Through a yearlong series of articles and conversations taking stock of the Journal at 50 years, we have considered how our publication and the sector we’re part of have evolved – and where we go from here.
It’s been a journey that has spanned nearly a year. We have travelled a road with our readers as part of an experiment in introspection, taking stock of The Philanthropist Journal as it entered its second half-century, exploring how this publication and the non-profit sector have evolved, and where we – together – are headed now.
In three previous articles, we looked back at the long, storied history of this publication as it went from bookshelves to digital bookmarks. We then looked ahead to challenges facing both the Journal and the sector, and, in our third instalment, we tackled a generational gap in the sector and looked at how this publication can help bridge that gap.
We took stock of concerns in the sector, from those looking back with the benefit of wisdom and experience and from those looking ahead with the benefit of youth, ambition, and a keen awareness of an evolving society and its cascading challenges. We heard concerns over substandard pay in the sector, a lack of delivery on diversity, a tendency to retreat into silos, and a risk-averse nature that can often stunt real progress. And we learned that a number of issues we identified as problems today have been problems in the past and that some challenges stubbornly seem to live in perpetuity.
We also examined how The Philanthropist Journal should reflect these changes and give space to disparate voices. Should we set the agenda or examine existing trends, burrow deeper into the sector or broaden our voice to tackle issues of the day – then turn our lens inward to examine how the non-profit sector can respond? How can we help break down silos, tackle generational friction, or smooth over the polarization that colours so many of our debates these days? Do we need to spend more time connecting with the arts sector? Have we too often ignored religious organizations in the sector? We debated readers’ attention spans and the length of our stories.
We listened. We heard you, and your views shaped our debate.
Part of our mandate will be to instill hope and keep us on the path to the possible as we juggle ongoing tensions in society and stresses on our capacity to deliver help.
We believe the Journal should face the hard truths about the state of the sector but also celebrate our successes, our hard work, and our young talent ready to take the charitable and non-profit community to even greater successes. We believe we should explore the many instances where we have delivered, even while being constantly asked to do more with less. Part of our mandate will be to instill hope and keep us on the path to the possible as we juggle ongoing tensions in society and stresses on our capacity to deliver help.
We’ve grappled with a host of issues, always mindful that we are more than a publication; we are also a charity. We do not merely report on the sector – we are a part of it, and with that comes special responsibility. We work with and inform the sector. We are both a partner to and a resource for the sector, but beyond our mandate to report on trends and challenges, we also have a responsibility to be critical (of the sector and our own work), to publish contrary or unpopular views, and shine a light on some of the darker places in the sector. You’ve asked us to do just that.
We’ve established a fellowship program for young Black and Indigenous writers, connecting them to mentoring by more experienced writers as they tackle issues in a series on the future of work and working. We’ve done that because we have a responsibility to amplify young voices, particularly those that might otherwise be marginalized.
But we also have to do a better job of telling the sector how we see our role and acting to be a resource within the charitable mandate we respect.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what sets us apart,” says Patti Pon, the president of the board at the Agora Foundation, publisher of the Journal. “There are other publications, blogs, podcasts, talking about the sector. Yes, we write about the sector, but the content is also often written by the sector, by practitioners, who have the lived experience in the sector. Our future is by and with the sector.”
Pon envisions a Journal with a much more active than passive approach, a publication that moves off the page and is less two-dimensional. That can manifest itself in more partnerships, she says. It can mean that internal board discussions can possibly be featured in the Journal, allowing it to act as something of a community square identifying issues that are percolating and rising to the surface.
Pon is an advocate of “small experiments with radical intent.” Quite often they fail, she says, but they are always worth trying. “What if we blow one? We can tell our readers what we have learned from our failure.” But what about the small experiments across the country that are successful? She believes those stories must be told.
Amid all this instability, we can be the place that can offer good information and good commentary . . . We are a vehicle for the power of this sector.
Patti Pon, Agora Foundation
But it doesn’t always have to be about us. The Journal, Pon says, is also capable of looking outside the sector to identify issues we feel are important and demand attention. We can use a longer runway to explore an issue – much as we have done in this series – and then turn the lens on the sector to determine how we can address that issue. “I think what is happening in the sector right now is that we are holding on to things because the ground beneath us is so unsteady,” she says. “Amid all this instability, we can be the place that can offer good information and good commentary.”
The sector is feeling the weight of funding cuts and can feel overwhelmed as it is asked to do more with less, Pon says. It is dealing with a shortage of volunteers, but charities and non-profits are somehow able to serve and fulfill their mandates. Some days, she concedes, she’s not sure how we do that, but she believes the Journal needs to tell those stories because the sector is changing the world. “We are a vehicle for the power of this sector,” she says, “which can literally change people’s lives. That’s the possibility I see and what I read in the articles when we have reached out to different people in our sector. I am here because I want to make a difference. And I believe we can.”
But there is also broad acknowledgement that the Journal must draw on a well of courage to point out where the sector is failing and why, and – more crucially – where the publication is failing, and why.
“There is a lot of room [for the sector] to be self-critical because, for a host of reasons, what we’re doing is not working,” says board member Pedro Barata, executive director of the Future Skills Centre. “Maybe the models are outdated, things are moving too quickly, and we’re not keeping up. Maybe we’re stuck in our ways, maybe we’re too territorial, maybe we need more funding, maybe the policy environment we’re working in doesn’t lend itself to what we are doing.”
