Posted on Monday, 1st March 2010 by chris wignall

I haven’t made it public before now, but I recently accepted the role of Board Chair at Absolute.org. It’s an organization with phenomenal programs and a demonstrates desire to develop top level leadership and governance. It is my privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of guiding our board and management team through this next [...]

Posted in Catalyst, Leadership, Partners, Philanthropy | Comments (0)

Posted on Monday, 1st March 2010 by chris wignall

Mark Petersen offers these comments on the Stronger Together project:
Last night at midnight, the application window for ST2010 closed.   Here’s some stats:

We received 131 applications.
The total amount requested in the 131 applications was $3,619,268.
The average ask was $27,628.   Very high for a permitted range of $5,000 – $30,000.

Now let’s do the math.  The eight partners [...]

Posted in Catalyst, Philanthropy | Comments (0)

Posted on Thursday, 25th February 2010 by chris wignall

I love this from Opportunity International – Australia (thanks for the link Macro for Micro)
Small loans, big changes

Posted in Great Stories | Comments (1)

Posted on Wednesday, 24th February 2010 by chris wignall

Great insight today from Breakfast With Fred on our tendency to try to typecast leaders according to various models or systems. I’m just going to quote the whole thing it’s so good:

Too many believe in limited leaderships styles.  It is easy to draw up a grid and put people neatly into boxes.  But, true leadership [...]

Posted in Leadership, Resources | Comments (0)

Posted on Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 by chris wignall

I am seeing and hearing a lot of charities talking and requesting funding to establish a social media plan and presence. I don’t claim to be an expert in the field but here are my current thoughts for what it’s worth.
The driving aspect of social media is media. At root these are just additional vehicles [...]

Posted in Great Stories, Leadership, Partners, Resources, Vision | Comments (3)

Posted on Friday, 19th February 2010 by chris wignall

Kiva.org is one of the best innovations in poverty work I can remember. Taking the impact of microfinance and tying it to the power of the internet for awareness and individual engagement is nothing short of brilliant.
Unfortunately, along with the massive exposure have come several misconceptions about how Kiva actually works.
On the Social Edge blog [...]

Posted in Catalyst, Great Stories, Partners, Philanthropy | Comments (2)

Posted on Saturday, 6th February 2010 by chris wignall

The Catalyst office will be closed from February 7-15th. Neither email nor phone messages will be accessed during this time. I look forward to following up with you when I return.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Posted on Monday, 25th January 2010 by chris wignall

The news reports of the ongoing suffering in Haiti coupled with the tremendous response of people in Canada and many other nations continue to be the predominant story of another week. There is no question of the desperation, but how to respond is open to much consideration.
Catalyst has heard reports from several of our partners [...]

Posted in Leadership, Partners, Vision | Comments (1)

Posted on Monday, 18th January 2010 by chris wignall

The tragic events in Haiti over the last week have captured our attention in a rare manner. Like Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, and the 9/11 attacks, the world is taking notice. In this case the suffering is all the more desperate because Haiti has such a history of instability.
We are being inundated [...]

Posted in Partners, Philanthropy | Comments (0)

Posted on Wednesday, 13th January 2010 by chris wignall

When I began work in my role at Catalyst one of the things I was told about representing a donor was “You’ll never pay for lunch and no one will tell you the truth.”
My experience so far largely contradicts both of those points, but there have been some exceptions.
I’m usually quite happy to pick up [...]

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