Posted on Wednesday, 9th June 2010 by chris wignall

Sometimes opportunity knocks, sometimes it seeps through the basement walls.
When recent rains flooded the basement of Stu Taylor’s home outside Winnipeg he didn’t anticipate it leading to positive news coverage for our partner IDE-Canada. To see how personal frustration was turned into national media coverage watch this clip from the CBC or read the release [...]

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Posted on Thursday, 18th March 2010 by chris wignall

Darren DeGraaf of Arrow Leadership posted an excellent article on some of the lessons he’s learned from leaders he’s worked with. Nothing really new or innovative here, just a fresh reminder of the basic truths that comprise the vast majority of what leadership really is. Well done D!
A favourite bit:
Intentionally mentor your team members.

At Arrow [...]

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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 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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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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Posted on Monday, 21st December 2009 by chris wignall

This is the time of year when the majority of charities are scrambling to get last minute donations from donors before the end of the calendar year. While most North Americans are trying to enjoy a little extra time off, many Executive Directors, Development Officers, and CEOs are spending hours trying to access and accomodate [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 by chris wignall

Thanks to the good folks at Strive:
We encourage each of you to assess how long you ought to stay on the board.  Here are some questions and a rating system to help you decide.
Use the following questions to honestly rate yourself from 0 to 5 (with 5 representing a firm ‘yes’ response and 0 being [...]

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Posted on Saturday, 12th December 2009 by chris wignall

What a great idea!!
Playpumps International has come up with a way for African villages to access desperately needed clean water by rigging a pump with a children’s merry-go-round. As the children laugh and play together they provide life-giving water for their entire community. The perfect photo op is so many ways. It even gathered support [...]

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