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...
When international development organization, Plan Canada, recently decided to change their name, they also underwent a number of other self-assessments and transitions. But it wasn’t necessarily a dissatisfaction with the status quo that spurned on these evaluations. Simply put: they...
Is it ethical to shut down a charity when there is a group of people that would like to form a new board, drawing on new contacts and strategies, to help the organization carry on its work? When should a charity...
Not-for-profit organizations are going green. Wikipedia describes it this way: Environmentally friendly, eco-friendly, and nature friendly are synonyms used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment. Here are some tips on how not-for-profit...
