Research and Education
Giving Resources
Writing and Articles
What’s Needed for Peer-to-Peer Social Finance to Take Off?
I’m going to toss an idea out to the crowd that I’ve been mulling over for the past six months. I’m wondering how far-fetched this idea is and whether anyone is already testing the assumptions. In all the literature I’m reading on social finance, we have lawyers talking about what public policy...
Ten Years Well Spent, SVP Case Study Prezi
Prezi made for SVP Calgary Ten Year Celebration and to represent Case Study project, November 2010. SVP Case Studies on Prezi
10 Years On & the Best is Yet to Come
Arizona. Boston. Boulder. British Columbia. Cleveland. Dallas. Pittsburgh. Portland. San Diego. Seattle. Silicon Valley. St. Louis. And Calgary. It's amazing to look at this list. For 10 years, these cities have been investing in their communities, engaging new folks into the field of...
Do We Have Enough Reward?
Craig Dearden-Phillips wrote the best line I’ve read in a while, “It would, in fact, be more rational to just go and work for a social enterprise than start one.” Simple and true. And problematic. In his September 18th post, Craig describes his decision to go private business vs. CIC in opening...
How to save a life.
This blog has undergone a number of mental edits - and I hesitated writing because it doesn't have a conclusion. Still the core message is one of value to me - so I pose it here. A week and a half ago, I was lying on a stretcher in the trauma ward of Rockyview ER receiving blood and being prepped...
Invest vs. Donate: It’s Value Based
This post began as an innocent nod to the Calgary Microcredit Conference that is taking place on September 11. In Alberta, just as in many places, we are seeing folks come forward into the nonprofit sector and social space who want to do more than donate their money. For readers of...
The Giving Pledge…and you.
I've been hemming and hawing about writing a post regarding the Giving Pledge that Bill Gates and Warren Buffett kicked off this past month. Mainstream media and philanthropy bloggers have been covering the pledge and its various aspects for the past few weeks. If for some reason you've missed...
Not All Quiet on the Western Front
A year ago, I started quietly along a path to understand the legal and regulatory structures and challenges of social enterprise. It was a quest for knowledge and was parlayed into a course on public policy for nonprofits. For six months, I diligently read everything published on the topic with...
What’s Next for Philanthropy?
When Bob sends an email and says, “I would be interested in hearing your views on "What's Next" in philanthropy, I know that he’s trying to help me get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper. Prompting me with Monitor Institute’s newest publication on “What’s Next for Philanthropy”, he’s...