Let's Imagine

Two major interconnected challenges the nonprofit and charitable sector is facing today are changes to the way volunteerism is working - a shift from formal to informal and the lack of data to inform program design and decision-making to improve the work of organizations in serving our communities. With our guest Megan Conway, President & CEO of Volunteer Canada, we discussed two major initiatives led by Volunteer Canada that aim to help address these challenges: the National Volunteer Action Strategy for Canada and the Canadian Knowledge Hub for Giving and Volunteering.    Listen & share! Don’t forget to check out our full episode list. Read the full transcript here

On this episode of Let's Imagine, we welcome Paul Taylor, co-founder of Evenings and Weekends Consulting to discuss the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion in board governance, and why many organizations struggle to actualize these principles. We also delve into the concept of decent work, the intersection of board governance with the promotion of decent work practices, and the role of board members in facilitating fair employment practices.   00:45 The Birth of Evenings and Weekends Consulting 02:37 Racial Justice and Board Diversity 05:36 Challenges in Achieving Diversity and Inclusion 08:55 Equity Benchmarking Study Insights 13:22 Advancing Decent Work Practices 17:12 Role of Board Members in Prioritizing Decent Work 18:26 Closing Remarks   Read the full transcript here

On this episode of the Let's Imagine podcast our host, Bruce MacDonald and our guest Terry Carter of Carters Professionals looked back at some of the regulatory files the charitable sector followed closely in 2023 - such as the new guidance on qualifying disbursements and the alternative minimum tax. They also explored the key policy files that the sector should watch in 2024, and discussed the increasing complexity that charities have to deal with - for example, the new T3010 reporting requirements.  Listen & share! Don’t forget to check out our full episode list.   Check out the full transcript here

Social finance is an alternative to traditional finance models. While it may not be a panacea to solve all social problems, it has tremendous potential to propel organizations by offering a funding model that can help them ensure their long-term financial sustainability. While we’ve been hearing more about social finance in recent years, it is not a new concept. The origins of this type of financing are found at the grassroots level - it was created a long time ago by communities to finance community-driven initiatives.   In this episode, with guests Leena Yahia of Imagine Canada, and Rebecca Waterhouse of Raven Indigenous Impact Foundation, we explore examples of social finance repayable investment and dive into case studies of organizations that are using social finance to help them achieve their mission.   Listen & share!   Read the full transcript here

In Imagine Canada’s recent research, statistics showed that our sector bats over the average when it comes to the employment of newcomers. While about a quarter of employees in the rest of the economy immigrated to Canada at some point in their lives, nearly half of nonprofit workers did so. With guests Senator Ratna Omidvar and Dr. Kimahli Powell, Executive Director of Rainbow Railroad, we discuss the unique strengths and contributions of newcomers to the nonprofit sector. Listen in for thoughtful reflections on questions such as how the Canadian nonprofit sector can adapt to increase its support and integration of newcomers, how organizations are navigating the influx of demand for refugee settlement services caused by human rights threats, and the need for more diversity data for the nonprofit sector. Listen & share! Don’t forget to check out our full episode list. Read the full transcript here      

Description: Saviez-vous que depuis le début de la pandémie, la proportion des Québécois et Québécoises qui font des dons a bondi de 50 - 60 % à 80 %? Pour cette épisode du balado, nous avons le grand plaisir de recevoir Caroline Richard, directrice générale de l’Institut Mallet, pour discuter de divers sujets, dont l’état de la situation philanthropique au Québec, les tendances en terme de dons et le très attendu Sommet de la philanthropie qui se déroulera à Québec en novembre.    Écoutez et partagez! Découvrez aussi tous les épisodes de notre balado.  

Bien que notre secteur dispose de plusieurs points de contact au sein du gouvernement fédéral, aucun ministère ou département n’est chargé d’améliorer le contexte stratégique ou le paysage économique du secteur à but non lucratif au Canada. Par contre, au niveau provincial, il existe des modèles. Au Québec, par exemple, les responsables ont créé depuis quelques années une place au sein de l’appareil gouvernemental provincial pour soutenir les organismes de bienfaisance et à but non lucratif québécois. Dans cet épisode, nous examinons le concept d’une « place au sein du gouvernement » avec notre invité, Fabien Despeyroux, directeur général de Horti-Cité OBNL à Gatineau. Écoutez et partagez!

While our sector has several touchpoints with the federal government, no ministry or department is responsible for improving the nonprofit sector's policy environment or economic landscape. At the provincial level, however, such models exist. For example, in 2020, leaders in British Columbia created a place inside the machinery of government to support charities and nonprofits with the appointment of its first-ever Parliamentary Secretary - Community Development and Nonprofits. In this episode, we are exploring the concept of a ‘home in government’ with our guest, Zahra Esmail, CEO of Vantage Point in Vancouver.   Listen & share!

