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The nonprofit sector in Canada went through a difficult year in 2020, as noted in Part One of this blog. What about 2021? We don’t want to recreate the past, just in a better version. If that’s true, if we want to innovate for a very challenging next decade, what’s our new agenda?   The answer […]

At the turn of this pandemic year 2020, we are once again in a place of semi-lockdown, asked to stay home and away from others, unable to meet in person, wary of human contact. Being in this place forces us to stand back, to reflect and to try to understand both what has happened yesterday […]

I’m still thinking about some of the deep conversations that are going on in philanthropy today around “shifting” power. To me the word “shift” assumes a transfer of something from A to B. As I wrote in my last blog on this topic, I don’t see power as fixed, to be had only by one […]

Shift the power! We hear this everywhere now. In politics, in the economy, in communities, in the justice system, in media. And it is being used by many, with sincere conviction, in reference to philanthropy. The exhortation to big donors and foundations is to shift the power they hold because of their wealth, their status, their […]

How can philanthropy confront the harsh syndemic we face today? Yes, I wrote syndemic, not pandemic. The Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals, describes a syndemic as “characterised by biological and social interactions between conditions and states, interactions that increase a person's susceptibility to harm or worsen their health outcomes.” In other words, being poor, […]

I received some valuable comments on my recent piece on the sevens sins of nonprofit governance. They prompted me to add a coda about what makes a “good” nonprofit board. The seven sins of governance that I referred to essentially revolve around a lack of attention to the duty of care. This is a concept familiar […]

As a long-time nonprofit director, I have reflected on what we can learn from the governance car crash that appears to be the WE Charity and its affiliated structures. I have wondered: where was the WE Charity board as this evolved? Charity Intelligence and others have pointed out the multiple failures in this situation. But […]

The pandemic is a clarifying moment for philanthropy. A spotlight is shining harshly on the familiar endowed foundation model. It is being aimed even more pointedly at the form of endowed philanthropy known as the donor-advised fund or DAF.  The point is sharp: in this time of crisis like no other, when charities and communities […]

Back in January when COVID 19 was a faraway menace to us, I speculated in a blog post on three important challenges in 2020 for Canadian philanthropy. I suggested that foundations could make an important difference in the Canadian nonprofit landscape if they used their funds and influence to help provide a platform for unheard […]

Three months, a quarter of a year, since the pandemic lockdown began. Long days, short weeks for many in the nonprofit sector and their funders. The troubling impacts of the lockdown on charities are piling up: lost revenue, staff layoffs, shuttered programs, and negative increases in social indices such as mental illness, domestic violence and food […]