04
Jan 2017How the federal charity reform process can be enriched by provincial and regional nonprofit networks
Big changes may be coming to how Canada regulates charities. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau specified in his mandate letter to the minister of national revenue to “modernize the rules governing the charitable and not-for-profit sectors” and to clarify the rules governing “political activity,” proposing that “a new legislative framework to strengthen the sector will emerge from this process”. It is easy to understand why national...
Read More
19
Dec 2016Time to roll up our sleeves and lead
As with many in the nonprofit sector here in Canada, over the last month our team has watched our US nonprofit counterparts struggle with what the new administration will mean for their organizations, their communities and the role of the nonprofit sector in the country. As public benefit organizations, we are closely connected to communities with an ear to the ground – seeing firsthand when...
Read More
07
Dec 2016ONN in conversation: Yes, government funding will get easier for nonprofits
Funding reform, arguably one of ONN’s most challenging policy files to-date, has the network working closely with government to reform the policies, practices, and procedures for how funding is provided to the sector. Funding, cited as a key barrier facing nonprofit organizations, is not only about the size and stability of dollars, but also the administrative requirements and how the funding flows. This, for now,...
Read More
29
Nov 2016Five Steps Towards Good Jobs
Our commitment to decent work began many years ago when we committed to being evidence-informed and using data to inform our planning and evaluation processes. This means all data, but in particular data and knowledge that was co-created with community through our community based research program. It became crystal clear to us that bad jobs are making people sick, that pathways to precarious employment are...
Read More
03
Nov 2016A new advocacy chill? The Election Finances Act
The Government of Ontario recently reintroduced The Election Finances Statute Law Amendment Act (Bill 2 – formerly Bill 201), which changes the rules for provincial election financing. We don’t disagree with Bill 2’s stated intent. To reduce the influence of powerful third-party spenders in elections is a good thing. Democracy can be subverted when there is too much influence from wealthy third parties on politics....
Read More
28
Oct 2016Who sets the evaluation agenda? Five important discussion questions to make evaluation useful
Too often, an evaluation enters the mindset of a nonprofit as a fully formed process imposed on their organization by someone else. In other words, who sets the agenda? In many cases, nonprofits are told what to evaluate and how to evaluate it, and then are left to their own devices to get it done. As one funder has noted, evaluation should be about accountability...
Read More
17
Oct 2016Ten things nonprofits want funders to know
ONN has heard a lot about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to funding. Through our policy work, and our outreach and engagement of our network and working groups of nonprofit leaders, we’ve heard from organizations of all sizes over the years from a variety of sectors and parts of Ontario. These ten things keep bubbling up. So, we’re sharing them here to...
Read More
07
Oct 2016Should nonprofits be reporting evaluation findings to funders?
We have pointed out in previous blogs that evaluation is less likely to lead to learning or action when it is mandated by an external actor, such as a funder. In this blog, we are going to explore in more depth the relationship between accountability, evaluation, and learning. What is the relationship between evaluation and accountability? What should it be? Can we imagine a sector...
Read More
07
Sep 2016Office supplies purchasing: There’s more to it than you might think!
Office supplies – paper, toner, pens, folders, etc. – are one of the few expenses that almost every organization incurs. No matter if you’re a nonprofit, for-profit, public sector, large or small – odds are you need to buy supplies to support your operations. This widespread and common need has resulted in no shortage of sources for these types of supplies. You can find a...
Read More
09
Aug 2016Our 2020 Vision for Nonprofit Evaluation: Let’s Be Bold!
One of the goals of our work to develop a Sector Driven Evaluation Strategy was to think beyond the limits of the system that we have now. When it comes to the fundamental questions about why evaluation matters and what makes it useful, there really isn’t much disagreement. People find evaluation useful when it helps to answer questions that matter, involves a spirit of collaboration...
Read More