Vital Signs is a community check-up. It’s a national program led by community foundations across Canada that tracks trends that shape quality of life, using the best available data and local context. Vital Signs helps communities understand what’s changing, where we’re doing well, and where we need to focus attention and action.

For CFNO, Vital Signs is not just a report—it’s a tool for shared understanding. It brings together information about issues like housing, health, safety, environment, learning, belonging, and the local economy in one place, so we can ask better questions together.

CFNO publishes Vital Signs to support better community decisions. When we share a clear, trusted snapshot of local trends, it helps residents, organizations, and leaders plan with the same information and work toward solutions that match what the community is experiencing.

Vital Signs also reflects CFNO’s role as a community leader. Beyond granting and supporting charitable funds, we help identify emerging needs, highlight where community efforts are making a difference, and shine a light on the pressures that require collaboration and long-term investment.

Vital Signs is meant to be used, shared, and discussed. People and organizations use it to:

• understand trends and pressures affecting the North Okanagan

• support grant applications, funding proposals, and program planning

• inform local conversations, strategies, and policy decisions

• compare progress over time and identify gaps

• spark community dialogue and collective action

CFNO also uses Vital Signs to help guide community investments—supporting projects and organizations that strengthen quality of life now, and building endowments that allow generosity to meet changing needs over the long term.