Last year I compiled salary and compensation data from over 100 organizations in Metro Vancouver. Hyper-local compensation data broken down by organization budget, and as many position types and subsectors as I could while keeping confidentiality. I released the report late last year but I neglected to share the final report with my website followers. If you use the code IMAWESOME you can get 20% off.

Find the 2016 Metro Vancouver Nonprofit Sector Salary Survey here.

What do purchasers say they find helpful?

• “Local, current data.”
• “The quartile benchmarking for non profits of different sizes. It totally helped me gauge whether our salaries were competitive and which positions’ compensations needed to change as a result.”
• “Salary categories with differing organizational budgets; excellent work for the cost charged – THANK YOU!”
• “I especially appreciated the segmented data for arts and culture organizations. This will come in very handy for our organization as we begin a transition process for some senior leaders.”
• “It was a major force in renegotiating my contract with confidence and grace. Thanks for your hard work.” 

Next: Network building for introverts

I’m working on an e-book with the working title The Introvert’s Guide to Building Networks: an anti-networking manual.

If the idea of networking has never really resonated with you, I’d love to hear your input on the draft so far. I’ve completed sections on being strategic, events, and meetings/gatherings. The draft is open for comments–feel free to add yours!

Bonus: Race in the nonprofit sector

Nonprofits have to face biases about who is qualified to lead and why. (Race to Lead)

I’ve been doing a lot of personal and professional reflection on race and diversity lately, and really appreciated the Race to Lead report from the Building Movement Project. I’ve only got through the key findings so far, but the full report looks to be a valuable and timely read. The report is free and easy to download.

Nonprofits have to transfer the responsibility for the racial leadership gap from those who are targeted by it (aspiring leaders of color), to those governing organizations. (Race to Lead)

That’s it! Enjoy.

I previously shared data on the types of organizations that had responded so far, the commonality of different types of benefits offered, and number of vacation days provided.

If you are responsible for compensation data at your organization and haven’t filled it out yet, you can find out more info and fill out the survey here.

Before I give you this week’s data, your help with one final push would be greatly appreciated!

I’d especially like to hear from (tell your colleagues! sample text below):

• organizations outside of the City of Vancouver
• organizations that focus on community development and housing, law/advocacy/politics, sports and recreation, or religion
• foundations/funders
• organizations with an annual operating budget of over $5 million

Disclaimer

If you didn’t read last week’s post about box plots, read this first. I give an explanation about box plots, and explains why I haven’t added whiskers at this time.

As stated in previous posts, the information on salaries that I share below is only meant to inspire curiosity and is not good for any decision making. The information is not disaggregated by organization size or any other identifier—it lumps all organizations together and is based on submissions to date. The data quality has not been validated. Finally, I have not provided any analysis or context.

Salaries of EDs/CEOs paid annually

For organizations with EDs/CEOs as staff (not independent contractors), they were asked to provide salary information. Some EDs are paid hourly and are not included in the following chart.

While I refer to this group as EDs/CEOs, actual titles may differ (e.g. managing director).

For today’s post I separated nonprofit societies from registered charities. Note that charities are also nonprofits, but the data for nonprofits represents organizations that are nonprofits and NOT ALSO registered charities.

The median annual salary for nonprofit EDs is $80,000, while the median annual salary for registered charity EDs is $70,000. Fifty percent of nonprofit ED salaries fall between $64,500 and $102,500. The other fifty percent fall above and below this range. Fifty percent of registered charity ED salaries fall between $55,000 and $89,000.

Final note

Data validation once the survey closes is going to take some time. Thank you to folks that read instructions closely. Apologies to those who found the details unclear. You may hear from me to check on some of your data.

Will you share please?

Share on FB/Twitter/LinkedIn: (sorry, you’ll have to trim for Twitter )

Fellow Vancouver NP leaders! One more week left in the local salary survey, please participate so we have good data to make our salary/compensation decisions! https://trinaisakson.com/research

Send an email:

Hi _______,

Have you participated in the local nonprofit salary survey going around? I’ve participated and want to make sure there is good comparison data so that we can make good salary and compensation decisions. The deadline is July 31, so one more week to go! This survey is focused only on Metro Vancouver so the data will be especially relevant to us. More info about the survey and the link to participate is at https://trinaisakson.com/research.

I previously shared data on the types of nonprofit and charitable organizations that had responded so far, and the different types of benefits offered.

Reminder, survey deadline July 31! FAQs and survey link here.

This week is fun because I get to play with box plots!

When sharing salary and compensation data there are a variety of numbers that could be shared, and I’m choosing to share numbers using a special kind of chart called a box plot. Data nerds may be wondering why I’m not sharing the whiskers, and the short reason is I haven’t done data validation yet and there are a few outliers that would make really long whiskers.

Why a box plot? Because averages are (often) the devil. Outliers that are really high or low can skew the numbers. Instead, medians are the way to go in this case.

