community foundations establish this program?
Community foundations see enormous value for donors and the entire community in Vital Signs. Measuring the vitality of Canadian communities in critical areas helps community foundations:
- Increase the effectiveness of our grantmaking
- Better inform our donors about issues and opportunities in the community
- Make connections between individuals and groups to address those issues
For instance, Vital Signs reports in Victoria, BC have shown homelessness to be an increasingly troublesome issue in that community. In response, Victoria Foundation, in partnership with Victoria Cool Aid Society and Frontrunners Victoria, established Every Step Counts in February 2009.
This mentored running program helps people experiencing barriers and challenges with housing, mental health, addiction and related problems to improve their health and self-reliance through exercise and positive support.
Where did the idea for Vital Signs come from?
In the late 1990s a small group of civic leaders began discussing a new way to engage Torontonians in understanding and monitoring the health and vitality of their newly amalgamated city on an ongoing basis. After a series of meetings and public consultations, the decision was made to develop a Toronto report card.
With the support of the Maytree Foundation, the Laidlaw Foundation and a number of other partners with diverse perspectives from community, academia, business, media and philanthropy, the Toronto Community Foundation first published Toronto's Vital Signs in 2001.
Vital Signs has become a respected and widely-read reference on quality of life in Toronto. This reader-friendly report is used by local decision-makers and community organizations in research and planning and informs the foundation's own donors and granting. Visit www.tcf.ca for more information.
How is Vital Signs different from other indicator initiatives?
There are a variety of indicator initiatives across Canada. Some track specific issues at a local level, such as a police board monitoring crime levels. Others analyze national data from a particular perspective, such as sustainability. All play an important role in helping us better understand our communities.
Vital Signs builds on existing initiatives in four valuable ways:
- Collate broad range of data. Community foundations develop a distinctly broad picture of the community using relevant national data and identifying local research on a wide range of subject areas.
- Engage the community: Vital Signs reflects the community because it involves the community at every level, from determining the report's indicators and exploring research sources, to assigning grades.
- Create a national report: Because community foundations across Canada are participating in this project we are able to provide Canadians with a national snapshot of the issues that are critical to the vitality of our country and our communities. By linking data, stories and expert insight from communities across the country, CFC hopes to engage Canadians in a deeper discussion about national trends and to explore issues that are key to our shared success in the future.
- Publish research you can read! Community foundations are committed to publishing a reader-friendly document that appeals to a wide range of readers looking for a snapshot of quality of life and of community vitality.
How does Vital Signs add value to current research?
Vital Signs adds value to current research in several ways. By consolidating new and existing data Vital Signs makes a wide range of information easier to access. Individuals and organizations interested in detailed analysis of particular areas can simply consult the Vital Signs footnotes to find the in-depth reports they need. CFC's national Vital Signs report provides an opportunity for a richer, more detailed discussion of the challenges facing our communities.
How can I get more information?
For more information on Vital Signs please contact us.
