Practices of innovation are not uncommon in communities, particularly in the social sector where there is a need to innovate to provide new solutions to address pressing local problems. Microfinance, the use of alternate governance models, and the development of social enterprises are some examples of social innovation. According to the Kellogg Foundation, such innovation…
Contents: Volume 23, Issue 3 (2010)
Fair trade, as most northern consumers think of it, began after WWII when Christian missionary and nonprofit charities imported craft products made by their southern partners, including Greek and Italian communities, to sell in northern Europe and the USA. It has since evolved into a much more complex “sector,” involving thousands of products and tens or…
These days if you attend any nonprofit gathering, it doesn’t take long before the phrases “social innovation” and “social finance” pop up. However, as you listen to the conversations, you begin to wonder whether everyone is talking about the same thing. Are social innovation and social finance something new or just the latest fads? In this…
Primer On Social Innovation: A Compendium Of Definitions Developed By Organizations Around The World
What is social innovation? most simply, social innovation is about new ideas that work to address pressing unmet needs. Poverty, homelessness, and violence are examples of social problems that still need dedicated solution-seeking space. Social innovation addresses these challenges by applying new learning and strategies to solve these problems. For social innovations to be successful…
Les Arrangements Institutionnels Entre L’état Québécois Et Les Entreprises D’économie Sociale En Aide Domestique : Une Analyse Sociopolitique De L’économie Sociale Dans Les Services De Soutien À Domicile. By Yves Vaillancourt and Christian Jetté (with the assistance of Philippe Leclerc). Montréal, Québec: Les éditions vie économique. isbn 978-2-9811342-1-9 Can the social economy contribute to the…
Poverty is now perceived as a critical issue in much of Canada, with recent polls indicating that the majority of Canadians want to eradicate the problem (CCPA, 2008). Place-based, collaborative approaches are making a vital contribution to poverty reduction in communities across the country. Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) is the term given to groups of…
Rumblings about transformative partnerships in the charitable and nonprofit sector are resonating across the country. These range from organizations more narrowly interested in collaboration as an immediate means of adapting to the current economic upheaval to others that see the current upswing in interest as part of a more general trend toward increased collaboration over…
If you go looking for the corporate head quarters of sport matters Group (SMG), you will search in vain. There is no office and no name-plate, yet almost anyone working in one of the fifty-plus National Sport Organizations based in Ottawa could steer you to two desks deep within the Sport Information Resource Centre on…
About a year ago I was sitting at my desk as CEO of a national health charity, when I received a call from one of my colleagues. His organization was in a serious cash flow crunch; there was money in the bank from a lottery, but he was waiting for a government contract that had…
Point : Don Bourgeois Charitable gaming is an important fundraising tool for charities. Since 1969, when charitable gaming was legalized in Canada, billions of dollars have been raised to support charitable activities in communities by registered charities, charitable organizations, and not-for-profit organizations with a charitable mandate, such as services clubs. Gaming as a fundraising tool…