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.

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Posted on Tuesday, 29th December 2009 by chris wignall

Recently I was able to spend some time with a couple of our Catalyst Award winners from last spring. These are young leaders who graduated high school with a thoughtful, developing dream of how their life could be a benefit to others. They inspire me.
While talking about how we keep ourselves reminded of our dreams [...]

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Posted on Friday, 21st August 2009 by chris wignall

The global humanitarian crises are desperate and sadly appear all too permanent. Statistics and stories from boooks like Billion Bootstraps, Out of Poverty, and Dead Aid reveal the lasting ineffectiveness of the billions we’ve poured into the developing world for decades. There has to be a better way.
At the recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit Andrew [...]

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Posted on Monday, 17th August 2009 by chris wignall

Catalyst is now requesting submissions for our fall granting cycle. Details are available at: http://www.catalystfoundation.ca/applications
If you or anyone you know is involved with a Canadian charity that is facing a specific leadership hurdle and needs $2000-7000 to reach a higher level as an organization please consider an application.
Past Encouragement Grants have supported staff training, event [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 28th July 2009 by chris wignall

I am giving serious consideration to adding revenue streams as a criteria for Catalyst funding. I wonder how nonprofit leaders would respond to a question like this on the application:
“What are your current revenue streams other than receiptable donations and subsidized user fees?”
To clarify; I am interested in what organizations are doing that provides them [...]

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Posted on Tuesday, 14th July 2009 by chris wignall

As my exposure and experience in diverse non-profit organizations grows I find my self increasingly convinced of the enormous potential of an effective board. I am also increasingly frustrated by how few effective board there are and how little understanding I see of how to improve.
Cathie Leimbach of Strive writes an article that neatly summarizes [...]

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Posted on Monday, 6th July 2009 by chris wignall

Each of the winners of our Catalyst Scholarship this year was given a copy of this book by Chris Widener. As with many business/leadership/inspirational books it is formed as a parable.

I’m inviting all of the recipients to post their brief reflections on the book as comments here before I add my 2 cents.

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Posted on Monday, 29th June 2009 by chris wignall

This is the result of a whiteboard session we had this morning as we continue defining our strategy. The three green circles represent our areas of interest and investment. We’ve been committed to leadership organizations and reducing poverty in the global village (through market driven economic strategies) from our beginning. It is only in the [...]

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Posted on Wednesday, 24th June 2009 by chris wignall

My post today is part of a larger initiative of more than 50 bloggers all sharing their thoughts on how to ‘bridge the gap’. You can check out the other perspectives here.

Catalyst was involved in an Encouragement Grant to New Direction in 2008 to support work with an organizational consultant.
I’ve never considered myself a [...]

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Posted on Thursday, 23rd April 2009 by chris wignall

I really believe there are few things more beautiful in this world than adoption. The idea that someone would take in and include as family a child who is disadvantaged and has no claim on such treatment is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of what humanity can become.
Today I read the following [...]

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