Toolbox Search Results

Here's the start of a sample donor database done in Excel.  The different rows represent individual donors while the columns are different information fields for each person. The right hand-side columns should each represent a specific column, allowing you to track the success of your fundraising efforts over a few years. Using the 'Data', 'Sort' feature, you can filter per column to say, pull out all the English or French speakers in your list, sort according to donation amount to see who are your higher donors or who hasn't donated in a few years

Here's a tipsheet to help you get started on developing a donor base. These notes are from the CoCo event "Charting the Journey: Fundraising in Quebec".

IMPACS' toolkit for developing effective media skills, www.impacs.org.

Over the last 30 years there has been a prolific growth in the number of non-profit organizations. Yet, many organizations are not able to sustain themselves shortly after incorporation.

To ensure your new non profit is strong enough to survive, here are some questions that need to be answered BEFORE applying for incorporation.

Article by Nicole Zummach on donor statistics 

A critique of the service-based community sector and an exploration of alternative asset-based organizing strategies - by John McKnight

Handout covering lessons from the field related to transition processes in community groups.

The Community and Women’s Groups Member Funded Pension Plan is a collective tool for improving salaried community workers’ income security upon retirement and, consequently, enhancing the sustainability of group action.

Who can become a member of the Pension Plan?

The Plan is open to community and women’s groups across Québec, including social economy and cultural-sector groups. The pension committee approves the participation in the Plan of each eligible group, based on a set of predetermined criteria.

What are the advantages of participating in the Pension Plan?

• Members are assured of a decent, lifelong retirement income.
• Joining the Plan is a wise decision, seeing that unlike RRSP income, the Plan benefits are guaranteed.
• The Plan administration is aligned with values emphasizing respect for democracy and people’s rights. Plan investments are aimed at generating the necessary returns to pay the promised pension benefits, while complying as closely as closely as possible with the community sector’s social, environmental and governance values.
• The Plan is flexible. Each participating organization sets its total contribution rate (between 2% and 18% of salary). The rate can be raised or lowered on a annual basis.

Participating in the Plan also allows you to help improve the working conditions of people in the community sector and, by extension, facilitate employee recruiting and retention.

At COCo, we often receive requests for information about the rights and responsibilities of both employers and employees. Like all other employers in Quebec, community organizations must respect the legal rights of employees and meet certain obligations. By knowing the basic duties and rights outlined by law, organizations and their employees can avoid conflicts, rest assured that they are in good legal standing, and more generally, promote a healthy organization and work atmosphere.

Incorporation can provide advantages for some organizations. It provides a legal structure that stays in place even as the active members change over the years. An incorporated non-profit can enter into contracts and have its own bank accounts. If you think this might be your organization, check out this infosheet, which outlines the steps required to incorporate in Quebec.

This info-sheet provides an introduction to the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) policy on political activities. It also guides you towards resources regarding the criticisms raised by the policy. Please feel free to contact COCo for more detailed information or for references to lawyers with experiences working with charitable organizations.

What is charitable status, who can benefit from it, and in what ways? This info sheet provides an introduction to some of the pros and cons and processes around qualifying and applying for charitable status, maintaining it and benefiting from it.

These healthy practices refer to the kinds of habits that help us to take care of our employees, staff, board, volunteers as well as our physical space. When we look at our structures, employment contracts, policies, and decision making process, we take care of our organization while simultaneously reducing our liability risks.

In November of 2003, COCo, West Island Community Shares and the West Island Volunteer Bureau hosted an exchange between funding representatives and community organizations. Here's what the funders have to say about proposal writing.

Dynamic Facilitation - Combines the self-organizing, heartfelt quality of dialogue with the structured, participatory quality of consensus. Through this facilitation process thinking naturally evolves into shared “OF COURSES” or unanimous conclusions.

Appreciative Inquiry is a highly participatory and flexible process of seeking out the “life-giving” properties that are present when an organization is performing at its very best and weaving them into the fabric of the organization so that they continue to strengthen and expand.

100% consensus means that the feelings and voices of every participant in the meeting or group are so highly valued that a single dissenting voice or perspective will block a decision for the whole group. It creates a formal space for any dissenting perspective to be fully communicated and explored by the group. It is a powerful and valuable approach to decision-making when a group collectively holds serious responsibilities and it is important for all to fully understand an issue and solidly agree on decisions that are reached.

This handout provides useful definitions, tips, and a general overview for dialogue.

Dialogue is a more creative and collaborative mode of communication that increases our capacity to address complex organizational and social issues. It is a conversation in which the intention is to generate knowledge that did not exist in any one of the participants before the conversation began.

A document that provides some guidance around creating more collaborative organizational structures.

These two handouts provide a value based framework as well as practical guidelines for how to conduct staff evaluations that are based in an Appreciative Inquiry based approach and that use a 360 degree process.

A primer has historically meant a book of first principles. That characterization fits this primer quite nicely. The principles presented here emerged from highly interactive workshops with a group of developmental evaluators representing premier Canadian organizations.1Just as developmental evaluation (DE) is a dynamic, emergent process, those workshops, spanning two years, were highly dynamic and emergent. The principles and premises captured so well here by Jamie Gamble reflect the insights generated from the developmental process of experimenting with diverse applications of developmental evaluation in innovative organizations across Canada.

Created by Jamie Gamble and the McConnell Family Foundation

This document provides an exploration of Santropol Roulants approach to evaluations...

