Welcome to the Endeavour Spring 2012 Newsletter. Get the latest on Endeavour’s changes, as well as Client and Community updates. Here are just a few highlights:

• Endeavour and AstraZeneca collaborate to pilot an Employee Skills-Based Volunteerism Program. >> read more
• Exciting Online Initiative  >> read more
• Donation of appreciation from former client >> read more

Thanks for reading!

• Endeavour Reaches Round 10 in Consulting. And they are off! Round 10 Clients and consultants have been selected and the project cycle is underway for the Spring/Summer of 2012. Volunteer orientation and training for consultants was completed over the weekend of March 24th, with much enthusiasm and energy. Our Round 10 Clients are listed below. Congratulations! The Endeavour Team looks forward to working with you.

  • Amici Camping Charity
  • North York Harvest Food Bank
  • Family Outreach and Response Program
  • New Beginnings Support Program

  Successful Finish to Round 9. Best of luck to our Round 9 Clients as they receive their final recommendations from our consultants and move forward into implementation. It was a pleasure working with each of you: Asthma Society of Canada (www.asthma.ca), Canadian Association of Family Resource Programs (www.frp.ca), Dr. Clown (www.drclown.ca), Kidney Cancer Canada Association (www.kidneycancercanada.ca), and Regent Park School of Music (rpmusic.org).

• 2012 Marks Major Leadership Growth. There are five new additions to the Endeavour Leadership Team and Advisory Committee; please welcome:

  • Advisory Committee:
    
    Judy Fantham,Director, Organizational Development, Toronto Community Housing
  
  
  • Senior Leadership Team:
    

    Herman Ng, Endeavour’s new Vice-President of Operations. Herman brings to the organization his past experience as an Endeavour engagement manager and internal consulting team member. As well, he has more than 7 years of work experience. Herman is currently Associate Director of Bell Canada’s internal consulting team.

  • Directors:
    

    Leah Tussman, Co-Director of Training and Development
    Faisal Khan, Director of Marketing
    Sophie Turner, Marketing Advisor
    Delia Xion, Creative Director
    Sina Amiri, Director of Project Management

  Farewells and Best Wishes. We would also like to take this opportunity to say thanks and farewell to Wasib Muhammad, past Vice-President of Operations. Wasib was a valuable member of the Endeavour team in his various roles as an executive, senior consultant, consultant and knowledge broker during his three years with Endeavour. We wish him all the best in his new role in Singapore.

  Additionally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Kartik Kamat, our Director of Project Management for his work in the past year. He has done a great job in managing projects in Round 8 & 9 and has been an important member of the Consulting Division. We wish him the best in his future Endeavours.

• Endeavour and AstraZeneca collaborate to pilot an Employee Skills-Based Volunteerism Program.

  During this project cycle, Endeavour will be working with AstraZeneca, Canada’s largest biopharmaceutical company to offer a skills-based volunteerism opportunity to their employees. The AstraZeneca project team will consult with their charitable partner  to address strategic issues. The pilot will run during Endeavour’s spring/ summer project cycle.

• Endeavour Launches New Initiative to Better Serve Its Online Community

  Endeavour strives to enable non-profit organizations to improve and sustain their community impact. Starting this May, keep your eye out for an exciting new pilot initiative: Ask@Endeavour. Ask@Endeavour provides a social media platform to enable non-profit practitioners to seek advice from seasoned professionals on issues commonly faced in the non-profit sector.

• Endeavour selected for Google Grants. Endeavour is the lucky recipient of a Google Grant, a unique in-kind donation program awarding free AdWords advertising. We look forward to reaching out to our online audience in more meaningful ways.

  Get Involved!  Join Endeavour  and build your skills in new and meaningful ways! Current volunteer openings are listed here: http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/wp/opportunities/?menu=vol

• Donation of appreciation from former client

  Donation of Appreciation from former Client: Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association In the Fall/Winter of 2011/2012, an Endeavour project team engaged with the Canadian Group Psychotherapy Association (CGPA) to develop a strategic plan. Since that time, CGPA has made strides to put the plan into action. In gratitude, CGPA has made a donation of $1000 to Endeavour. See what CGPA had to say:
  
  “Thanks again to you and our terrific Endeavour team for the valuable assistance. It is our hope that our donation will assist Endeavour in your efforts to continue offering your much needed services to Canadian not for profits. The assistance and expertise offered to CGPA at a critical juncture certainly proved to be a game changer for us!
  
  I’m happy to report that CGPA is now well on its way to implementation of many of the recommendations that came out of our consultation and our group is experiencing renewed excitement and energy.
  
  I’m attaching a photo that was sent to me recently. It’s a core group of CGPA members from across Canada in an important meeting in Calgary last November where we were working on how best to implement recommendations that came from our consultation. ( as you can see they’re smiling…. phew!!)
  
  Please convey our greetings and gratitude to (the Endeavour members) of the CGPA team and keep up the great work!”

   

  

 

 

 



• Kidney Cancer Canada Develops 5 Year Strategic Plan with Support of Endeavour

   

  “When we first heard about the opportunity to engage with Endeavour, we knew that we needed a strategic look at our organization and a plan to move us forward. Now we truly understand how much we needed an objective assessment of where we are now and where we are going as an organization. Working with you all has been an invaluable experience for all of us and has already shaped our thinking. We are truly humbled by your volunteer commitment and have been impressed by the team, the research, and the quality outputs at every stage of the process. Thank you. Thank you. Perhaps the very best way to thank you all will be to show you in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years the steps we have made thanks to your efforts over the past 6 months.”

   

  (Far left: Catherine Madden, Executive Director/Far right: Deb Maskens, Chair, Board of Directors)

  

  
  

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