Please explain this ‘box plot’ you speak of

Instead of using averages, the box plot focuses on the median, which is the middle number if all numbers are all lined up in numerical order.

In a the ‘box’ of the box plot, the line cutting through the box is the median, and the outline of the box the middle 50% of all numbers in the group. The box then includes the middle quartiles. These are the 25% of responses above and below the median.

A weakness of the box plots in this post is they do not include the outer 50% of responses. In this example, we don’t know the least or most number of chicken figurines per household. Instead, we know the “kind of sort of average range even though average is used incorrectly in this sentence.”

In the example provided, of all the people asked how many ceramic chicken figurines they have in their houses, the median is five. Twenty five percent of respondents have between five and nine figurines, and 25% have between three and five figurines.

Disclaimer about the following chart

The information on vacation days that I share below is only meant to inspire curiosity and is not good for any decision making. The information is not disaggregated by organization size or any other identifier—it lumps all organizations together and is based on submissions to date. The data quality has not been validated. Finally, I have not provided any analysis or context.

Minimum and maximum vacation days at different job levels

Respondents were asked to provide the maximum and minimum number of vacation days provided per year at each job level. For example, in one organization, some managers may get as few as 10 vacation days per year, and others get as high as 25 days per year.

This chart shows the ranges provided at the minimum, and the maximum levels.

I only included one plot for ED/CEO because most organizations only have one person in this role, so minimum and maximum numbers are the same.

I didn’t include the VP level because there are too few submissions at this point, and didn’t include Director level because I accidentally deleted a column and didn’t want to go back and fix my work for this teaser blog post. I will definitely be including directors in the report.

This chart shows that the median vacation time for executive directors is 20 days per year. Fifty percent get between 15 and 25 days per year.

For manager roles, the “median” organization provides between 15 and 18.5 vacation days per year. Coordinators and assistants have identical median minimum and maximums. The lower range median for both is 10 vacation days per year, while the upper range median is 15 days per year.

Next week: ED/CEO salaries!

Remember, please share this survey with your professional colleagues who lead nonprofit and charitable organizations. Copy and paste this:

Hi fellow unicorn nonprofit leader:

Have you filled out the Metro Vancouver salary survey yet? It would be great to have current, hyper local data on compensation among our organizations. The survey link and FAQs are here: trinaisakson.com/research.

But first…

In order to provide final data on specific types of nonprofits (e.g. based on size, subsector, city) I need a minimum number of organizations (six) in order to assure privacy.

Here are the organization types I’d love to hear more from:

• Budget size under $100K
• Budget size $250K to $499K
• Budget size over $5 million
• Organizations focussing on environment, health, or sector capacity building
• Organizations based outside City of Vancouver

I’ve had especially great response from arts organizations with budgets $500K to $999K. Thank you! FAQs and more survey information here.

Reminder: Deadline July 31!

Disclaimer about the following charts

The information on benefits that I share below is only meant to inspire curiosity and is not good for any decision making. The information is not disaggregated by organization size or any other identifier—it lumps all organizations together and is based on submissions to date. The axis scales for each image are not comparable—do not compare the bars in one image the the bars in another. Finally, I have not provided any analysis or context.

Now, let the curiosities begin!

Benefits for all

Benefits for senior staff only

Opportunities offered to junior staff only were rare.

Opportunities to ask for more

Not common

Before you go, do you mind sharing the survey on LinkedIn, a Facebook group, or other place you connect with nonprofit and charitable leaders?

Metro Vancouver nonprofit and charity leaders–let’s get good, local, current compensation data. Fill out this salary survey by July 31: https://trinaisakson.com/research

Next week….vacation days!

Organizational responses are starting to roll in, and I wanted to give folks a sense of who is responding, and who should be responding.

Deadline for survey responses is July 31.

But first…why a salary survey?

I’ll leave it up to some local executive directors to share why they think it important.

It’s imperative that we leaders of the non-profit sector have access to localized, detailed and up to date data to inform our decisions, budgets and to advocate to government the need for funding.
– David Jordan, Executive Director, Vancouver Fringe Festival

Having current and local data on our sector’s compensation trends, will enable us to work towards equitable and competitive compensation packages. As we strive towards social, environmental and economic justice, this is a critical step forward!
– Dara Parker, Executive Director, Social Venture Partners Vancouver

So who has responded to the call so far?

Smaller arts organizations in Vancouver have been the keenest.

I hope to see other “groups” of organizations encourage each other to respond to the survey, so that I’m able to release more detailed data in the final report.

My ask of Metro Vancouver nonprofit sector leaders

If you haven’t completed the survey yet, please do!

If you already have, can you encourage 5 other organizations to take part by forwarding this message with some kind words?

