Posted on Tuesday, 1st September 2009 by chris wignall

As Catalyst has become a slightly more mature in our funding programs we have learned the importance of establishing and communicating clear criteria for our grants, both in applications and in reporting from grantees. Today a part of me wishes we hadn’t done so quite so much. Almost a year ago I had a long [...]

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Posted on Thursday, 18th June 2009 by chris wignall

Some years ago a wealthy German businessman came across a village in the poverty-stricken African country of Swaziland that captured his interest. Formerly an important mining town; it was now abandoned, mine closed, population scattered, buildings left vacant. Rampant disease added to the devastation. Where others saw only a ghost town, he saw a profitable [...]

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Posted on Wednesday, 10th June 2009 by chris wignall

On June 7th we celebrated with the 5 recipients of Catalyst Scholarships for graduating students from the Halton Public School board. Pictured above with Catalyst founders Shirley and Doug Alexander are: KJ Lukas, Ashley Haick, Haylee Bloxham, Neel Dhingani, and Bhavini Tailor. In addition to a financial gift (administered by the good people at the [...]

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Posted on Thursday, 9th April 2009 by chris wignall

We are thrilled to add our congratulations to Mina Wahidi on her recognition as Burlington’s Citizen of the Year. Mina is the Founder and Director of Compassion Society, and part of the Catalyst mentoring program. Her dedication to those in need in her community, her care for volunteers, and her willingness to be bold in [...]

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Posted on Friday, 30th January 2009 by chris wignall

Last night I attended the “very soft launch” of Word Made Flesh – Canada. When Mark Petersen gets this motivated by a charity it is always worth checking out; and it was. But the best part of the night came earlier, before I left home. I was telling my 5 year old son, Ben, that [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 23rd December 2008 by chris wignall

During a meeting today with Opportunity International, Lise Struthers (Governors Council Director)shared what she’s told people who ask her what her job is. I love her response: “Everyday I get out of bed and get to connect those who live in chronic poverty with those who live in chronic wealth”. Perfect.

Tags: Great Stories, Partners
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Posted on Friday, 12th December 2008 by chris wignall

So much of the promotion work done by relief and development charities requires the viewer to get out of our cultural context and imagine life for those living in severe poverty half a world away. Most of us flip channels when Sally Struthers or some other spokesperson pops up in front of a mud hut [...]

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Posted on Sunday, 20th July 2008 by chris wignall

I’m very proud of my son’s friend Mackenzie. See why. One of the challenges for many philanthropic families is in seeing the values of generosity extended to succeeding generations. It’s not easy to do. We are inviting the children of our principals to explore the things we are doing now at Catalyst, present us with [...]

Tags: Great Stories, Philanthropy
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Posted on Saturday, 26th April 2008 by chris wignall

It was very nearly a month ago when I set out to use this space to describe how we’ve identified our priorities for funding and other support. In the unlikely possibility that you’ve been checking back looking for the rest of those thoughts I apologize for the delay and hope that what’s been posted in [...]

Tags: Catalyst, Great Stories, Leadership
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Posted on Wednesday, 9th April 2008 by chris wignall

I came home from a meeting about 2pm yesterday to have my neighbour tell me their dog had fallen into the creek and been swept over Webster’s Falls. Miraculously, the dog has survived the fall (absolutely astonishing!), but was now stranded on an inaccessible ledge just below the falls with the current surging by. After [...]

Tags: Great Stories, Partners
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