Posted on Tuesday, 17th August 2010 by chris wignall

One of the major new challenges I’ve taken on this year is chairing the board with Absolute.org (one of our strategic partners). Having been on boards of a few organizations before, and with a sudden need for someone to accept the chair, I agreed to the role in February.
It hasn’t been an easy time for [...]

Posted in Catalyst, Leadership, Resources, Vision | Comments (0)

Posted on Monday, 16th August 2010 by chris wignall

Sometimes it’s just about context.
Yesterday professional golfer Dustin Johnson blew a chance to win his first major tournament because he hadn’t taken 60 seconds to read the specific rules of the course that were posted for all the players to see. A lot of fans were annoyed that a seemingly small violation caused by a [...]

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Posted on Friday, 13th August 2010 by chris wignall

When we launched our organization in February of 2008 one of the first decisions we made was that we wouldn’t offer grants to churches. It was actually a very easy decision and one made with very little debate. On our website’s FAQs we put it this way:
5. Does Catalyst support church-based projects?
Not at this time. [...]

Posted in Catalyst, Leadership, Philanthropy, Vision | Comments (1)

Posted on Wednesday, 28th July 2010 by chris wignall

Earlier this summer my 6 year old refused to take part in a large family picture at a reunion. Regardless of how we asked, encouraged, or mildly threatened him he just wouldn’t sit down with all the cousins and more distant relatives and smile for a few seconds. Until Grandpa offered him $2 to do [...]

Posted in Great Stories, Leadership, Vision | 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 [...]

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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 Tuesday, 29th September 2009 by chris wignall

Again this week I’ve had conversations about the need for charities to find new ways to generate revenue. I really believe that if we can’t find our way past being entirely dependant on donors we are putting our future at risk.
During a meeting last night one strong leader referred to the idea that non-profits must [...]

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Posted on Friday, 21st August 2009 by chris wignall

Another couple conversations with another couple young leaders from another couple organizations that are trying to do meaningful work for the benefit of serious and significant issues. And once again, we found ourselves about the challenge of dealing with a board of directors.
My observation: people who start things, especially when they are young adults, are [...]

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Posted on Friday, 24th April 2009 by chris wignall

Taking part in an excellent seminar today at the Tyndale Centre for Leadership. Peter Dickens from The Iris Group is talking about strategic planning. He’s very good.
We’ve spent some time talking about Core Values. Peter makes a strong case that values needs to be the starting point of developing vision. This is contrary to the [...]

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Posted on Thursday, 23rd April 2009 by chris wignall

How can we connect our donors with our vision in a meaningful way?
Every nonprofit leader I meet with wants more than just dollars from donors; they want a deeper connection. In a few cases it is possible to take the donors to see the projects and programs personally, but the costs of doing so (money, [...]

Posted in Philanthropy, Vision | Comments (1)