Philanthropist couple investing up to $2M in The Gathering Place — but it comes with strings

The Gathering Place is getting an investment of up to $2 million to help vulnerable people get long-term and sustainable housing — but the St. John's shelter has to hit predetermined targets in order to receive the donation.

The Gathering Place's executive director Paul Davis says he's been in talks for nearly three years with the Northpine Foundation, a Toronto-based private philanthropic organization funded by married couple Cathy and John Phillips.

"The agreement with Northpine is up to $2 million in an investment. And is really based on, as we house people, then the funds flow from Northpine to The Gathering Place," Davis told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

"It's a really interesting model that Northpine has created where they don't invest in infrastructure per se or gardens or particular programs. They invest in organizations and they measure the success of those investments based on outcomes."

In this case, the investment is going toward permanent housing for shelter residents. The Gathering Place currently employs housing managers that help people find places to live, and just opened an expansion containing affordable housing units, Mercy House, a few months ago.

Typically, guests start off by staying within The Gathering Place's shelter system. Once they're stabilized, they're moved into transitional housing, where they can start building skills that will help them become more independent and less reliant on organizations.

"From there you can move to our supportive housing units, which are on the 3rd and 4th floor of Mercy House, or even into the community," said Davis.

"Those changes are creating outcomes. And that's how Northpine operates — on providing investments and organizations like The Gathering Place, who can, in turn, provide outcomes."

Those outcomes are tracked through a reporting mechanism on the Northpine website. The Gathering Place will be evaluated on the number of people who move to an independent living arrangement, either at Mercy House or within the community.

If the non-profit doesn't meet that target, it won't receive funding.

According to the Northpine Foundation website, money began flowing to The Gathering Place in May 2024.

As of January, its financial contribution has helped 29 people transition to supportive and permanent housing, according to Northpine.

Money put to use

John Phillips said he was an early investor in Shopify, an Ottawa-headquartered e-commerce platform, which gave the couple a large financial boost.

"That investment has, needless to say, rocketed and has given us these opportunities," he told CBC News.

He also said that investment was one of "several ships" that came in for them. Cathy Phillips said they wanted to put that money to good use and help people.

"The purpose of Northpine is to give back to our community. We came into this wealth. It's more than we need. We want to get that moving to make a difference to the people who need it most. Basically, that's Northpine in a nutshell."

John Phillips said they don't see the funding as "donations" but as investments and opportunities to give people "a chance to improve their lot."

"The Gathering Place is a superb opportunity to do that," he said.

Demand growing

Davis said the demand for The Gathering Place's services has continued to rise.

"When I came here just four years ago, 250, 280 meals a day was a lot. 300 meals was, 'Oh my goodness, we had 300 meals or 300 for lunch,'" he said.

Now, he said 300 is no longer unusual, adding there have been days when they've fed 600 people.

Davis added staff are also seeing increasingly complex cases, too.

"The availability of drug supply ... has changed society and changed communities," he said.

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