SECTION 1: ENDEAVOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Endeavour Summer Mixer Success: More Than $5000 Raised to Support Volunteer Consulting for Non-Profits
- Congratulations and Thank You to Fall 2009/Winter 2010 Consulting Teams and Clients
- Volunteer Opportunities: E-Newsletter Designer and Communications Designer – Application Deadline: September 27, 2010
- Donor Recognition: Corinne LaBossiere and David Walsh
- Hands-on Boards are the Norm in the Nonprofit Sector by George Oliver, President, BGO Consulting and Endeavour Advisor
SECTION 3: EVENT RECAPS AND PHOTOS
- Spring/Summer 2010 Consulting Teams Present Analysis and Recommendations at Final Review Session
SECTION 4: NEWS FROM VOLUNTEERS, CLIENTS, PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS
- Harvard Business Review – We Need to Rethink Fundraising
- Seeds of Hope Foundation – Call for Volunteers: Social Marketing & Fundraising
- Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) – Who Belongs? Rights, Benefits, Obligations and Immigration Status Conference (September 23rd-25th); G20 Report and Petition
- Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN) – OISE Educating for Peace and Justice Conference (September 25th)
| SECTION 1: ENDEAVOUR ANNOUNCEMENTS return to top |
1. Endeavour Summer Mixer Success: More Than $5000 Raised to Support Volunteer Consulting for Non-Profits
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Thank you to all attendees, guest speakers, volunteers and event partners for making Endeavour’s first Summer Mixer a huge success! With your help, we raised $5385, surpassing our goal of $5000. These funds will be used towards supporting Endeavour to provide volunteer consulting to non-profit organizations that cannot afford professional services.
Thank you again for your participation and support. We look forward to seeing you at Endeavour’s next fundraiser! Check out more photos from Endeavour’s Summer Mixer at http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/photos/album.php?id=5506649552614629569 (Photographers: Kate O’Connor and SHAMBA Foundation) |
2. Congratulations and Thank You to Fall 2009/Winter 2010 Consulting Teams and Clients
Congratulations and thank you to all our volunteers and non-profit clients from Round 5 (Fall 2009/Winter 2010) for the successful completion of their consulting engagements. We look forward to staying in touch with all of you to evaluate and discuss the outcomes of the projects over the next several months.
 Canadian Association of Professional Pet Dog Trainers Project Team: Teresa Huang, Zami Salaria, Iris Li, Barbie Lee, Sumbul Naqvi, David Schacter, David Vuong |
 Contact Contemporary Music Project Team: George Oliver, Michael Aelxandor, Nura Askar, Urmilla Bala, Constance Campbell, John Holyoake, Allen Zhang |
 Ecologos Institute Project Team: Jane Zhang, Usman Lakhani, Avril White, Nihar Bhagat, Lucy Dai, Kendy Lau, Genevieve Sovereign |
 Food for the Poor Canada Project Team: Dr. Agnes Meinhard, Sweeny Chhabra, Maureen Mottonen, Penggy Li, Sara Maki, Sheng Rao, Tanya Rumble |
 Hospice Richmond Hill Project Team: Sharon Sehdev, Natalie Elliott, Darina Frieder, Sandra Li, Alison McLaren, Carey Swift |
 Kids’ Internet Safety Alliance (KINSA) Project Team: Ming-Young Tam, Corinne Labossiere, Riccardo Muti, Kassidy Huynh, Jigdel Kuyee, David Piccin, Izabella Wilcyznska |
3. Volunteer Opportunities: E-Newsletter Designer and Communications Designer
–Application Deadline: September 27, 2010
We have two new opportunities to join Endeavour’s Communications Team! As the E-Newsletter Designer, you will be responsible for the management and creation of Endeavour’s monthly e-newsletter. For full position description and requirements, visit http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/wp/volunteers/opportunities/e-newsletter-designer/ As the Communications Designer, you will be responsible for the creation of annual reports, case studies, web content, graphics and other marketing communications. For full position description and requirements, visit http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/wp/volunteers/opportunities/communications-designer/ To apply, email your cover letter, resume and portfolio to recruitment@endeavourvolunteer.ca with the position title in the subject line by September 27, 2010. Please forward this opportunity to colleagues, classmates, friends and family. |
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4. Donor Recognition: Corinne LaBossiere and David Walsh
We would like to thank and recognize the following supporters for their generous donation to Endeavour:
Up to $99: Corinne LaBossiere
$500 and above: David Walsh
As a non-profit providing volunteer consulting to our clients, we rely on generous donations to support our work. Please consider supporting our work by donating to Endeavour at http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/donate. All proceeds go towards providing volunteer consulting to non-profit organizations.
| SECTION 2: ENDEAVOUR BLOG return to top |
Hands-on Boards are the Norm in the Non-Profit Sector
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George Oliver |
It is a common assumption that the responsibilities of a non-profit board member are limited to attending meetings, sharing ‘wisdom’, evaluating the management and offering advice - that is not the case. The vast majority of non-profit boards are known as ‘working boards’, where members roll up their sleeves and do ‘real’ - if I can use the term - work (i.e., are hands-on).
