The non-profit sector plays a substantial role in providing programs and services that contribute to Canada’s social, economic, and civic health. The role of non-profit organizations in collecting and mobilizing evidence deserves more attention because the sector is a key pillar in building the evidence base for policy. What is evidence-informed policymaking? This approach to…
Tag: Social innovation
This is the seventh article in a series about European philanthropy. The series is published as a collaboration between The Philanthropist and The Lawson Foundation. To bring about change and entrench it in our societies, there is a need for more social innovation at scale. It is possible: history is rich in examples of social innovations that have…
This is the sixth article in a series about European philanthropy. The series is published as a collaboration between The Philanthropist and The Lawson Foundation. For some time now, a new player has been getting ready to “hit the stage” of the social economy in Italy. The Italian government, with legislative decree no. 112 of July 3, 2017,…
This is the second article in our series about the role of networks in the non-profit sector. The series is published as a collaboration between The Philanthropist and the Ontario Nonprofit Network. From neighbourhood efforts to improve employment to national efforts to tackle climate change, non-profit organizations in Canada are increasingly turning to the science…
This article is the seventh in a series on social innovation. In 2013, the team at Ryerson University’s Faculty of Community Service invited me to join them as the inaugural John C. Eaton Chair of Social Innovation. The faculty has deep social justice roots and it created the position just as Ryerson became Canada’s first Ashoka Changemaker…
This article is the second in a series about European philanthropy. The series is published as a collaboration between The Philanthropist and The Lawson Foundation. How do we enhance giving in Canada? Or the positive societal impact of philanthropy? The answers to these questions seem to unite and divide the philanthropy sector. These questions were…
This article is the sixth in a series on social innovation. Let me begin with a story that recently moved me. It’s the story of Emily. She lives in Edmonton. She is curious and creative but also a tad shy. Emily lives with a developmental disability and has found it challenging to engage with the…
This article is the first in a series about intergenerational leadership. The series is published as a collaboration between The Philanthropist and Connect the Sector (CTS). Fresh off of his decisive election victory in 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave himself a side-job: Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Youth. It was a slight rebrand of…
This article is the fourth in a series on social innovation. The challenge with understanding systemic change is that it is like describing a lake in which you are currently swimming. In Part I of this reflection on Robert Couchman’s 1992 article in The Philanthropist, titled The Politics of Resistance to Change in Innovative Programming, we…
This article is the third in a series on social innovation. In June 2013, Alastair Wilson of the UK’s School for Social Entrepreneurs visited Toronto and convinced an audience of nearly 50 people to squeeze into a somewhat airless room at 7am to attend his provocatively titled talk, Down With Meritocracy! It described the disillusionment with…