The sector and the Journal are having a moment, he believes. “We’re not killing it as a sector. We can cry ourselves a river about being underfunded and overworked, but there are things we need to do to shake ourselves out of our stupor sometimes.”
We are too intent on protecting our own turf, working in our bubble, and not collaborating.
Pedro Barata, Agora Foundation
Barata believes the charitable and non-profit sector should be the connection to community, where people go to work on issues and build that community together. “In an era of growing division, how do we bring people together?” he asks. “We are too intent on protecting our own turf, working in our bubble, and not collaborating. We’re so fearful of losing part of our space that it is extremely rare for us to become larger than the sum of our parts.”
Although the Journal is first and foremost a vehicle for issues within the sector, Barata cautions that “when we are talking to ourselves, we are only relevant to people in our bubble.”
We are siloing ourselves if we just keep talking to ourselves.
Raine Liliefeldt, Agora Foundation
Board member Raine Liliefeldt, director of member services and development at the YWCA, agrees: “We are siloing ourselves if we just keep talking to ourselves.”
Therein lies the nub of an ongoing debate at the Journal. Who are our readers and who do we want our readers to be? We can continue to mirror the sector or reach beyond our base – or provide a mix of the two.
Liliefeldt believes the Journal should not be shy about delving into the “dark side of our work,” conversations we might not be ready to have but that should be addressed. There are issues that cannot be aired, not even whispered about around the proverbial watercooler, but these concerns can be aired in the Journal, she says. That can include diversity and inclusion being discussed but not delivered, or organizations seeking climate justice that are being funded by those in the resource extraction sector. “We can shine a light on those odd dichotomies we all come across,” she says.
Susan Rowbottom, Agora’s secretary/treasurer, dates her time with the Journal to her work alongside its founder, John Hodgson. “I’ve seen the Journal blossom. I think if John was around today, he would just be blown away,” she says. “He would be very impressed with the Journal having its finger on the pulse of philanthropy in Canada.”
We have the flexibility to go where we need to go, where news and debates take us.
Susan Rowbottom, Agora Foundation
She believes the Journal must be open to new concepts and developments in the sector, listening to what people believe are the issues of the day. But, Rowbottom says, it must be mindful of urgent issues – the level of compensation for entry-level workers in the sector, for example. “We have the flexibility to go where we need to go, where news and debates take us,” she says. “As long as we are balanced, open to responses from the sector, looking at all sides of the conversation, we should not be hesitant about taking on contentious issues.”
We have to presume the readers will know if we are trying to lead in a certain direction, Rowbottom says, but she believes the Journal should reflect opinion – “to lay out issues, but not necessarily persuade.” She believes the Journal’s first imperative is to inform. But after doing that, if we are comfortable espousing a certain position, we should tell our readers why we have landed there and, of course, be open to counterarguments. “Someone needs to be brave enough to put issues out there and say, ‘These are legitimate and might be the way to go.’ We can challenge the sector,” Rowbottom says. There is a consensus among board members that from time to time, it does not hurt to shake things up a bit.
Pon believes the sector’s issues demand that the Journal become more active, but flexibility is key. Decisions made today, she says, are not forever. The Journal will evolve as the sector evolves. She feels the Journal has been a bit too agnostic over the years. “We need to have the humility and bravery to really show a journey that we have embarked on, one that has taken us from a colonial, Toronto-centric perspective to one that is much broader.
“The sector is as broad and diverse as the citizens who live in this country,” she says. “That is a tremendous strength. I know it’s hard to feel that way if you feel ostracized or underfunded or that more and more is being loaded on you, but we are strong.”
The sector is as broad and diverse as the citizens who live in this country. That is a tremendous strength.
Patti Pon
But we also need to have the same humility and bravery to point out where the Journal has failed – and why, she says. “If we can’t do that as a Journal, then we don’t have the right to do that with the sector.”
The Journal respects its place in the sector and its responsibilities. Today, it may be unrecognizable from its grey, rather dour origins, but it is a certainty that in years to come, it will similarly be almost unrecognizable from where we are today. We are indebted to sector leaders and our readers for helping us along this journey. Here’s to many more years of working together.
A note from the Agora Foundation Board of Directors:
Over the last year, the Agora Foundation Board of Directors and The Philanthropist Journal’s editorial team have engaged in an iterative process with our colleague Tim Harper, one of our senior writers. We have listened, debated, asked questions, and reflected on what you have told us about our work and contribution, the context for our work, and the future of The Philanthropist Journal.
As we move forward, we have identified three key takeaways from the writing and engagement with you as readers and partners that will inform and guide our work moving forward:
1. We offer and will continue to develop a professional platform for leaders and people who care about the sector – a platform that confronts the challenges and pushes all of us.
“There are issues that cannot be aired, not even whispered about around the proverbial watercooler, but these concerns can be aired in the Journal.”
2. We are part of and anchored in the sector – through our governance, our writers, our advisors, and our partners.
“We do not merely report on the sector – we are a part of it, and with that comes special responsibility. We work with and inform the sector. We are both a partner to and a resource for the sector.”
3. We are multidimensional and go beyond our writing. We are a tool for discussion, a publication that puts out curated content that deepens conversation and understanding, and a writing partner that simultaneously pushes and supports the sector and its convening.
“. . . a Journal with a much more active than passive approach, a publication that moves off the page and is less two-dimensional. That can manifest itself in more partnerships.”
Thank you to all who candidly shared their thinking, experience, and reflections. We have listened and considered what we have heard and how we evolve as the sector evolves. As always, we invite you to continue to share your ideas and feedback with us.