The primary reason for this misconception is simple: the vast majority of non-profits are small in terms of financial resources, number of staff, and number of clients. It may come as a surprise to learn that there are approximately 161,000 non-profits in Canada, including sports leagues, churches, and community organizations, to name a few. Many have no paid staff. Many have either no monetary resources or budgets of less than $50k. About half have no budget at all! What that means is that the board and individual board members take on the role of volunteers (who can forget the ubiquitous Golf Tournament committee?), management and staff. They do a lot of hard slogging and don’t sit around the board table talking about, for example, HR policies…that wouldn’t make sense given that there are no human resources! Without the hands-on work of the board members, the mission of the organization would not be accomplished and the organization would cease to exist.
Generally speaking, it is the larger organizations (i.e., those looking for cures for diseases, hospitals and universities) whose boards are hands-off ‘governance and policy’ boards. I suspect that since people are more knowledgeable about these large organizations - they are the ones you hear about in the media and who send out the mass fund-raising material - the public has the mistaken impression that it is unique for a board to act in a hands-on manner; it’s not.
| SECTION 3: EVENT RECAPS AND PHOTOS return to top |
Spring/Summer 2010 Consulting Teams Present Analysis and Recommendations at Final Review Session
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On August 14th, Endeavour held a final review session for Spring/Summer 2010 consulting teams working with The 411 Initiative for Change (411); Alli’s Journey; The Always Nubian, Always Scarborough Association (A.N.A.S.A.) Collective; Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust (CCLET); International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT); Motions Youth and Community Centre (MY.CC); Sky’s the Limit (STL) Youth Organization; and Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN). The review was an opportunity for each consulting team to present their analysis, key findings, and final recommendations to Endeavour and other teams. This time, the review included a fun networking break for all volunteers to share their experiences with each other. Endeavour Advisors and Executives were impressed with the quality of work and effort put into these projects. Great job everyone and best of luck on your final client presentation! Check out the event photos at http://www.endeavourvolunteer.ca/photos/album.php?id=5514361246485334673 (Photographers: Aaron Rodericks and Arin Bahkt) |
| SECTION 4: NEWS FROM VOLUNTEERS, CLIENTS, PARTNERS & SUPPORTERS return to top |
1. Harvard Business Review
We Need to Rethink Fundraising In the Harvard Business Review article “We Need to Rethink Fundraising,” Dan Pallotta challenges the “unethical” preference for low fundraising expenditure by charitable organizations and donors alike. “The less an organization invests in fundraising the less it can grow. The less it can grow the more human suffering persists. We have institutionalized a mechanism for insuring the persistence of human suffering and called it ‘charity’,” says Pallotta. Read the full article at http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/~r/harvardbusiness/~3/j37g_N11nPc/we-need-to-rethink-fundraising.html |
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2. Seeds of Hope Foundation
Call for Volunteers: Social Marketing & Fundraising Seeds of Hope – www.seedsofhope.ca – is an innovative charity located near Yonge & Wellesley in downtown Toronto. Their core programs support people who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives, by inspiring a sense of hope through a range of programs that encourage engagement with each other in learning, social enterprise, and community initiatives. As a follow up to an Endeavour report on Seeds of Hope, they want to increase their outreach to potential funders and look at new ways to generate funding for their organization. If you would be interested in volunteering with their fundraising team, please contact David Walsh – 416-361-1124 or dwalsh@web.ca. |
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3. Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Who Belongs? Rights, Benefits, Obligations and Immigration Status Conference, September 23rd-25th Location: University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Flavelle House, 78 Queen’s Park Crescent West The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), an Endeavour client, and David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights at the University of Toronto invite you to the “Who Belongs? Rights, Benefits, Obligations and Immigration Status” Conference. The principal aim of this conference is to explore the consequences of the differential access to rights, benefits and obligations on the basis of immigration status, and provide a framework to assist in analyzing how these distinctions should be made. For details and to register, visit http://ccla.org/get-involved/events/immigrationconference/ |
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G20 Report and Petition |
4. Women’s Healthy Environments Network
OISE Educating for Peace and Justice Conference, September 25 Time: 8:30am –3:30pm The Women’s Healthy Environments Network (WHEN), an Endeavour client, and OISE/UT Student Services invite you to the “OISE Educating for Peace and Justice” Conference. Participants will share, learn, and try out ideas, strategies, and best practices related to actively building safe and equitable classrooms, schools and communities. For details, visit http://www.womenshealthyenvironments.ca/node/457 |
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Call for Newsletter Submissions and Suggestions
Endeavour volunteers, clients, partners and supporters are invited to submit items and/or suggestions for the October 2010 newsletter. Please send your submission by September 30 to communications@endeavourvolunteer.ca with the subject line “October 2010 Newsletter Submission”.