I see evidence that generosity is the fuel of networks. This means that in order to maintain and grow our networks we need to be able to recognize generosity in action, name it and support it. This week I’ve been wondering about the difference between professional behaviours or professionalism and more significant acts of professional generosity?
I decided to ask around my network of career practitioners to see if there were any common themes.
Recently, I was invited to speak at a conference of not-for-profit organizations on the topic of “How to Recruit More Volunteers.” The conference organizers must have been distressed when I began my remarks by asserting: “What we need is fewer volunteers and more community.” I went on to explain what I see as the difference.
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Big change doesn't just click on, it occurs over time, starting out often as weak signals of the change to come. Sometimes it’s like the old frog in the boiling water story. Put the frog in when the water is cool and turn up the flame and eventually the frog realizes its plight, just too late to adjust, to escape.
For years, donor giving has been changing. Charities have become increasingly dependent on larger gifts from fewer donors. As the economy has served to increase the income and wealth gap between the small numbers of wealthy and the rest of everyone else, we have seen food bank use escalate and a growing number of workers living pay check to pay check. Job security is no longer a reasonable expectation for a growing number of people, much less the chance for advancement. Employee supported pensions are no longer the norm and health and dental benefits are harder to come by for low income workers and many who do not yet qualify as “low income” workforce members.
Mayor Don Iveson's Taskforce to End Poverty in a Generation had its final meeting on May 30, 2016. Actually the meeting was really a celebratory gathering, a time to acknowledge the work and leadership of so many.
In particular we celebrated the publication of End Poverty Edmonton’s Roadmap to Guide Our Journey which is based on the EPE’s Strategy to achieve a poverty free city within a generation. Both of these documents have been endorsed by Edmonton’s City Council and indeed, City Council has already been involved in implementing certain aspects of the strategy even before the Roadmap was finalized.
Thanks to a partnership with the Alberta Government, the City will be launching a low income bus pass that will provide a 60% discount on the standard fares for public transit. The program is being launched in 2017 with three years of funding in place. The total cost is estimated to be around $12.4 million and will be split 50-50 between the province and the city. Approximately 20,000 low income families will benefit from this savings. For more information about how the subsidy works, click HERE.
By: Kendall Hammond, July 5 2016
Last week the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition (YAPC) released the report Living Wage in Whitehorse, Yukon: 2016 that included the first ever living wage calculation for Whitehorse, Yukon. The report revealed that the living wage in Whitehorse equals $19.12 per hour, one of the highest rates in Canada. In addition to the report, the YAPC released a calculation guide that includes a detailed description of the methods used in the Whitehorse calculation as well as step-by-step instructions to assist those calculating the living wage in other Northern communities. To date, Yellowknife is the only other Northern community to calculate the living wage.
The living wage serves as an important measure of poverty as those earning less than the living wage amount in their community will undoubtedly face significant challenges meeting basic needs. This information is especially valuable in Northern communities where Statistics Canada does not measure poverty.
What can we learn from nearly a hundred inspiring stories – saving rain forests in the Amazon, transforming education in Latin America, reforming public health in middle Africa, and reducing poverty in Bangladesh – about how to create transformative change?
This is the question that Roger Martin, one of Canada’s best known business school leaders and management consultants, and Sally Osberg, President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, which champions social change efforts around the globe, answer in their book, Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works. They also uncover a lot about the frequently referred to, but poorly understood, craft of social entrepreneurship. Here are three of their biggest insights.
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