A charity is a very organic entity. After a charity has been established, it is not uncommon to find that its focus, mission, objectives, and programs have gradually evolved. “Mission drift” often refers to the gradual diversion of a charity’s activities from its stated purposes. It does not refer to a deliberate and strategic change…
Tim Draimin is fond of saying that while necessity is the mother of innovation, austerity is the mother of necessity. So how is the grandchild, innovation, faring? Two years ago the Philanthropist published an article entitled On Not Letting a Crisis Go To Waste: An Innovation Agenda for Canada’s Community Sector (Brodhead, 2010). Its central…
Introduction Most of what influences our health comes from outside the formal health care treatment system (Raphael, 2009; Wilkinson & Marmot, 2003). There is also general recognition that the well-being of communities depends on numerous actors– especially nonprofit organizations—operating in many environments (Health Council of Canada, 2010). Unfortunately, there are significant health inequities that persist…
Running a nonprofit organization (NPO) is challenging. As an executive, your responsibilities include strategy, program delivery, fundraising, and day-to-day operations. Not to mention board relationships, managing your numbers, keeping the lights on, and the “care and feeding” of the folks who arrive at work every day. NPOs require skilled staff in order to address strategic…
In Australia, in the vast outback, there are seemingly endless miles of farming country with no sign of any fences, despite the fact that the area houses some of the largest cattle ranches in the world. The reason is that it is impractical and quite costly for ranchers to build fences to keep their cattle…
Recently, a colleague shared with me a volunteer experience she had, and that prompted me to write this article. As a fellow not-for-profit employee who is very familiar with volunteerism, she decided that she would share some of her experience and expertise with an organization that was well established and worked with volunteers in many…
Introduction Identifying changes in donor motivations and barriers is important for many reasons, including helping fundraisers adapt requests for support to changing circumstances and providing charity leaders and other stakeholders with insight into emerging sector issues. In this column, I draw on data from the Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating (CSGVP) to give…
Introduction In March of 1999, 13 federal Cabinet Ministers convenedinOttawa for a working dinner. It was neither an official Cabinet nor a Cabinet Committee meeting, however, and attendance was voluntary. As one Minister quipped at the outset of the meeting, “It is the largest number of Ministers I’ve seen together in one room – when…
Governance is a hot topic in the nonprofit sector, with largely volunteer-based boards of directors struggling to fulfil their governance responsibilities, as well as serve as major fundraising resources. Indeed, board members are often recruited for their fundraising prowess, with little expectation that they will actively monitor the nonprofit organization. The fact that nonprofit organizations…
This is the second and final issue based on the theme of the voluntary sector in transition. The first issue addressed a number of the themes, not the least of which was the change in the relationship of the sector with the federal government. This issue examines a number of areas where sector organizations are…