Who We Are

Page index:

• Purpose and location 
• Background
• Staff
• Advisory Committee (coming soon)
• Participating organizations

   Purpose and location

The Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program is a continuing education program for persons currently working in the voluntary sector. It serves sector organizations, principally those throughout Nova Scotia and in Eastern Canada.

The program is based at Dalhousie University's College of Continuing Education. It is headed by a Program Director, who is a faculty member, a program manager and a network of university and community-based instructors, researchers and advisors. The College is a multi-program and multi-site academic unit headed by a Dean. The Non-Profit program is part of a grouping of continuing education certificate programs which includes the Negotiation and Conflict Management Programme and the Adult Education Certificate Program.

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Dalhousie University has been formally serving the voluntary sector since 1988 when it offered its first evening course on managing non-profit organizations through Dalhousie's Henson College of Public Affairs and Continuing Education. Henson College was established as a senior academic unit at Dalhousie in 1984. Named in honour of Dr. Guy Henson, one of Nova Scotia's outstanding adult education pioneers, the College and its predecessor builds on Dalhousie's 60-year tradition of action research, community development and outreach, and adult education.

In 1989 we became one of ten post secondary institutions in Canada engaged in delivering the National Certificate Program in Voluntary and Non Profit Sector Management, a national educational initiative developed in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy (now Imagine Canada). In 1997, we facilitated a review of the national program in consultation with sector organizations and the other delivery institutions, which recommended that a single national approach be replaced with a more decentralized and market-sensitive approach to voluntary sector education.

From 1998 to 2004 we provided a program of eight courses leading to a Certificate in Non-Profit Sector Management. Because of declining interest in certification and the difficulty of finding training resources (time and money) within the sector, we decided in 2005 to focus our efforts on a few key stand alone leadership courses. As the College of Continuing Education we continue to develop these as fully as possible as opportunities for practitioners to come together for reflection and analysis, opportunities that employ the best adult education and peer learning practices and are informed by the latest research.

The Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program at Dalhousie University, is one of a handful university-based programs in Canada that focuses on supporting those currently working in the voluntary sector. Our focus is on governance and leadership development and we work almost exclusively with volunteer boards, executive directors and those seeking to take on these challenging roles.

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   Staff

E. Grant MacDonald

Grant is an Associate Professor of Continuing Education at the College of Continuing Education Dalhousie University and Director of the College's Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program and Negotiation and Conflict Management Program.

Grant is one of Canada's leading researchers and adult educators in the field of non-profit and voluntary sector leadership. He has worked with many organizations throughout Nova Scotia and as a coach, advisor and trainer. Within the Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program, Grant is the principal instructor for the courses Board Governance and Accountability, and Leading and Managing Non-Profit Organizations.

Grant was formerly chair of the Academic Coordinating Committee for the National Certificate Program in Voluntary and Nonprofit Sector Management, he is currently on the Coordinating Committee of the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Affinity Group, which represents post secondary institutions interested in working with the sector, in association with Canada's Human Resource Council for the Voluntary Sector. Grant is a member of ARNOVA and ISTAR, two international associations of researchers and practitioners interested in voluntary sector, and is a founding member of ANSER, a new Canadian association.

Grant also teaches in the area of negotiation and conflict resolution focusing on courses on building collaborative relationships, transformative communication, difficult conversations, and public participation and citizen engagement. His is a trained mediator with an interest in board-staff conflict in non-profit organizational settings.

He holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Dalhousie University and Bachelor’s degrees in Arts and Business Administration from the University of New Brunswick. He has also done graduate work in education at OISE (University of Toronto).

Grant is active in his community and has served on and chaired a number of volunteer boards including Dalhousie Legal Aid, Community Health Promotion Network Atlantic, the North Woodside Community Association, and the Community Liaison Committee for the Dartmouth Sewage Treatment Plant (HRM Harbour Solutions Project). He is currently on the board of Ecology Action Centre, one of Canada's leading environmental organizations.

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Chris Cameron

Acting program manager.

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   Advisory Committee

Coming soon ...

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   Participating Organizations 

This is a list of some of the voluntary organizations that have been or are actively involved in the program.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  R  S  T  U  V  W  Y

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