Rainbow Coalition of Waterloo Region

Working together to build a diverse Rainbow Community voice in Waterloo Region

Strategic Plan

Three Year Strategic Plan (2025 – 2028)

The three year strategic plan focuses on building capacity to better serve the community, helping to mentor and grow 2SLGBTQIA+ leadership within the community, create a greater awareness of what we do as an organization, and build stronger relationships within our community and community partners.

What We Do

RCWR celebrates the rich diversity and intersecting identities within 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Waterloo Region. Building upon our 15 years of experience:

  • we act as a community catalyst mentoring and supporting individuals, groups, and organizations in realizing shared vision through training, resources, and infrastructure.
  • We collaboratively create pathways with community members, businesses, and other partners.

Direct service provision is not our strategic focus unless rooted in sustainable collaboration. Our priority centres on building RCWR’s capacity to amplify and support community-led efforts.

How We Do It

RCWR partners with individuals and organizations at all stages of their journey in applying intersectional, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and de-colonial frameworks. We work to be supportive of partners whether beginning or deeply engaged in their journey of promoting queer liberation.

RCWR fosters growth by offering tools, learning opportunities, and frameworks that strengthen equity work. The Board and Officers undergo anti-oppression and anti-racism training, and apply these principles to internal policies and practices.

It is understood that each initiative progresses at its own pace and takes time and resources. RCWR remains committed to walking alongside partners who are moving forward with intention and care.

Milestone Versus Time Based Approach

Traditional strategic plans generally describe fixed timelines. RCWR’s work, which is powered by volunteers navigating limited resources and a challenging non-profit funding landscape, therefore fixed deadlines may not reflect this reality.

In this strategic plan, we’ve identified milestones for each strategic priority. Each milestone must be completed before the next begins. To align with more traditional strategic plans, we have grouped milestones into phases and we estimate each phase may take about a year .

RCWR’s Phased Method

Each strategic priority includes three phases. These phases are presented in order of importance. Each phase is estimated at one year each of a three year strategic plan.

These phases are:

  • Phase 1 – Laying The Groundwork
  • Phase 2 – Learning and Testing
  • Phase 3 – Sustaining and Sharing

Strategic Priority 1 (Capacity Building)

Resource Our Work With Care and Intention

RCWR will build the internal knowledge, partnerships, and resource strategies needed to sustain its work. This includes learning how to fundraise in a way that reflects our values, making intentional decisions about capacity, and investing in long-term relationships – not just financial ones. 

RCWR does not seek to duplicate existing programming or replicate models that have proven unsustainable. Instead, we aspire to act as a catalyst—supporting individuals, groups, and organizations in realizing a shared vision through training, resources, and infrastructure. 

We recognize that prioritizing infrastructure and capacity-building may delay implementation of other strategic priorities. This is a deliberate choice to ensure that our work is sustainable, community-led, and rooted in values that matter.

Strategic Priority 2 (Building Leadership)

Developing Leadership and Mentorship Opportunities

RCWR will create space for queer, trans, and non-binary community members to grow as leaders in ways that reflect care, community accountability, and reciprocal support. We aim to build leadership pathways that are rooted in lived experience, not only professional credentials, and that challenge traditional hierarchies. 

This strategic priority will be primarily addressed through RCWR’S Leadership Advancement Committee (LAC).

Strategic Priority 3 (Creating Awareness)


Increasing RCWR’s Visibility and Public Presence

RCWR will work to ensure that 2SLGBTQIA+ people across Waterloo Region know who we are, what we do, and how they can connect. We aim to increase our visibility in ways that reflect our values, reach under served communities, and build meaningful engagement.

Strategic Priority 4 (Building Relationships)

Strengthening Regional Relationships and Supporting Grassroots Queer Groups

RCWR will build and deepen relationships with queer and trans groups, organizers, and community members across Waterloo Region – especially in Cambridge and the townships. This work is grounded in reciprocity, trust, and the understanding that RCWR’s role is to amplify, support, and connect. We will move at the pace of relationship-building and support long term sustainability.