This seems to be a year of reckoning on systemic discrimination for Canadian society, including in non-profit and charitable workplaces. Over the summer, I watched as many organizations responded to mass protests in Canada against systemic anti-Black racism through solidarity statements, equity and inclusion trainings, and hiring racialized and equity and inclusion staff. I also…
Dear colleagues, First, let me thank you for the work that you, your staff, and volunteers have done to keep Canadians safe during the pandemic. Your heroic efforts have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. I also know that Canadians will rely on you to help them stride slowly, yet confidently, into the recovery stage of…
Chers collègues, Tout d’abord, je veux vous remercier pour le travail que vous accomplissez, avec votre personnel et vos bénévoles, pour assurer la sécurité des Canadiens durant la pandémie. Vos efforts héroïques ne sont pas passés inaperçus et méritent notre reconnaissance. Je sais aussi que les Canadiens compteront sur vous lorsqu’ils aborderont lentement, mais avec…
While 47% of Canada’s labour force consists of women workers, they make up an estimated 80% of those working in the non-profit sector across Ontario and Canada (Zizys 2011, HR Council 2008). Women in the sector, especially racialized and immigrant women, and women with disabilities, experience unequal outcomes.[1] Canada needs to build a stronger women’s…

Imagine that a couple has decided to remodel their kitchen. In preparation, they visit a tile store. A salesperson there works with them to choose the perfect backsplash. Everyone is happy with the final selection and the salesperson begins making arrangement for payment and delivery. Just then the husband pulls out a document from his…

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…
“It’s easy . . . to lose sight of long-term trends amid short-term gyrations,” – Ezra Greenberg, Martin Hirt and Sven Smit (April 2017) in The Global Forces Inspiring a New Narrative of Progress, McKinsey Quarterly Non-profit organizations are living in an environment of great complexity, accelerated change, and unprecedented competition for resources. Some…
The Nonprofit World: Civil Society and the Rise of the Nonprofit Sector, by John Casey, Boulder, Colorado, Kumarian Press, 2016, ISBN 9781565495302 Every month or so, I get together with other folks who work in national non-profits in a laid-back office in Montreal’s Plateau neighbourhood for an evening picnic. It is not just any picnic,…
Summary: Innoweave, an award winning collaborative capacity building program designed and delivered by J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, SiG, and over 150 partners from all sectors across Canada, has added new workshops and resources to help groups of community organizations develop Collective Impact initiatives. Drawing from this experience, the authors describe why Innoweave added a Collective Impact…
Human Resource Management In The Nonprofit Sector: Passion, Purpose And Professionalism Edited by Ronald J. Burke & Cary L. Cooper Northamption, MA: Edward Elgar; 2012 ISBN 978-0-85793-729-2 Nonprofit organizations, as the mission-driven agents of change, are moving from the margins to the centre of our social fabric, especially as government spending on social programs, as a…