eNewsletter: Spring/Summer 2004

 In This Issue:    

1. HR Tools for Cultural Sector
2. Investing in Voluntary Sector Leadership
3. Straight Talk on Board Liability Issue
4. New Course to Focus on Deeper Communication
5. Nova Scotia NDP Appoints Voluntary Sector Critic
6. Effective Practices in Financing and Resourcing Programs

"Dealing with the Challenge and Conflict" and "Coaching, Mentoring and Succession Planning" are two of the more interesting titles in a series of seven new publications by the Cultural Human Resources Council oriented to better human resource practices. CHRC is one of a number of national and provincial sector councils established by HRDC.

The "Challenge and Conflict" publication looks at conflict styles, making collaboration work and communication skills. The "coaching" resource considers the difference between coaching and mentoring, how to be an effective coach and succession planning.

The seven publications, all of which are all available on line at www.culturalhrc.ca, will be of interest to other non-profit organizations.

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Tomorrow's voluntary sector leaders will have to be different than today's in both vision and skills. They will have to work at an organizational, community and even global level. They will have to know themselves. Their abilities as communicators will be critical. This is the message coming out of the National Leadership Initiative for the Voluntary Sector (NLI).

Dalhousie University and Tatamagouche Centre are pleased to be involved in Leadership Connext, an educational pilot program designed to provide greater insight into how leadership can be cultivated. The Dalhousie-Tatamagouche program is one of several "leadership schools" being designed and delivered on behalf of the NLI.

Twenty to twenty-five individuals from across the Maritime Provinces will participate in the program at Tatamagouche Centre from June through this September. All will be supported in taking on increasing leadership roles in their communities by the voluntary sector organizations they are involved with.

One of the challenges organizers encountered even before the start of the program was getting voluntary sector organizations to identify individuals in their midst they were prepared to encourage and support as upcoming leaders. The funding environment in the majority of community organizations does little to encourage human resource investment.

The Leadership Connext program will stretch our understanding of how we can more effectively learn to be leaders, if indeed we can, and what role non-formal or adult education can play in developing the knowledge and skills that enables leadership to blossom.

Leadership Connext will not only benefit the participants. What Dalhousie and Tatamagouche Centre learn will have a lasting impact on changing the curriculum of voluntary sector education programs, their own, and hopefully that of other institutions.

A report on the Leadership Connext program and an inventory of leadership resources will be posted on this site in the fall of 2004.

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Michael Coyle, a lawyer practicing in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley with a long time interest in child poverty issues, weighs in on the issue of whether voluntary sector organizations really need board insurance. His point of view is that most do not and cannot  afford it, and that governments, and perhaps lawyers themselves, are helping to fan the fire of anxiety around this issue.

We thank Mike for his contribution to this ongoing discussion and welcome reader feedback.

PDF - The Liability of Volunteer Board Members

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The Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program will have a new certificate course this coming academic year. Entitled "Interpersonal, Organizational and Community Dialogue"

The course focuses on understanding and improving the quality of conversations within and between voluntary sector organizations and between voluntary sector organizations and their stakeholders. Within our organizations, these conversations involve staff, volunteers, clients and board members; outside they are with donors, public servants, politicians, business leaders and sister organizations. Communication is frequently most difficult when the stakes are high, when the relationships we have or are tying to have may seem at risk and the subject matter is very important.

This new course will be an elective for those seeking credit towards the Certificate in Non -Profit Sector Management from Dalhousie University. We hope it will be of interest to graduates of the program and others who recognize the importance of greater understanding and skills in this area.

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In February, the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party appointed Dartmouth South-Portland Valley MLA Marilyn More, as the NDP's Critic for the Voluntary Sector. More brings to this role a lot of voluntary sector experience, most recently as Provincial Coordinator for Community Links, a network of organizations focused on improving the quality of life for seniors in rural areas. More is also a graduate of the Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program.

In an press release, Darrell Dexter, Leader of the Nova Scotia NDP, indicated that the "appointment recognizes the importance of the voluntary sector in Nova Scotia... a sector which provides the equivalent of $2 billion of services... particularly to our most vulnerable citizens." This appointment may help in drawing greater attention to the vast array of voluntary sector organizations with which provincial government departments have important relationships. These relationships involve program or service delivery as well as, in their role as advocates for groups and causes, involvement in the development of government policy. In Nova Scotia, the departments of Health and Community Services depend heavily on the voluntary sector for delivering services. The departments of Economic Development, Justice, and Environment and Labour also have important voluntary sector connections.

