Posted on Friday, 29th August 2008 by chris wignall

“To give away money is an easy matter and in any man’s power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large, and when, and for what purpose and how, is neither in every man’s power nor an easy matter” – Aristotle With that I have finished preparing the documents for our first [...]

Tags: Catalyst
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Posted on Wednesday, 27th August 2008 by chris wignall

I am learning quite a lot about the roles and responsibilities of board members. I’m realizing how very important an effective board can be to the long term work of an organization, and conversely, how crippling a poor board can be. In evaluating grant applications one of the factors we consider is the effectiveness of [...]

Tags: Leadership, Resources
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Posted on Friday, 22nd August 2008 by chris wignall

I seem to talk to a lot of Executive Directors of nonprofits who claim to enjoy fundraising. Without questioning their integrity, I doubt most of them. I suspect that what they really enjoy is talking about their organization, telling the stories of their team and the people they serve. When it comes to the moment [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 19th August 2008 by chris wignall

A quick list of websites and blogs that I find helpful: Strive! is the best organization I’ve come across for helping boards learn to function in ways that don’t drive themselves, staff, volunteers, donors, and clientele to desperate frustration. You should subscribe to their monthly GEMs and buy Jim Brown’s book. Mission Based Management by [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 19th August 2008 by chris wignall

Two contrasting episodes today: 1. Spent an enjoyable with Hugh Brewster of World Vision Canada’s Partners to End Child Poverty program and Scott Jones from Micah House reviewing some material from the LEAP workshop that Scott and I attended with Hugh a couple weeks ago. LEAP is an intensive process in developing project designs that [...]

Tags: Leadership, Partners
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Posted on Friday, 15th August 2008 by chris wignall

Last week I recommended a book on microfinance. After a really good meeting on Wednesday with Opportunity International – Canada I was sent this article that breaks the idea down into a pretty manageable chunk while also exploring the edges of the approach. Microfinance is going to be a key piece to our strategy.

Tags: Catalyst, Partners, Resources
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Posted on Wednesday, 13th August 2008 by chris wignall

It only seems fair to acknowledge here that I also have another blog where I post things that relate less to my role here at Catalyst. The curious can feel free to visit: Worth Doing Poorly.

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Posted on Wednesday, 6th August 2008 by chris wignall

Two books are strongly shaping our approach to our philanthropy as we enter our September funding cycle (draft proposals due August 15th): Out of Poverty by Paul Polak, founder of International Development Enterprises. and A Billion Bootstraps by Phil Smith and Eric Thurman, who have had ties to Opportunity International. These two books, combined with [...]

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Posted on Sunday, 3rd August 2008 by chris wignall

This from Fred Smith (who posts a lot of interesting articles on Facebook). It raises some excellent questions about the role of foundations relative to those we desire to help. Obviously there is bound to be some question about the quality of the work done by the Gates Foundation. Just as there is criticism of [...]

Tags: Leadership, Philanthropy
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Posted on Friday, 1st August 2008 by chris wignall

In my role with Catalyst I am responsible for the distribution of a much larger budget than most people or families will give over decades. In my private life the scale is much more modest. In both cases, I want to make the most impact with the resources I have. For smaller private donors there [...]

Tags: Philanthropy, Resources
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