Posted on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010 by chris wignall

We are excited at the news that our partners at International Development Enterprises have just been named the first ever winners of the Nestle prize in Creating Shared Value for work they are doing with small scale farmers in Cambodia. By taking an innovative and market based approach to agricultural sustainability IDE has demonstrated that [...]

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Posted on Friday, 23rd April 2010 by chris wignall

Since my last post one of the things that have kept me busy is the continuing process for Stronger Together. It has been extremely informative. Reviewing 131 applications initially and now sitting in on some site visits for some of the 49 finalists has given me a lot of perspective on some of the things [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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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 [...]

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Posted on Saturday, 12th December 2009 by chris wignall

Kiva has initiated something not far short of a true paradigm shift in donor relations; everyone else would be wise to pay close attention. By taking a model with some similarities to traditional child sponsorship (as World Vision and Compassion are well reputed for) and taking full advantage of the immediacy of the internet, Kiva [...]

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