This special issue is a collaboration between The Philanthropist and Imagine Canada. As part of its National Engagement Strategy, over 500 established and emerging leaders will come together from across the country and across the sector to be part of the National Summit for the Charitable and Nonprofit Sector in Ottawa, November 28–30, 2011. The…
Contents: Volume 24, Issue 2 (2011)
Financial sustainability does matter. Funding for nonprofit organizations in Canada has reached a critical stage. Large numbers of organizations are constrained, and some are severely threatened by inconsistent and inadequate financing. The causes of this insecurity are many and varied, but the results are potentially changing the face of civil society right across the country….
Introduction: It’s not actually about “volunteering” at all I spent a part of my childhood in the back of a soup kitchen, quite literally. My parents started two soup kitchens when I was growing up, and I remember sitting with my brother, looking at all the cakes in the freezer and wishing we could eat…
Nonprofit employees matter Truly skilled nonprofit staff, like Olympic athletes, can make their work look easy. Calm in the face of crises, keeping in check inclinations to jump in and “fix” everything, and defying commonly held prejudices, they willingly engage and work with people of all backgrounds. In a mission-driven social service nonprofit, the staff…
This morning, a new generation of Community leaders awoke to a fundamentally new reality than that of the generation that came before them. Our climate is changing. Our economy is in the midst of a fundamental transition. The roles of government, civil society, and the private sector are in a state of flux, as are…
Imagine Canada’s National Engagement Strategy document (Imagine Canada, 2011) states that improving conditions to attract and retain paid staff is one of four priorities. Issues related to human resource management are not new in the nonprofit sector. In a seemingly endless cycle, every few years we identify our strengths and our challenges, as we have…
I hate dinner parties. Actually I hate a certain moment during dinner parties—that moment when two people who have just met reach that inevitable point in conversation where the question comes up: “So what is it that you do?” “I work for a nonprofit,” I respond—with audible reluctance. In my mind, I am preparing myself…
Peter O’Donnell, president of Healthy Futures Group, recently asked, “Do today’s nonprofits really want volunteers/an engaged community?” (O’Donnell, 2011, para. 1). For a number of years, I have been asking the same question, but not so succinctly or so directly. Like O’Donnell, I believe it to be a truly important question. He goes on to…
Imagine Canada, which was founded in 2005, is a national bilingual charitable organization that supports and strengthens charities and nonprofits so they can, in turn, support the Canadians and communities they serve. Over the last two years, as part of an initiative entitled “A National Engagement Strategy,” we have had the privilege of facilitating a…
Point : Bob Wyatt I am frankly well beyond frustrated by the media coverage of Canada’s voluntary sector. Or perhaps it might be more appropriate to call it non-coverage. Oh, sure, there are the “fluff ” stories—so-called human interest stories, usually featuring children or small animals. And there are, of course, the so-called scandal stories—somebody…