Either way, can you share on Facebook and tag other friends in the nonprofit sector? Facebook has been the greatest source of referrals for the survey so far. Example post…

Want to know how your organization’s compensation compares to others in the Metro Vancouver nonprofit sector? Complete this salary survey to help us get better data and make better compensation decisions! https://trinaisakson.com/research

Next week I’ll share some early results on the types of benefits organizations are most likely to provide staff…and benefits that they would consider offering if staff asked!

Careers

• CharityVillage.com
• Association of Fundraising Professionals Vancouver chapter (fundraising jobs)
• Alliance for Arts & Culture (arts organization jobs)
• GoodWork.ca (environmental and green jobs)
• Craigslist
• Facebook groups:
  • Canada’s Young Leaders and Innovators
  • Vancouver Young Innovators and Leaders
  • Vancouver Changemakers Work
• Individual organizations’ websites – time consuming but true. To find organizations that are connected to causes that interest you, visit the Red Book Online and browse by organization subject area and sub-subjects. The site is useful if you have time to browse.
• University/college job boards for students/alumni:
  • BCIT
  • Capilano
  • Langara
  • SFU
  • UBC
• Networking using the topics below.

Volunteering

• GoVolunteer.ca -1000s of volunteer opportunities, searchable by location, activity, organization type, etc.
• CharityVillage.com – volunteer opportunities around Vancouver and across Canada
• Craigslist.org – user-posted volunteer opportunities
• University/college volunteer postings:
  • Capilano
  • SFU
  • UBC AMS

Learn and network in person

• Net Squared Vancouver – ongoing series of casual but informative meetups on topics related to technology for social good
• Vantage Point – workshops on governance, management, HR, and more
• Groundswell – program to help you build a social venture
• Next Up – social justice leadership program
• RADIUS SFU – accelerators, fellowships, and trampolines for social innovators and social venturers
• The Digital Nonprofit conference
• Social Change Institute / Social Venture Institute / Web of Change – programs at Hollyhock on Cortes Island
• Learn about upcoming workshops by getting on the email lists for Net Squared, Vantage Point, Enterprising Non-Profits, and Volunteer BC, as they each send out information on their own and other’s upcoming workshops.
• Many volunteer centres or subsector umbrella organizations also offer workshops, so search those out if you are looking to connect to a specific community.

Learn online

• Imagine Canada’s Sector Source – online library, resources
• CharityVillage.com – e-courses, webinars, articles, etc.
• HR Council – resources and info on human resources
• Enterprising Non-Profits – information about social enterprises

Formal learning

• BCIT Associate Certificate in Nonprofit Management
• SFU Certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement
• SFU Non-Profit Management Certificate
• Capilano Global Stewardship Associate of Arts degree
• Adler MPPA in social justice leadership

Blogs and news

• The Philanthropist
• Vantage Point blog
• From Our Vantage Point (podcast)
• CharityVillage Village Vibes weekly newsletter
• Imagine Canada blog
• Do Good Better Podcast

Mentorship Programs

• Association of Fundraising Professionals Vancouver chapter (fundraisers)

In this episode of the Do Good Better Podcast I chat with Jimmie Briggs, author, speaker, and nonprofit leader about self care and the lessons he finally learned after a heart attack and kidney transplant.

Links for today’s episode:

• Jimmie Briggs on Twitter (@briggsjimmie)
• Rockwood Leadership Institute

This post was inspired by Joanne Cave’s and Lee Rose/Claude Lauziere’s recent pieces on predictions for the Canadian nonprofit sector in 2016.

Consider mine the Eeyore version. You know, one that’s a little bit of a bummer. 

Here are my predictions/wishes for the Canadian nonprofit and charitable sector in 2016.

1. Death of “social innovation.” Please.

Especially as a catchphrase. Or at least this is my solemn wish.

Social innovation is a new-ish word for a thing that has been happening since the beginning of charity. People and organizations finding different, improved, transformational ways to benefit their communities. Piloting, experimenting, trying new things. This is all good. But it’s not new.

I previously found it hard to articulate one of my discomforts with the focus on social innovation, but I recently identified it while reading a lovely 2013 Salon article on why innovation (currently) has nothing do do with being creative. It’s that in today’s world, in order for something to be considered “innovative,” it has to be acknowledge by the institutionalized “innovation class.” For social innovation in Canada, that would be orgs like SiG or CSI or MaRS or McConnell etc. As Thomas Frank writes:

Innovation, that is, exists only when the correctly credentialed hivemind agrees that it does. … What determines “creativity,” in other words, is the very faction it’s supposedly rebelling against: established expertise.

There are so many issues with social innovation as a thing right now.

1. More and more organizations are feeling forced to label their work “social innovation” to fit funding opportunities. When really funders should be focussed largely on what works, not only what’s new.
2. Most of the people talking about social innovation are mostly doing that – talking. The ones that are doing social innovation use the word because it’s “in group” language, not because of its inherent value for our communities (admission: I use the word too).
3. The new and trendy and “innovative” which attracts people, attention, and funding rarely does the deep, sustainable work that our communities and the vulnerable people in them desperately need.

