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There is an interesting article in Today’s Chronicle of Philanthropy that highlights the Diversity Fellowship program provided by the Proteus Fund.

http://philanthropy.com/article/Giving-Minorities-a-Year-s/131698/?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

This is how Proteus describes the program’s goals.

‘The Diversity Fellowship is designed to increase the number of people of color in positions of leadership within philanthropy who are skilled grant makers using a lens of equity and inclusion, and to support grant making to communities of color that is more representative and effective.’

The Chronicle article highlights the experience of one fellowship recipient.

‘While running a program to help low-income students get mentors, Marie-Frances Rivera grew fascinated by how foundations decide whether to keep charitable endeavors like hers afloat.’

Ultimately she opts for a career as a grant writer putting into practice her insights from having worked ‘inside’.

This seems like a great approach. What else could we do to increase participation of persons of color in positions of leadership with non-profits and charities.

What will the impact of diversity leadership have on diversity fundraising?

Tune in to ‘African American Giving’ this Thursday May 24 for an up close look at what this may mean for Black Americans. http://africanamericangiving.eventbrite.com/

This is in part the story of a remarkable life. After 15 years in the oil and gas industry,  Mary Tidlund’s company went bankrupt in the oil bust of 1995.This was a dark period for Tidlund who had blazed trails at the first woman of colour to be president and CEO for an oil business listed on the Toronto stock exchange. She then travelled the world as she pondered her next step and met women with no rights and often no income either. She founded the Mary A. Tidlund Charitable Foundation, which is based in Canmore in 1998 to help the women she had met. Mary had been adopted at the age of seven by generous parents who fostered over 40 children. Her parents showed her how to give back.  Now, the foundation operates in 15 different countries around the world. They do medical work, education and alleviation of poverty. One of her proudest accomplishments was a micro-credit loan program in Angola which had grown to be more than 7,000 people accessing over one million dollars.

The Mary Tidlund Charitable Foundation also provides a bridge for volunteers and philanthropists to realize their dreams of making the world a better place one community and one met need at a time.

Learn more at the foundation’s website.
http://www.tidlundfoundation.com

Today we benefited from the legal advice and wisdom of Michael Blatchford and Susan Manwaring on the legal implications of social enterprise in Canada for non-profits and charities.

The future for the triple bottom line seems bright. In British Columbia there is proposed legislation to create a new organizational hybrid called a Community Contribution Corporation or 3C. Similar to B Corps in the US, this type of entity allows us to start blurring the line between for and non-profits. Can an idealist also be an entrepreneur? Can environmental sustainability and social justice be compatible with profit driven activity? Increasingly the answer is a resounding YES. For existing Canadian charities the only concern is to safeguard your charitable registration status which Michael and Susan are so well equipped to advise on. If you missed it, order the recording at http://socialenterpriserecording.eventbrite.com/

This was an inspiring and informative event March 19 with 30 professionals from throughout the North West who met in Seattle Mar 19 to explore ideas on furthering philanthropy in their communities and organizations. We were hosted by the warm and wonderful Casey Family Programs.

It was also a good chance to highlight some native based funders.

The Potlatch Fund which is a 501C3 funded first nations in WA sent a representative.

Also, we met the Tulalip Tribes Charitable Funds which is one of the casino financed tribal charitable funds. The Muckleshoot Tribe’s Charity Fund and the Kalispel Charitable Fund are also in Washington.

For a great picture of First Nations funding groups in the broader community from Nisqually Tribe  click to this video of the Nisqually Tribe 2009 Charitable Donations which is also in WA.

Part of the North West region’s  Tribal funders is the Oregon based Siletz Tribal Charitable Fund

There are more such as Texas based National Relief Charities which is a public charity under IRS.

There will be more on this topic here in the near future.

Dogwood Initiative is an environmental NGO focussed on advocacy that is best known for their No Tankers.ca campaign against oil tankers on BC’s North Coast. As Dogwood is not a registered charity they must look to alternative funding models.

Popular Change has been started with a mission to provide communication campaign services to organizations.

It is particularly notable as an innovative model of social enterprise.

Heloise Nicholl who is the project manager of Popular Change plans to market their services into non-profit markets that can benefit from the affordable and targeted services they provide.

The Village Outreach Society is a Canada/UK small charity that has operated in India since 2005 and in Haiti for a year.

Their solar lantern distribution project is a good example of finding the right balance between offering a helping hand and getting ‘buy in’ from the recipients.

The reason a source of light is needed is due to  the unreliability of power supply especially in the evening in many Indian villages. Around the time, Indian school children would be doing their homework, the lights go out again.

Candles are a possibility but they have to be bought and can be a fire hazard. Solar lanterns are a great solution as they collect energy during the day to be used at night. Once purchased, they can be used for a long time. A great investment!

However, at $12.00, they could be beyond the reach of many villagers. However, if we give them away, there is the real possibility that they will be sold or even broken down for parts plus the expectation that the charity will supply another one.

The Village Outreach Society choses to subsidize the purchase of the lanterns instead of giving them away outright. They pay $3.00 for every $12.00 lantern bought in their adopted villages. The lanterns are now 25% more affordable and the family has made a significant investment.

Congratulations to ENP for getting this approved.

MaRS uses a model which is a good starting place if you are thinking about which organizational structure is best for you.

In the non-profit space the norm is charitable registration (Canada) or 501C3 (US). Traditional businesses have profit as the main if not only goal and for publicly traded corporations; legally the first obligation is gain for the shareholders.

For those who are comfortable in the trad. business space, opting for a non-profit status can seem an odd choice. Who does not want to make a profit? 🙂 It can seem the less confident, less professional option.

However, for those whose life’s work has been in the public sector, NGO, charity space, opting for a for-profit business model may seem rapacious.

Happily there are now several hybrid options available with possibly more emerging so that you now may be able to choose to keep your mission central to your organization while harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit to generate much needed revenue and in some cases find better alternate ways to solve social issues. This is now being referred to as the blended return.

The first organizational type is the non-profit (or charity). This type of organization is funded by philanthropy and grants. In practice many charities rely on some form of business to generate a portion of their annual revenue. From Girl Guide cookies to museum gift shops, there are scores of successful examples.

More on the other models in subsequent posts.

For all of us in the charitable/philanthropic community it was a shock to hear all of Edgar Kaiser’s sudden death in January 11.

When he founded the Kaiser Foundation 25 years ago, it was to promote both understanding of mental health and addictions as health issues. (Not the universal view especially then)

The awards program he set up through the foundation recognized the excellent work being done by the thousands of Canadian organizations, communities and individuals who are engaged in the incredibly difficult and stressful jobs of mental health and addictions. Their contribution was not being recognized or rewarded adequately and so he decided to change that.

Last year the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users was awarded (among seven other worthy recipients across the country.) This is a good example of Edgar Kaiser’s understanding of the field.VANDU has been the object of media criticism which could obscure its role as a key organization in the community representing the needs of vulnerable populations. Edgar Kaiser and his foundation saw past that.

The sad news of Edgar Kaiser’s loss is compounded by the demise of his valuable work. Will some person or organization step forward to provide leadership so that his legacy can continue?

Small US #foundations gave more than their share in 2011. Study cited in Chronicle on Philanthropy.