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Apr 2022COVID-19: A Disruptor and Wellspring for Volunteerism
ONN was pleased to welcome Joanne McKiernan, Executive Director of Volunteer Toronto to Nonprofit Driven 2021. This profile is part of an incentive prize at the conference to recognize attendees and their work. In the spring of 2020, we jolted as millions of volunteers were dismissed from their roles due to public health restrictions and program closures. Shortly after the voluntary sector absorbed another blow;...
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08
Apr 2022Helping women reclaim their power and resiliency at North York Women’s Centre
ONN was pleased to welcome Taraneh Vejdani of North York Women’s Centre to Nonprofit Driven 2021. This profile is part of an incentive prize at the conference to recognize attendees and their work. I joined the nonprofit North York Women’s Centre (NYWC) in August 2020, during the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. What started as a two-month contract blossomed into the full-time role of...
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05
Apr 2022Five ways for nonprofits to engage this election
“We need to be the water. If there’s a barrier, we find our way over it, under it, through the little cracks – we find a way to move it forward.” -Pam Frache, Workers’ Action Centre I first heard these powerful words from Pam during ONN’s webinar on engaging communities in election advocacy. Nonprofits have been moving like water these past two years; time and...
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24
Mar 2022Reflecting on COVID-19: Five key takeaways for the sector
In March 2020, we wrote a letter to the ONN network titled “Nonprofits on the front lines of COVID-19.” It was the first communication to our sector about what the pandemic might mean for us – our work, staff, volunteers, families, and communities. We knew that whatever was going to happen, it would cause chaos and uncertainty for the nonprofit sector. I knew that the...
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07
Mar 2022Reflections on the state of Decent Work for Women in the nonprofit sector
Happy International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month! Let’s take a moment to celebrate women and gender diverse folks across the nonprofit sector whose transformative efforts are helping to create a more just and equitable future for all Ontarians. We know that 77 per cent of the nonprofit workforce across Ontario and Canada consists of women workers. It’s with this staggering statistic (80 per cent...
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04
Mar 2022Four lessons learned about governance innovation
Embracing messiness, discomfort, and ambiguity A big thing that often gets in the way of embarking on change work – like reimagining how nonprofit organizations think about and do governance – is the sheer messiness of it all. Discomfort, or even dread, is common when we confront change or try something new. Add in a sense of ambiguity about how things may unfold, along with...
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24
Feb 2022Prioritizing Black joy is central to Black wellness
In a previous blog post, I wrote about acknowledging Black fatigue and centering Black wellness as necessary to advancing Decent Work for Black workers in the nonprofit sector. Prioritizing Black joy is critical to centering Black wellness and combating anti-Black racism. Black joy can be understood as a form of rest. Clever Cruz, the founder of the Black Joy Project states that “Amplifying Black joy is...
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Feb 2022A letter to the nonprofit sector on centering Black wellness and rest
Here, at ONN, I spend the majority of my working time thinking about, breathing in and strategizing around decent work and racial justice and Indigenous justice. Since joining the team in June 2021, almost every week, I’ve connected with nonprofit leaders and workers about embedding practices that support decent work in the nonprofit sector and trying to figure out how they can implement internal practices...
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31
Jan 2022Nonprofits are experiencing an HR crisis. Repealing Bill 124 can help.
Over the past few months, I’ve been in countless meetings where folks from across the nonprofit ecosystem have been talking about the rapidly intensifying HR crisis in our sector. I’m hearing panic, urgency, and even despair in their voices. Leaders are sharing how they are unable to recruit and retain staff, while workers are talking about burnout and mental health concerns. I also find myself...
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27
Jan 2022Nonprofit amalgamations can be a success. Ten years in, Parachute shows us how.
I clearly remember that day in 2009 when four leaders of national nonprofits set in motion what would be a sea change for us as leaders, as well as for our organizations...