The NCF is a pretty great org, yes. Getting in on CRTC's bulk-DSL reseller system certainly helped them remain relevant, but I'm sure it's also due to good admins & volunteers over the decades. It may have also helped that the servers were hosted at a university until very recently — longer-term stability than a tech company!
And they were indeed inspired by that Cleveland project:
https://www.ncf.ca/en/who-we-are/our-history/