We hear all the time how our world has become a global village, how we can reach out to people across the planet in a matter of seconds. This is true for charitable organizations as well, many of which focus...
My nonprofit routinely hires the children of staff as summer students. Do you think this is ethical? Like any good ethics advisor, I often give answers of "it depends" because details matter, and I rarely have all the information. I...
What were you doing when you were a teenager? Founding a nonprofit organization? Heading up two successful business ventures? Discovering an effective and natural alternative to immunosuppressive drugs? Me neither! Yet, these are just some of the extraordinary activities that...
Why do we need to have so many meetings? Like it or not, meetings are necessary for decision-making, problem solving, communication, and team participation. Most organizations couldn’t function without them, so we should take deliberate steps to ensure that meetings...
Every charitable organization is governed by a board of directors, but these people aren't just figureheads. They are ultimately responsible for the success or failure of the nonprofit they serve. Adam Aptowitzer, a lawyer with the Ottawa-based law firm Drache...
There’s an old saying that states “charity starts at home”. That may be so, but oftentimes, once the seed of charitable activity has been planted the branches quickly spread outward. So it is with the many people and organizations that...
The treasurer of my theatre company is a very close friend of the artistic director, and has used the finance committee to give the artistic director a huge raise. The executive director, who also reports to the board, will receive...
For many organizations, leasing an essential piece of equipment, such as a photocopier, can often make more sense than buying one. Why? Because unless you're Kinko's, making photocopies probably isn't the core reason your organization exists. It makes more sense...
My newspaper frequently covers scandals where charities have misused donations or staff have absconded with funds. Every story like that reduces my ability to raise funds for my charity even though we are not part of this wrongdoing. I think...
Registered charities are required by law to distribute the bulk of their receipted revenue to causes or activities in line with their charitable mission. But the numbers aren't always as cut and dried as one might expect. Adam Aptowitzer, a...
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