3 Radical Ideas from the Senate that Nonprofit Leaders Should Know
Canada’s not-for-profit organizations are fuelled by two million employees and another 13 million volunteers across the country. Joining them are the 254,000 (and growing!) people working in Canada’s social enterprises.
I am always so blown away by the dedication and ingenuity that comes out of our sector. Every day I see people struggling to make change in a system set up to reward for-profit ventures while treating our space with scrutiny and suspicion. I challenge any corporate leader to do what this sector has done, and I often imagine what it would look like if we’d had fewer barriers and more support.
Well, maybe the next not-for-profit with a big idea won’t have to imagine it.
In January of last year, the Senate Special Committee on the Charitable Sector asked a simple but radical question: “Why is it so hard to do great works of charity?” To find the answer, they held 24 public hearings and heard from 160 witnesses, myself included. 90 more people submitted written testimony, and nearly 700 people completed an online questionnaire on the topic.
The result of all of this work was issued on June 20th as a report called Catalyst for Change: A Roadmap to a Stronger Charitable Sector.
I cheered as I read the committee’s 42 recommendations. It is not an overstatement to say that adopting the recommendations in this report could change the country overnight. But as someone who sees nonprofits struggle with funding constraints for innovative solutions daily, the three recommendations outlined below had me cheering the loudest.
Click here to read the final report of the Senate’s Charities Committee.