Instead, I dearly hope that organizations will work to improve upon knowing what works well, and trying new ways when things don’t.

2. People and organizations with lots of money will continue talking about the opportunity for social finance to unleash capital for social good. Skeptics will question the ethics of commoditizing disadvantage. Nonprofits will question the relevance of social finance to their work. They will all be correct.

I don’t think social finance is the be-all-end-all to funding interventions, but I do think we need to experiment with new funding models, and this is one set of approaches.

I question whether risk is distributed well (especially in the case of social impact bonds) and whether big business would be better to spend their money ensuring they don’t, um I don’t know, exploit the poor or the environment through unchecked negative externalities.

And most nonprofits are absent from the conversation. As they should be. Because either they don’t measure their impact to the level necessary for social finance, or their work doesn’t fit the social finance model (e.g. social impact bonds currently focus on employment, literacy, recidivism, and other short- to medium-term outcomes).

3. Nonprofit leaders of large nonprofits who suffer from data and tech illiteracy will unwittingly hurt their causes.

Not internalizing the importance of integrated use of data and technology will mean missed opportunities. And because it’s hard to know when something isn’t there (as opposed to spotting obvious issues like funding gaps or broken equipment), it will be easy for organizations to continue to ignore opportunities like shared platforms, data standards, automation, and other uses of tech and data that streamline our work and provide opportunities for collaboration and advocacy. You know, mission-related work.

4. Nonprofit leaders will wax on about the salary inequities within and outside the sector and then continue to pay shitty wages and use contract employment.

To be fair, they often do so because of the uncertainty of their funding environment.

But many pay little because they can get away with it. Not in a mwa-ha-ha evil way, but because it’s been done before, money is tight, and the job market continues to allow it.

5. No (large) nonprofit or charity will recruit unpaid interns for more than 15 hours per week.

Recruiting for unpaid internships over and above about 12 to 15 hours per week mean only the most privileged will benefit from these experiences, as the rest of job seekers are working and/or going to school full time. Public awareness about the exploitative nature of internships has increased over the past year in particular, and I hope that nonprofits (and not just businesses) have heard the message. Just because we are charities, doesn’t mean that full-time volunteer roles are ethical.

6. Increasing voice of Gen X and Y leadership.

Baby boomers continue to hold the traditional “leadership” roles in the sector. However, Gen X and Y will continue to move up in traditional organizations AND lead newer, non-traditional initiatives, and these new initiatives will hold greater space in the traditional national conversations hosted by organizations like Imagine Canada, Volunteer Canada, Community Foundations of Canada, etc.

These new initiaitves are already holding their own conversations, learning from each other, and networking (and not just with other nonprofits). They don’t need traditional organizations to gain leadership legitimacy, but they can and do play nice when the potential power of new forms of structure and strategy are more and more respected, admired, and coveted by the old guard.

7. Southern Ontario will continue to get most of the attention, support, funding for sector-level work.

I’m always amazed (or…annoyed) that people in Ontario can call their initiatives “national” as long as they invite/email people from outside southern Ontario, but the same initiative out of Halifax or Saskatoon or Vancouver wouldn’t be given the same benefit of the doubt (or benefit of funding/sponsorship). This means many of the important conversations about the future of the nonprofit sector are happening among a narrow set of people, and that’s not OK for our diverse organizations and missions.

8. Rise of the quiet changemaker.

Well, this prediction is just selfish. It’s my own initiative and one that I hope will raise the voices and potential of the more quiet and introverted people making the world a better place. Read more here.

What are your predictions for the nonprofit sector in 2016? Can you out-grump me?

In this episode I chat with David Grad, Emmy-winning producer and brand consultant, about brand communications, how to break down what exactly “brand” is, and what questions to ask when you’re planning to communicate your brand strategically.

Links for today’s episode:

• Find David Grad on LinkedIn  and Twitter (@davidgrad)
• An example of using Tinder for promoting a cause
• POST method (originally via Groundswell…I got the acronym a bit wrong, but the essence is the same: people/purpose and technology/tactic)

In this episode of the Do Good Better Podcast I talk with Allison Jones, formerly of Idealist Careers at the time of the recording, but now with NTEN. We start off our conversation talking about career and labour market trends, but then get into the juicy topics of leadership, management, vulnerability, and learning.

Listen via the website, iTunes, or Stitcher.

Links from today’s episode

• Allison Jones on Twitter (@ajlovesya)
• NTEN
• Idealist Careers
• CharityVillage
• Building Movement Project
• Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out
• Working Across Generations [book] 
• The nonprofit leadership crisis we’re not talking about: Interview with Robert Egger
• The Authenticity Paradox
• Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader [book]
• Managing to Change the World [book]
• Manager Tools podcast

Note: I couldn’t find the article Allison mentioned re: 26 ways to be involved in social change without being on the streets, nor the 99U article on from manager to maker.

