Social Finance: A hopeful alternative for mission success

A recent report graced the pages of CharityVillage, giving the nonprofit community reason for pause. Titled, Strengthening Organizational Capacity, it drew its findings from an online survey of 235 nonprofit professionals in Canada, the US and the United Kingdom. Co-authored...

What board leaders want from their organizations

Paulette Vinette, CAE and Jack Shand, CAE collaborated on an original research project in 2008 to identify what board members want from their not-for-profit organizations. This article summarizes their findings, which were presented at the Canadian Society of Association Executives...

Governance Q&A: Buying carbon offsets for air travel

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...

Sharing: Today’s new models of change

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...

Sharing for social change

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...

Volunteers and risk management for Canadian nonprofits and charities

Volunteers are one of the most important assets of nonprofit and charitable organizations in Canada. They bring time, enthusiasm, and skills to the organization or to a program. They can also make the delivery of programs far more cost-effective. Many...

Dealing effectively with nonprofit board conflicts

The two main types of board conflicts Board conflicts are among the most challenging conflicts a nonprofit executive faces. They generally come in two forms - conflicts among board members and conflicts between the board and professional management of the...

Governance Q&A: Ending the foundation and nonprofit relationship

My organization funds a charity to carry out programs that serve both our missions. We have been giving core support plus project funding, some of it multi-year, for about ten years now. Our priorities have changed and their programs are...

How are you doing? Take a quiz – no one has to know

The pace of life for many of us in the not-for-profit sector has become so hectic that we rarely have time to stop to ponder how we are doing. By the time your planned evaluation programs kick in, it is...

Governance Q&A: Redirecting funds without approval

Our grant application reflected our best estimates for results and expenses. Take-up was well below our expectations and, therefore, our costs were a lot lower too. But we developed a related program that achieved similar outcomes, sort of, and used...