What is often not recognized by governments is the voluntary sector's role developing active, engaged citizens. A healthy democracy requires action by people in relation to one another at community level not just relationships between voters and their governments.

Only a few provincial governments have, at a senior level, acknowledged the importance of developing the voluntary sector as a specific objective. Given that government-voluntary sector relationships cut across the usual departmental lines, these provinces have taken different approaches. Ontario has located responsibility for the voluntary sector in its Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. The Wild Rose Foundation, a lottery funded organization created by the Alberta government, is that government's explicit vehicle for supporting the development of voluntary sector capacity. Most recently, the Premier of Saskatchewan established the province's own Voluntary Sector Initiative, and appointed three MLA's to champion it.

Of all provinces, Quebec probably has the best-developed voluntary sector if one includes the hybrid sector or "social economy" - l'economie sociale. Successive governments, since 1996, have made the creation of "businesses" offering community services to those with a limited ability to pay, a significant plank in the Province's economic development and job creation strategy.

Time will tell whether interest from the opposition side of the legislature, and Marilyn More's efforts in particular, will have much impact in promoting greater coordination, let alone policy direction in the Nova Scotia's Government's approach to the voluntary sector. The NDP appointment is one step in this direction.

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Case studies from across Canada outline some of the creative ways voluntary sector organizations are raising funds and utilizing resources to meet their missions. As an inventory of effective practices, the organizations depicted will hopefully generate ideas that other organizations can use.

The case studies from Atlantic Canada profile ten organizations as well as offering a valuable funders perspective on financing the voluntary sector in the region. East coast organizations featured are the Moncton Crisis Pregnancy Centre, the Moncton Volunteer Centre, Community Links, Phoenix Youth Programs, TeamWork Cooperative, Island Nature Trust, Women's Network PEI, The Association of New Canadians, East Coast Trail Association and the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador.

To view the study and the case studies visit the Voluntary Sector Initiative site: www.vsi-isbc.ca/eng/funding/best_practices.cfm

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The Canadian Volunteerism Initiative (CVI) is supporting the formation of local volunteer networks to share and encourage ideas that will help communities and organizations recruit and keep volunteers. Networks are being established across Canada hosted by existing voluntary sector organizations.

In Newfoundland and Labrador the host organization is the Community Services Council (www.csc.nf.ca); in Prince Edward Island it is the Bedeque Bay Environmental Management Association; in New Brunswick it is the Moncton Volunteer Centre; and in Nova Scotia it is Recreation Nova Scotia and Community Links (www.novascotianetwork.org)

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Conflict in voluntary organizations is fairly common. Some of it is associated with the challenges that go with the different stages of organizational life from founding to maturity to rebirth. If handled well conflict can be a source of learning and organizational growth. If handled poorly it can be destructive to personal relationships, reduce the benefits to members and clients, and turn people away from active civic and community life.

Dalhousie's Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program and the Negotiation and Conflict Management Programme are pleased to announce a new publication, Managing Board Conflict. It deals with the sources of conflict on board and between boards and staff and suggests strategies for dealing with some of these situations. The publication is available for free on this website.

PDF - Managing Board Conflict

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Dalhousie University is pleased to announce the following persons as graduates of the Non-Profit Sector Leadership Program at Dalhousie University for 2002-2003.

In completing the program requirements they and their organizations have demonstrated a significant commitment to organizational excellence as part of Canada's voluntary sector.

• Robert Allan - AIDS Coalition of Nova Scotia
• Colleen Calvert - Military Family Resource Centre, Maritime Forces Atlantic
• Susan LeBlanc - Canadian National Institute for the Blind Halifax District
• Margaret Matthews - Lunenburg/Queens Action Council for People with Disabilities
• Dawn McFarlane-Smith - Wee Care Developmental Centre
• Gerard McNeil - Canadian Mental Health Association
• Jane Orrell - Persons with Disabilities Association of Industrial Cape Breton
• Andrea Saulnier - West Nova Persons with Disabilities
• Becky Scott-Bridge - Chester & Area Family Resource Centre
• Bill Travis - Annapolis Valley Work Activity Society
• Lois Whitehead - Atlantic Provinces Council For The Sciences

The above graduates join an impressive list of over forty program alumni providing leadership to community organizations in Nova Scotia and beyond.

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We would welcome the submission of short articles or information items for this newsletter relevant to voluntary sector learning, research and public policy issues >> Contact us to submit an item

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