In this episode of the Do Good Better Podcast I talk about my new role in Myanmar (Burma), and share a conversation with Michael Lenczner of PoweredbyData on how nonprofit organizations can be thinking strategically about data at a sector level.

Resources mentioned in today’s episode:

• Michael Lenczner (@mlenc)
• Ajah // Fundtracker
• PoweredbyData
• landscape.ajah.ca
• Open Referral
• 211 (211.org // bc211 // Ontario 211)
• Charity Listings – Canada Revenue Agency (based on T3010 filiings)
• T3010 open data sets 
• Vancouver Foundation announcement on opening up their data
• Ontario Nonprofit Network data strategy
• CanadaHelps
• Association of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research
• A data strategy for BC’s nonprofit network
• MIMU – Myanmar Information Management Unit

I’m heading to Myanmar (Burma) for six months. Literally on my way now (writing this from the Vancouver airport).

Out of the blue you say? Yeah, for me too. There was less than 4 weeks between accepting the offer from Cuso International and leaving the country. In the middle I’ve rented my condo, got vaccinations and the variety of health/police checks, got my foster cat adopted, spent 5 days in training in Ottawa with Cuso, visited family, and wrapped up a few non-travel things. It’s been a whirlwind.

What am I doing in Myanmar?

Doing what I do in Canada, but in a new context. While I don’t know the specifics, my volunteer role title is “Stakeholder Mapping Consultant”. I’ll be working with Local Resource Centre,a central umbrella/capacity building/hub organization to the nonprofit sector—aka civil society in Myanmar—in their new Mawlamyine office.

I’ll be researching what is going on in civil society in Mon state, the “landscape” – who’s doing what, with who, for who, to what ends, with what resources, with what skills, and with what challenges. And going from there. Or so I understand at the moment. It’s possible that my work may change once I’m there, but I’m sure it will stay in the general realm of “nonprofit sector capacity building.”

I’ll blend my skills for listening, asking good questions, facilitating, researching, and strategizing, to learn about civil society in Mon state and give that learning back to the sector.

Want to contribute to Cuso International’s work (and get good vibes and a tax receipt)? I’m trying to raise $500 before my birthday on September 9th. Donate here!

What will I continue while away?

I’ll continue my outreach re: a data strategy for BC’s nonprofit sector. It can take time for money and other assets to come together, so I’ll stay in touch with a variety of stakeholders and collaborators.

Quiet changemaker project. This will be my downtime/alone time hobby. Writing. Agent/publisher pitches.

My research agenda aka manifesto—emergent trends that I feel the nonprofit sector needs to act on. I want to increase my focus on these areas in a research and strategy capacity upon my return, so I’ll continue to network with allies and share my thinking as time allows (like I am doing with the data strategy). I’ll share this research agenda in a future post.

Staying connected. Depending on internet access, I’d like to have at least one Skype chat a week with an interesting person in order to stay connected, stay inspired, and stay informed.

What am I putting on hold?

I’m not taking on any new contracts while I’m away, but am happy to have exploratory conversations about future contracts. I’ll be back in Canada for the end of the fiscal year for Canadian government and many other clients, so I’ll be ready to jump into contract work and consulting upon my return.

Do Good Better Podcast. I hope to release the remaining interviews I’ve already conducted, but unless it fits with my work objectives in Myanmar, I won’t be spending time on it while away.

Wish me luck and health! Stay in touch—it’s a connected world, even in Myanmar.

PS. Will you donate to Cuso? It’ll take you about 5 minutes online, and you will get my gratitude and a charitable tax receipt (or my non-Canadian friends, you’ll get just get my gratitude)!

tl;dr version: There was a lot of interest, but consensus that more “meat on the bone” is needed in order for organizations to know where this could go and where they could fit in. A backbone organization and some initial financial investment are needed to take this first (and future) steps. Join the email list to be a part of future developments. 

Why a data strategy?

The nonprofit sector often struggles to gather and analyze the necessary information necessary to make optimal decisions.

Answering important questions like “Who’s working in this area? Who’s serving population X? Who else could we collaborate with? Who else is funding this work? Who has had success solving Y? What is the baseline data on issue Z?” requires a lot of tedious research, knowledge that’s not written down, or access to costly databases AND results in too many Excel spreadsheets that aren’t shared.

There is currently no organization responsible for developing a plan for nonprofit and social impact data in British Columbia, and different pieces of the puzzle (e.g. data re: fundraising, governmental relations, operations, volunteering, policy advocacy, grant-making) are held by a variety of actors.

New open data policies and practices at the municipal, provincial and federal level represent tremendous opportunities, as do new powerful and inexpensive online tools for analysis and collaboration. By creating a collaborative and coordinated data strategy we can help different stakeholders in the nonprofit sector: grassroots organizations, large agencies, volunteers, policy makers, institutional funders and donors.

