BGC Ottawa

BGC Ottawa serves 19 neighbourhoods. We have 4 full capacity Clubhouses and satellite locations throughout the city. Camp Smitty, our sleep-away camp, is located in Eganville.

Charitable Registration #118814565 RR0001

What we do

We provide children and youth with a third place between the realities of home life and the pressures of school — a place of positivity and belonging where they can play, create, and learn what it takes to become their best selves. We aim to be Ottawa’s leading champion of children and youth; corporations, communities, and families will look to us first to understand what children and youth need to thrive today and in the future.

For almost one hundred years, BGC Ottawa, a registered charity provides FREE programs and services directly to children and youth in vulnerable neighbourhoods. As one of Ottawa’s largest child and youth-serving charitable organizations, we serve almost 5,000 young people in 19 neighbourhoods each year. We provide safe, supportive places where all kids and teens, of all backgrounds, can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, and develop confidence and skills for life. From anti-racism to Reconciliation to LGBTQ2S+, food security to scholarships to job readiness, our Clubs battle systemic issues with systemic solutions—equity, acceptance, support, opportunity. BGC Ottawa is about Systemic Opportunity. We help the next generation develop what they need to make positive change.

TOP FUNDING SOURCES

• Individual donations: 34%
• Corporate: 18%
• Government: 34%
• Other charities: 6%
• Other: 8%

Funding priorities

A space for every kid who needs it. We serve almost five thousand children and youth in Ottawa each year. The need is growing. Today you can support thousands of future leaders. We have

doubled our impact in recent years. We continue to need significant operational support, funds for our aging but spectacular sleep away camp—Camp Smitty—and assistance with ongoing capital repairs at our four Clubhouses that serve hundreds of kids each day.

How you can help

Give

Thanks to the incredible generosity of the community, BGC Ottawa, a registered charity, has provided programming directly to children and youth in vulnerable neighbourhoods for almost 100 years. Free Community-based services. Positive relationships.

Volunteer

• Clubhouse Volunteering
• Post-Secondary Student Placements
• High-School Students
• Special Event Volunteering
• Group & Corporate Volunteering

If you are a group that might be interested or if you have any questions, please contact Melissa Marion, Coordinator of Volunteer Services, (613) 232-0925 Ext. 230 mmarion@bgcottawa.org

EVENTS + FUNDRAISING

BGC Ottawa has two marquee fundraising events.

The Morning Social and BGCO Gala

In May 2023, we will celebrate the Club’s one-hundred-year anniversary and the return of our signature morning event to its traditional May timeframe. The Morning Social is an incredible community platform and sponsorship opportunity. It is an event that starts your day off right and inspires hundreds of guests from across Ottawa’s business community. This event is supported by the Morning Social Circle—a committee of business leaders.

Plus, join us for a glamourous and magical night under the stars in August 2023 as we dance the night away at the BGCO Gala, hosted by our co-chairs Michelle Taggart and Jeffrey Smith. Earlier this year, we greeted almost 500 guests and raised well over half a million dollars to support our mission.

To learn more about our events, please contact: jlwallace@bgcottawa.org.

Camp Smitty

We run a sleep-away leadership camp for young people that do not have opportunities to go to camp due to cost or other barriers. We need roughly $600,000 each year to operate the camp and keep up with repair costs for this aging but beautiful historic place.

Homework Club & Education programs

Each day after school, our staff work with young people across the city to review their homework, offer words of encouragement and support, and supply a healthy snack. We need up to $2-million annually to support core programming that directly helps young people.