New Power: How Power Works in our Hyperconnected World – and How to Make It Work for You, by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms. Toronto, Ontario, 2018, ISBN 978-0345816443 New Power, by co-authors Australian Jeremy Heimans and British/American Henry Timms, is a timely and optimistic book about the possibilities for social and economic transformation…
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…
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…
Have you ever wanted to change your shape? It sounds appealing in a fantastic, Harry Potteresque kind of way. How about the shape of your organization? Have you ever thought of a wholesale change—of eliminating the committees, of changing the Board? One doubts J. K. Rowling would have fared so well had she pursued this…
The Special Report: Ornge Air Ambulance and Related Services (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2012) reports that the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) has not been obtaining the information it needs to fulfill its oversight responsibilities over Ornge’s financial undertakings and operations. Ornge, a government agency reporting to the MOHLTC, is…
Foreword SiG@MaRS, the Social Innovation Generation program at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, provides services to social entrepreneurs who come to MaRS to get help with their social enterprise or social purpose business. Regardless of the stage of development, the issue of incorporation comes up: “Should I incorporate as for-profit, not-for-profit, or a charity?”…
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…
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…
The Lessons Learned From The Voluntary Sector Reporting Awards For Excellence In Financial Reporting Transparency Information about the Voluntary Sector Awards Program and entry information can be found at http://business.queensu.ca/centres/CA-QCG/ voluntary_sector_reporting/ index.php . A professor at one of Canada’s leading universities wanted to use a set of financial statements from a not-for-profit organization in class as…