The meeting

The timing was a perfect storm (a good one). I had met Michael Lenczner from PoweredbyData earlier this year and knew his work with the Ontario Nonprofit Network on this topic in that province. Michael and I chatted about collaborating on similar work in BC. Michael was planning a trip to BC. We were able to confirm a few key individuals to a specific date. And so invites went out. The rest was a question mark.

There are no natural provincial network/umbrella organizations for which a data strategy is a mission fit. We don’t have the equivalent to the Ontario Nonprofit network. I was convening as an independent consultant interested in emerging trends and issues facing the nonprofit sector. I see strategic use of data and technology as a key pillar of a healthy future nonprofit sector. So I, along with Michael, acted as convenor of nonprofit leadership in BC.

We had participation from Vancouver Foundation, United Way Lower Mainland, Vancity, bc211, Vantage Point, SFU, UBC, BoardVoice, Open Data BC, open data and social innovation leaders with the BC government, and more! I was thrilled with the RSVPs considering it was middle summer. This participant list is obviously not exhaustive of nonprofit sector leadership. It was very Vancouver-centric. But it’s a starting point.

You can see the meeting slides here (not much context if you weren’t there, but you can still check it out) and read summaries of the meeting here (my summary, PDF) and here (summary by participant Michael Davis of BoardVoice). The general consensus was one of interest a feeling that more “meat on the bone” is needed in order for organizations to know where this could go and where they could fit in. A backbone organization and some initial financial investment are needed to take this first (and future) steps.

The future

I look forward to seeing where this goes. As I emphasized at the meeting, as an independent actor I don’t have the positional/organizational authority to strategize on behalf of the nonprofit sector. Sector leadership needs to buy in and own in order for this to move forward at all. BUT I would love to play a role in bridging the BC context with strategic data thinking, and to collaborate with the thought leadership that Michael Lenczner and PoweredbyData brings to this topic.

Does data interest you? Join the email list to be a part of future development. Feel free to contact me directly if you want to chat or are interested in investing in this process.

More reading

• Ontario Nonprofit Network data strategy
• Market for Good: video // concept paper
• Open Future: Data priorities for the not-for-profit sector (Mowat Centre)

If you’re like me, not well.

A colleague/friend/mentor recently told me that he sees me as someone who has a strong vision for the future for the nonprofit sector, and that I do work with others who also want to get there. I’m out in front. I’m a sector thought leader.

I did not accept the compliments of ‘visionary’ and ‘futurist’ gracefully. He told me that while I might not see myself as a sector leader, I should not get in the way of others who see me in that light. He thought that I picture my circle of influence as much smaller than it is and could be.

Something for me to chew on. I don’t question my ability, but as an independent actor outside of the nonprofit sector institutional framework, I do question my influence at a high level sometimes. It’s not that I’m not interested in influence at a high level, but it’s not the first lens that I see my work through.

I’m a bit of a “keep your head down and work hard in service of clients and educating others” kind of person. Framing my work in a different, more expansive, light, is not something that comes instinctively.  This obviously relates back to my interest in quiet changemakers–those who do great work and have great influence irrespective of the spotlight.

A better, alternative, response my colleague’s comments might have been

Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say that.

Simply. Acknowledge. The gift.

How do you respond to professional compliments?

When others around you speak of your personal or organizational influence, does it match how you see yourself?

What’s the story others tell about you? What’s the story you tell about you? What’s the story you want others to tell about you? And are you reaching high enough?

Maybe not in the traditional political-party-partisan-campaign-voting sort of way (well, maybe they do that, too!) but they are civically engaged in public work. Perhaps they have veered into other political acts such as protests or petitions or letters to the editor or community organizing.

I want you to consider nominating at least one of these people for the Everyday Political Citizen contest (#EPCitizen) put on by Samara Canada, a non-partisan charity promoting democracy and civic engagement.

This year I’m proud to sit on the jury of the contest with well-known Canadian personalities such as Rick Mercer, and Shad, the new host of CBC’s q. And some amazing lesser-known folk of all ages and backgrounds working to create the change they wish to see in the world.

What do I need to nominate?

Not much!

• Your and your nominee’s info: eg name, email, town, Twitter
• Nominee’s age group (<18, 18-29, >30) and photo
• 150 words on what makes your nominee a great Everyday Political Citizen

That’s about it! I’m especially interested in some great nominations from BC, so nominate someone or help me promote on social media! Just share this post on Twitter, Facebook, or your other favourite app!

In this Do Good Better podcast episode I chat with Dev Aujla of Catalog about whether the nonprofit sector has lost its monopoly on jobs that do good, and what the job market looks like in new types of careers and companies that are doing good (ie not just nonprofits anymore!).

I also talk about things to do when you’re leaving a job (e.g. succession planning, leaving a legacy, reflecting on learning, and actually handing over the role).

Finally, I answer the question “how should nonprofits deal with corporate volunteer days of service?” and share a listener response from Episode 02 on why she goes to conferences.