In this episode, we are looking at the current state of the charitable sector, including demand, staffing, revenue, donation trends and how these will affect charities in the future. Charities have been strained for several years now, due to the pandemic and the rising cost of living which created unprecedented needs in our communities. Demand for services continues to rise and many organizations are struggling to keep up - 40% of charities have experienced a lasting increase in demand since the pandemic and 57% cannot meet current levels of demand, according to a survey commissioned by CanadaHelps for their annual Giving Report. To discuss the important findings from this year’s Giving Report, we’re grateful to discuss with Duke Chang, recently appointed CEO of CanadaHelps.

Over the last decade or so we have witnessed the rise of new ways for engaging in the betterment of communities by providing access to investment capital, creating public-private partnerships and expanding the range of possibilities for identifying solutions to complex social problems. In this episode, we are digging into a growing part of the mixed ecology that makes up social good in this country - social innovation.    Social innovation is broadly defined by new ideas, methods, and practices for solving social or environmental problems which, once adopted, have a transformative impact across organizations, communities, regions, and systems. Since the current federal government was elected in 2015, it has also expressed a keen interest in social innovation as a way to address major societal issues.   To discuss this rapidly growing trend, we’re joined by Graham Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal-based Trinity Centres Foundation.

What are charities and nonprofits doing to advance equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within their organizations? In this episode, we dig into the findings from a new study which provides key insights into our sector’s commitment to EDI. The survey explores areas such as how organizations are integrating EDI into their work, the role of equity working groups in advancing EDI, the factors that enable and hinder organizations as they seek to apply EDI principles, and the role of leadership in advancing EDI.    This study is part of the Equity Benchmarking Project, an initiative generously supported by Scotiabank and other partners, and led by the Equitable Recovery Collective, a group of nonprofit organizations working to advance equity in nonprofit sector policy, foster a more equitable funding environment, and build sector-wide capacity to advance equity in nonprofit organizations.   Among other key findings the study shows that while most nonprofit leaders support equity, diversity and inclusion, far fewer pursue it with deep intentionality. We chatted with Amanuel Melles, Executive Director of the Network for the Advancement of Black Communities and a member of the Equitable Recovery Collective, to contextualize the findings and discuss what organizations can do to meaningfully advance EDI.   Listen & share! Don’t forget to check out our full episode list.   Read the transcript here.   This episode is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

Au cours des dernières années, on a vu des reportages dans les médias - justifiés ou non - qui remettaient en question la gouvernance ou la bonne gestion de notre secteur. Certains organismes ont été scrutés à la loupe en raison de leurs pratiques de gouvernance douteuses - l'organisme UNIS en est un exemple, Hockey Canada en est un autre et, plus récemment, la Fondation Trudeau. Quand on examine ces cas de plus près, on constate que leur modèle de gouvernance soulevait des questions sur leurs pratiques, par exemple en ce atrait à des structures excessivement complexes, à ce que le conseil d’administration savait ou encore à l’influence des bailleurs de fonds. Ces situations sont différentes, mais elles ont en commun de contribuer à effriter la confiance à l’égard de notre secteur. Dans cet épisode, nous discutions gouvernance avec Yves Savoie, expert-conseil en gouvernance et stratégie dans le secteur à but non lucratif. Nous invitons les dirigeant.e.s d’OBNL ainsi que les membres de conseil d’administration à écouter cette conversation, et à lire le rapport sur la Révision de la gouvernance de Hockey Canada rédigé par l’honorable Thomas Cromwell pour prendre connaissance des recommandations.

The last few years have seen some media reports that have called our sector’s governance into question - whether justified or not. A few organizations have been under scrutiny for their governance practices - WE Charity is an example, Hockey Canada another, and more recently, The Trudeau Foundation. A pattern that has emerged when looking at these situations has been questions about their governance practices. These range from overly complex structures to issues about what the board knew and when to the influence of founders.     The situations are different, but they have one thing in common, they contribute to eroding trust in our sector. In this episode, we discuss governance with nonprofit Strategy & Governance Advisor, Yves Savoie. We invite nonprofit leaders to listen to this insightful conversation. We also encourage leaders and board members to read the Hockey Canada Governance Review report authored by the Honourable Thomas Cromwell to examine the recommendations. 

The lack of core funding has a dramatic impact on nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve. Not being able to count on reliable funding impacts organizational health, capacity and resilience, which in turn negatively impacts the quality of services organizations can offer their community, but also the employment conditions of nonprofit workers, and the long-term sustainability of their organizations. This week on the podcast we’re joined by Tyler Boyce, Executive Director of The Enchanté Network, to discuss this crucial issue, from a 2SLGBTQI+ community perspective.  

