Welcome to the Spring 2010 issue of The Philanthropist. Our February issue focused on some of the big challenges facing the Canadian nonprofit sector. We heard from you that you like the approach and look of the “new” Philanthropist, and that these are indeed the big questions facing the sector. In this issue, we explore…
Contents: Volume 23, Issue 2 (2010)
Uncommon Solutions For The Common Good “We are in challenging times for nonprofits… We need the organizational structures that will allow everyone to be more efficient and smarter with the money that is available. Fiscal sponsorship [Charitable Venture Organization] is one of these.” – Kathleen Enright, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Every nonprofit and charitable organization,…
Introduction On November 20-2 1, 2009, the public policy and third sector initiative of the School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University, held its Ninth Annual Public Policy and Third Sector Forum. Over the last nine years, the Annual Forum has provided a unique setting for learning by bringing together public servants, academics, and community practitioners…
The sector monitor is a new survey program of Imagine Canada that will regularly gather information on the issues facing Canada’s charitable and nonprofit sector. This article presents highlights from the first Sector Monitor, which asked charitable leaders about the impact of the recent economic downturn on their organizations. The first version of the Sector…
I once thought money was the key element limiting the effectiveness of the community sector across Canada. I have changed my mind. Money does matter for the sector, but in much of urban Canada social space matters even more, especially in rapidly growing centres. Unfortunately, it gets very little attention from major sector organizations, academics, or…
Introduction The research presented in this article answers the question of where and how funding is being channelled in the environmental sector in Canada. The environmental grants database, compiled and analysed by researchers at the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers’ Network, documents how grant dollars in the year 2007 were allocated by environmental issue, activity, location, and…
New challenges breed new policy approaches many voluntary organizations have active policy advocacy agendas and devote important resources to this role, promoting the issues and interests of their constituencies and policy changes aimed at furthering their mission. Unfortunately, many of these organizations also lack the capacity to achieve the policy impact they are after. Changes…
When the economic d ownturn of 2008/2009 began to tighten access to resources and to constrain the grants made by funders, attention turned to collaboration as a strategic response to tough times. Working together seemed to offer a way out of the financial box for charities and funders alike. Indeed, the talk of strategic alliances…
Introduction In 2008, the Tides Canada Initiatives Society (tci) began a project to consider a mod—el support structure for charitable activities that is variously and perhaps erroneously termed “fiscal sponsorship,” a support or “umbrella” organization, or a “facilitator” organization. None of these terms adequately describes the multi-faceted structures that currently exist in Canada in support…
The voluntary nonprofit sector is a collection of highly varied organizations that create a landscape of care across Canada. Most often the sector is understood through the nature of its components or through its relations to government rather than through the complexity of the whole. In this article, I speculate about how we can re-conceptualize…