Links and resources from this episode

• 12 things to do when you leave your job for the next person 
• Dev Aujla, Catalog (also at @devaujla)
• Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money, and Community in a Changing World
• 50waystogetajob.com

Reminder

Submit your questions or comments by following the directions here.

As part of their 20th birthday celebration, I am answering their ’20’ questions. Not actually 20 questions, but all on the theme of ’20’.

What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in the sector over the past 20 years?

The internet. Truly. At a basic level it has changed how the sector fundraises, engages volunteers, communicates with its supporters. But even more fundamentally it has changed the structure of organizations. It means we are increasingly distributing leadership away from central offices, creating flexible work environments, and producing organizations that exist completely online.

Where do you see the sector 20 years from now?

Most definitely we’ll see fewer big, place-based organizations and more initiatives that succeed because of networks of individuals.

What I hope to see, though, is a culture of collaboration, sharing and risk-taking in service of our important missions, and less protection, competition, and risk-aversion.

What I hope to see most is most organizations going out of business because capitalism evolves to minimize the negative external impacts of business, government policies protect vulnerable people and environments, and citizens create the change they wish to see.

What’s the most creative nonprofit campaign you’ve seen in the past 20 years?

My favourite recent campaign is VOKRA (Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association) using Tinder to attract potential volunteers and adopters.

What could 20 volunteer hours do for your organization?

I’m outgoing chair of Canadian Women Voters Congress, and 20 hours could be used in so many different ways! Off the top of my head – help complete our rebranding, launch our honourary council, launch a digital ambassador program, spark campaign schools in 5 new communities, develop a robust onboarding program for new board members….so many ideas!

What impact could $20 from 20 people have through your organization’s work?

A total of $400 but, even more powerfully, 20 new supporters. It would cover costs for four women from underrepresented communities to get subsidized attendance to a campaign school. And those 20 supporters each convince five friends to help out, and on and on…wow!

What would you go back and tell your 20-year-old self?

At 20 I would be in my final year of my undergrad in science at UBC and producing/choreographing a production of Guys and Dolls as a residence advisor.

Re: my undergrad I would tell myself to take an extra year in order to take a bunch of classes that don’t count towards graduation but that interest me. Poli Sci. Organizational behaviour. Music. Geology. Architecture. Comp Sci.

Re: musical theatre I would tell myself to chill out. I was a control freak perfectionist back then (I’m now a recovering control freak perfectionist) and letting go of some of my quality standards would have let more people in.

What advice would you give to a 20-year-old starting a nonprofit career?

Negotiate salary and benefits. Learn things and achieve things outside your job descriptions. Learn how to run a good meeting. Don’t be afraid to leave your organization in order to learn more and move up. Get fundraising experience. Soak it in!

What one thing should every nonprofit professional do for 20 minutes every day?

Plan their day. Ideally based on a weekly plan. Building a weekly plan helps you outline how you are going to move important things forward, and building your daily plan from that weekly plan ensures you don’t just get urgent things done (email, meetings) but also make big things happen!

What was the best (or most embarrassing) 20 minutes of your nonprofit career?

Hmm. It’s less than 20 minutes, but both great and kind of embarassing. I had facilitated a strategic planning session for a community foundation and it went really well. One of the board members ran into my mom and told her that she should be really proud of me.

Fill in the blank – 20 years ago, I was using my computer to _____.

In 1995 I was 15 and my family didn’t have a computer yet. I think by 1996 we had a computer and got internet for Christmas. My parents had give the clue “ocean” and my younger sister hoped that we were getting jet skis. Ha! Instead the clue referred to “surfing the web.”

I can remember using the computer for writing a chemistry report on HIV/AIDS, trying to play Myst but not really getting it, and joining a chat room but, again, not really getting it and never coming back.

Favourite song from 20 years ago or when you were 20?

I got my first CD player 20 years ago. I wanted the first song I played on it to be really meaningful. It was “Hand In My Pocket” by Alanis Morissette.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ8D5Ihe4hg

How has CharityVillage impacted your career and work over the past 20 years?

I’ve found jobs on CharityVillage. I’ve recruited volunteers and contractors on CharityVillage. I’ve written for CharityVillage. I’ve been quoted in CharityVillage. I’ve recommended CharityVillage!

This primer gives an overview of the term so that you can contribute to the conversation if it comes up, or perhaps can see it as an approach that may be effective for your organization and community.

A socially innovative approach

Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. – Wikipedia

Collective impact is an approach that:

• brings together stakeholders who have roles in a complex social or environmental issue,
• in order to build a common vision for a desired future, and
• uncover each stakeholder’s greatest opportunities to contribute to that future, and
• who agree to focus their resources on those interventions with greatest opportunity for impact, and
• who, as a group, continuously communicate and measure along their path towards the common vision.

But it’s more than just an approach.

While collective impact is a socially innovative approach, its success relies on people.

