The Banff Centre, Canada's foremost arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference facility, lies in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Banff National Park. Enveloped in glorious mountains and pristine natural surroundings, it is understandably committed to environmental leadership and performance....
In last week's article, Strategies to proactively assess the impact of the recession, I provided you with a simple framework that will help you and your management team to assess the potential impact of the recession on your organization. Ideally,...
Wherever you turn these days, there is no escaping the talk of financial doom and gloom. From newspaper articles to television news reports, from politicians and economists to the general public, the economic downturn and its impending consequences are on...
Let's say you get funded and rewarded based on the number of clients who get jobs, but the dilemma is this: do you only take clients that have a chance at employment success instead of the hard-to-serve clients who won't...
So often in the voluntary sector we talk about collaboration. However, a number of factors can make collaboration in the sector quite difficult. These include: Funder-driven legacy: Often in the Canadian context, when government has encouraged collaboration we have experienced...
My charity is part of a global organization, and our staff and volunteers travel a lot. Should we be buying carbon offsets or doing something else to make up for the flying, in particular? A charity should use all its...
This past June, the Centre for Social Innovation and Tides Canada organized a one-day event that brought together more than 240 nonprofit leaders of the community. Titled Sharing for Social Change: An Exploration of Shared Space and Shared Service Models...
A new kind of workplace community has not-for-profits sharing common places, spaces and resources. And they're gaining a lot more than a healthier bottom line. Recently, 240 forward-thinking leaders from Ontario's not-for-profit sector came together at Toronto's MaRS Centre. They...
“Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.” Those words, attributed to the Dalai Lama, speak not only to the importance of change, but the need to maintain a focus on one’s mission when going through...
The company I approached for a grant this week asked for information to confirm that my charity operated in accordance with corporate socially responsibility. We exist for public benefit and are not a corporation in that sense, though we are...

