The following resources are informational resources and toolkits which will provide an overview of key steps before and after purchasing real estate for your non-profit organization. These resources will be most helpful to you if you need assistance determining your organization’s needs and trajectory, more information about accurately projecting operational and occupancy budgets, borrowing capacity, and key information about the property acquisition process.

Environmental Sustainability

• A Developer’s Guide to Passive House Buildings – “Passive House is a way of designing buildings to achieve exceptional energy efficiency and superior thermal comfort.” (Source: Passivehouse Canada)
• Energy management resources for buildings (Government of Canada)
• TAF’s Retrofit Accelerator

Community Engagement

• Inclusive Community Engagement Toolkit (Source: Capire)
• Framework for Assessing Community Needs (Community Tool Box)

Housing

• A Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Affordable Housing (Source: Sustainable Housing Initiative & Alberta Rural Development Network)
• Affordable Housing Development Navigator Project (from the Public Good Society of Dartmouth – Nova Scotia)
  • Glossary of terms
• Framework for Housing Needs and Demands Study (BC Housing)

Culture

• Action Plan for Toronto’s Culture Sector by City of Toronto 

Development

• Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts – Resources about CLTs
• CMHC Resources
  • Development checklist for affordable housing
  • Housing development resources
• Community Developer’s Toolkit (Source: New Commons Development)
• Excel and PDF Templates for building and leasing space, real estate readiness, finance and strategy, and budgeting (Source: Community Vision). Disclaimer: this website includes tax forms for US-based organizations that may not be relevant for Canadian organizations.
  
• Toolkits for community-led development (Evergreen)

Governance

• Organizational Readiness Checklist
• Project Team (Video by Cahdco)
• Changemaker Self-Assessment (Tamarack Institute)
• Governance and Finance Info Series (CMHC)
• Housing Management Hub (CMHC)
• Managing Affordable Housing (CMHC) 
• Frameworks (by Cahdco)

Finances

• Canadian Cost Guide (Altus Group)
• Financial Feasibility (Video by SmartDensity)

Project Management

• Hiring & Working with Development Consultants (Source: BC Nonprofit Housing Association)
• Roadmap for Pre-Development Fund
• What is a Project Charter (Project Management Academy)
• Project Charter (University of Waterloo)
• Project Charter (Video by Cahdco)
• RACI Chart (TeamGantt)
• RACI Chart Project Management Guide (ProProfs Project)
• Your Guide to RACI charts (Asana)

Planning

• TOzoning: noteworthy land use planning decisions by Toronto City Council