Relationships are fundamental. A collective impact process, when broken down into its smallest pieces, involves people, doing things, over time. Without respectful relationships between individual stakeholders, things won’t get done, and the whole approach is at risk.

Who should take a collective impact approach?

People who are invested in achieving a solution to a complex problem. People who enjoy working collaboratively with other stakeholders who are also invested in a solution. People who will persevere when things get murky.

Ideally you already work collaboratively and have good relationships with other stakeholders. The rest of the answers—like a clear vision and a strong theory of how to get there and who will do what—come as part of the process.

Who leads?

While an individual stakeholder may initiate conversations that lead towards a collective impact approach, successful collective impact initiatives rely on a neutral convenor, with a specific set of skills, to mediate, facilitate, navigate power dynamics, and ensure consistent communication, measurement, and recalibration.

This crucial support role must be resourced above an beyond stakeholders. Therefore funders also play an important role in collective impact.

The expectation that collaboration can occur without a supporting infrastructure is one of the most frequent reasons why it fails. – John Kania & Mark Kramer in Stanford Social Innovation Review 

In future posts, I’ll answer questions like:

• How are collective impact initiatives and relationships governed?
• Where are the resistance points to good collaboration?
• How is collective impact similar to or different than strategic planning, impact measurement, stakeholder mapping, developmental evaluation, theories of change, basic collaboration, etc?
• I want to try this in my community. How do I get the process started?

What other questions about collective impact do you have?

In this episode, Trina rants and raves about nonprofit sector conferences, she interviews Dara Parker about gender justice within the nonprofit sector, and gives advice to a young listener about whether or not to work in the nonprofit sector or instead to focus on financial independence first.

Links and resources from this episode

• Association of Nonprofit and Social Economy Research
• ARNOVA
• QMUNITY
• Language in women’s performance reviews
• Gender imbalance in nonprofit sector
• Dan Pallotta – Uncharitable (book and TED talk)

Reminder

Submit your questions or comments by following the directions here.

Your degree does not define you. Sure, it might now, while connecting with other students, helps them fit you into a box. But the rest of the world doesn’t work that way. Your life choices in general define you – i.e. you define you. The sum of the courses, workshops, events, volunteer roles, jobs, travel experiences, passion projects and other life experiences define you. My undergrad was in Biology and Chemistry. It was right for me at the time. But now I do consulting and research on issues facing the nonprofit sector. It’s been a short 13 years since I finished my time at UBC. A lot can happen if you intentionally choose your life.

Negotiate for salary, even your first “career” job. And if that’s not negotiable, negotiate for benefits that fit your interests – vacation time, flexible schedule, support for professional development, etc. Read “Ask for It” by Babcock and Laschever.  Especially women and non-alpha people in general.

Your first job does not define you. My first job was as a high school science and math teacher. It was the right job for me at that time, but it was not meant to be my life’s work. 

Shorten your cover letter. Trust me, it’s too long. And most university students can probably fit a resume onto one page. Definitely don’t go more than two. Don’t.

Don’t do a masters degree right away. Even if you want to go into academia. If you’re worried about your job prospects after an undergrad, getting a masters degree won’t get you any further ahead, you’ll just have spent more money. Choose a masters degree once you have some relevant work and life experience that you bring into a learning environment. You will benefit and so will your classmates. Do a masters degree because of personal interest in learning, or to learn from specific people and classmates. And once you get your footing in the non-academic world, you might find that a masters degree isn’t actually what you need and want. I did an MBA after 5 years experience (and did it while continuing to work full time), and I’m glad I had the perspective of professional work experience.

Look at your resume and cover letter from a few feet away. Can you distinguish different sections? Does it look pretty? Fix it until it does. Don’t use Arial or Times New Roman. Or Comic Sans.

Always pay attention to what interests you. A workshop caught your eye? A person interest you? A book draws you in? A topic got you talking? Even if you don’t know where you want to go in your career, pay attention to your attention, and keep moving forward and seeking out experiences.

While in university, take advantage of the free/organized resources and services and experiences at your fingertips. The world outside university is not as supportive. Join clubs, do co-op, do exchanges, take workshops, run for your student association, volunteer for a variety of experiences. If you keep your head down and graduate as soon as you can, you’ll find yourself with less experience of interest for prospective employers, and less self awareness of what drives you and what you’re good at. One or even two extra years will be a benefit, not a cost.

If everything is easy for you, and you always hear yes, you aren’t taking enough risks. See every opportunity as one of a series of small risks. Many will pay off. Some won’t, but in the long run you’ll come out ahead.

Interview senior people in fields/organizations that interest you while still in university. When it’s clear you’re not currently looking for a job, it’s easier to set up informational interviews to learn from and to be inspired by others. Senior folks are more open to students than they are youngish professionals.

Never stop learning. Read. Listen to podcasts. Watch documentaries. Talk with other smart people. It will make you smarter and more interesting and bring you joy.