In this episode, we hear perspectives from a counterpart organization, the National Council for Voluntary Organizations (NCVO), which supports the nonprofit sector in England. Over the past few years, an informal network of leaders from national umbrella organizations like Imagine Canada, NCVO, the National Council of Nonprofits in the US, and the Community Council of Australia, have been meeting to discuss a variety of issues - some that are unique to our respective countries and others that we share. With our guest Sarah Vibert, CEO of NCVO, we explore the differences and similarities facing charities and nonprofits in England and Canada, and how having an international perspective on issues helps to broaden our own thinking.

This week’s episode is a special discussion about the federal budget that was tabled on March 28. With guests David Coletto, Chair & CEO of Abacus Data, and Jordan Gray, Public Policy Specialist, we analyze budget 2023 from a nonprofit sector perspective, and more broadly from a social & economic perspective. Both David and Jordan are members of Imagine Canada's Public Policy Committee. What are the measures announced that will help support nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve? Are investments sufficient to help address the increased demand for social services and programs resulting from the long-lasting impact of the pandemic, and the rising cost of living caused by inflation?    Tune in for a thorough analysis with our guests, and click here to read our statement on budget 2023.

This week on the podcast we’re grateful to chat with Debbie Douglas, Executive Director of OCASI - the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, about the nonprofit workforce through the lens of the immigrant experience.    National data from Statistics Canada, analyzed by Imagine Canada to identify employment trends in the nonprofit sector, uncovered that nationally, employees in our sector are more than twice as likely to be immigrants. In addition, half of all jobs held by immigrant women are in our sector. Charities and nonprofit organizations, which employ 2.4 million people, are, by far, the country’s biggest employers of immigrant women.   There’s no doubt that the contributions of immigrants to the sector are something to celebrate. However, many immigrant women work in the nonprofit sector not because it is their first choice, but because their options are limited. While our sector is an important employer for this population, it is perhaps not for the right reasons.   With Debbie, we discuss what these findings mean and how nonprofits, governments and employers in other sectors of the economy can take action to improve working conditions and reduce employment barriers faced by immigrant workers.    You can listen to full episodes of the podcast at https://www.imaginecanada.ca/en/360   You can read the full report 'Diversity Is Our Strength: Improving Working Conditions in Canadian Nonprofits' at https://www.imaginecanada.ca/en/resource-download/diversity-is-our-strength 

This week on the podcast, with our guest Annika Voltan of Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia, we’re discussing work-life balance and the rise of the 4-day work week.   There’s no denying that the pandemic has been difficult on all of us. Staff worked extra hard, and the lines between personal and professional lives got blurred with everyone working from home. A growing number of organizations, mostly companies, but also nonprofits, have started to explore new ways of working and providing more flexibility to employees.   If the pandemic was the catalyst for the rise of decent work and the 4 day work week, competition for talent is certainly another factor.   At Imagine Canada, we are currently testing the 4-day work week. We launched a 6-month pilot project at the beginning of 2023. Other organizations started testing a shorter week some time ago now, including Impact Organizations of Nova Scotia.   We’re grateful to chat with their Executive Director to learn more about their experience and share learnings.   You can listen to full episodes of the podcast at https://www.imaginecanada.ca/en/360

This week on the podcast we’re discussing a new study that looks at the influence of Justice, Access, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity - commonly referred to as JAIDE -  within the Corporate Community Investment Profession.    The Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing racial reckoning and rallying cry for justice resulting from the murder of George Floyd and Black people killed through acts of anti-Black racism, has taken corporate citizenship and philanthropy to an inflection point — an opportune time for reflection and assessment. To authentically advance change, how are the voices of Black, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQI and other equity-seeking individuals being heard within the corporate social impact community?  This research explores the beliefs, culture, and practices that inhibit or enable equity within corporate nonprofit partnerships. The results are from a survey of Canada's largest companies, interviews with various CSR professionals and discussions with young leaders.    To discuss the state of corporate philanthropy, and explore ways of how companies can better advance philanthropy to advance JAIDE, Mide Akerewusi, Founder and CEO of AgentsC, is joining us.   We invite you to review the study findings & recommendations by downloading the research reports here: https://imaginecanada.ca/en/diversity-and-csr

What recommendations for improving the legislative and regulatory environment for the nonprofit sector could be ‘game changers’ in 2023? To kick off the first season of our podcast, we discuss policy files from a legal perspective that will likely affect the sector in 2023 and beyond. Public policy often moves at a very slow pace, but over the past few years we have seen progress on a number of key files - political activities, the disbursement quota and direction & control.  What is that status of these files? What could possibly come next? To help us make sense of these and look ahead to the future, we chat with charity and nonprofit lawyer Terry Carter, Managing Partner at Carters Professional Corporation.