At Santropol Roulant, evaluation is not a linear “function” at all. Nor is it separate from our ultimate mission. It is a particular way of being together and of bringing people together. The key element to this is the lack of hierarchical, “departmental”, bureaucratic structures that are in place. It is very clear what everyone’s goal is at the end of the day – delivering 90 meals to seniors and people living with a loss of autonomy across the island of Montreal. As a result, we have created a space for open dialogue, almost an “anti-structure” which breeds openness, and flexibility due to the informal nature of employees’ relationships with each other, and due to the constant accessibility of employees to volunteers, clients, and the public.

This handout provides a bunch of helpful tips for how your organization can effectively engage the community around you.

This PDF document provides a short and easy to read summary of Henry Mintzberg's book the Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning.  This is an excellent resource for any individual or group that is thinking about strategic planning and provides some powerful critiques of traditional approaches to Strategic as well as exploring some fundamental fallacies in the very concept of Strategic Planning.

This info-sheet provides information about Annual General Meetings (AGMs) and Special General Meetings (SGMs). We review some of the legal requirements for AGMs and SGMs, and highlight how general meetings can play an important role in engaging our members and maintaining the health of our organizations.

Le statut d’organisme de bienfaisance est-il vraiment nécessaire?!

Au COCo, nous rencontrons des groupes de changement social constitués sous diverses structures juridiques. De nombreux groupes communautaires œuvrent à des fins de bienfaisance sans jamais s’enregistrer à titre d’organisme de bienfaisance. Certaines organisations demandent ce statut afin de pouvoir obtenir le financement de diverses fondations ou pour inciter les donateurs à faire un don en contrepartie d’un reçu aux fins de l’impôt. D’autres en évaluent le potentiel d’augmentation des dons ou du financement et jugent que l’obtention et le maintien du statut d’organisme de bienfaisance n’en vaut simplement pas le coup.

Cette fiche-info répond aux diverses questions reliées à l’emploi, soulevées lors de nos séances d’information auprès des organisateurs communautaires. Elle survole les termes « employeur » et « employé », les normes minimales du travail, les procédures à suivre pour déposer une plainte, les syndicats, la CSST (le régime d’assurance québécois pour la sécurité du travail), les retenues légales et les contributions de l’employeur, la différence entre la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse et la Commission des relations de travail. Plus loin, vous trouverez également d’autres ressources à votre disposition.

Cette fiche-info répond aux diverses questions reliées à l’emploi, soulevées lors de nos séances d’information auprès des organisateurs communautaires. Elle survole les termes « employeur » et « employé », les normes minimales du travail, les procédures à suivre pour déposer une plainte, les syndicats, la CSST (le régime d’assurance québécois pour la sécurité du travail), les retenues légales et les contributions de l’employeur, la différence entre la Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse et la Commission des relations de travail. Plus loin, vous trouverez également d’autres ressources à votre disposition.

An overview of the phases of COCo's journey moving towards a more collaborative team-based structure.

A few key learnings from COCo's experience moving towards a more collaborative team-based structure.

An overview of why and how Inter Pares, an international social justice organization based in Ottawa, moved towards a democratic management structure, as well as the impact and implications of this change.

Inter Pares' staff agreement that outlines their co-operative management principles, structure, processes, work conditions, salary policy, and sample job descriptions.

Sylvia Rivera Law Project's member handbook that provides a detailed overview of their collective management principles, structure, processes, work conditions, job descriptions and policies.

Key learnings captured from attending a retreat on collaborative leadership organized by the Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement.

Youth Justice Board Toolkit   By Members of the Youth Justice Board  

The Toolkit is modeled after the Youth Justice Board program, which is dedicated to bringing the voices of young people into policymaking. The Toolkit contains curriculum and other resources for schools, after-school programs, and not-for-profit organizations that are interested in engaging young people in local policy development.

Here's an article on Mediation Process by the Friends Conflict Resolution Program (1997).

This kit (created by IMPACS) has materials to help you raise election candidates’ awareness of
the Charities and Democracy Project and convey your concerns about the
current restrictions on charities and advocacy.

Au COCo, nous rencontrons des groupes voués au changement social structurés de multiples façons. Certains organismes, entièrement constitués de bénévoles, font un travail passionnant sans structure juridique. Ils ne sont pas incorporés en organismes sans but lucratif (OSBL) et perçoivent les formalités administratives comme un fardeau inutile. Pour la prise de décision, ces groupes peuvent fonctionner de façon informelle ou adopter une structure et un processus plus formels. D’autres groupes s’associent à un organisme existant pour éviter d’avoir à mettre sur pied et à maintenir un nouvel organisme.

Amid the avalanche of news coverage and commentary about the Harper Government’s new Federal Accountability Act (“FAA”), there are several things that are particularly important for charities and NGOs to know. Here they are!

Voici quelques idées sur les moyens de communication les plus courants que vous pouvez
utiliser pour faire connaître davantage votre organisme sans but lucratif. (IMPACS)

Here are a few ideas about some of the common media tools you can use to help increase
the public profile of your non-profit organization.

This kit has materials to help you raise election candidates’ awareness of the Charities and Democracy Project and convey your concerns about the current restrictions on charities and advocacy.

Cette trousse contient des outils pour vous aider à attirer l’attention des candidatEs aux prochaines élections fédérales sur le « Projet Organismes de bienfaisance et Démocratie » et à leur communiquer vos inquiétudes au sujet des restrictions actuelles imposées à la prise de parole publique des organismes de bienfaisance.

Here is a five-part series of articles on brand strategies for not-for-profits that include case studies and tips for understanding and rethinking your organizational identity or brands. Created by IMPACS

Cette fiche-info porte sur les assemblées générales annuelles (AGA) et les assemblées extraordinaires (AE). Nous y survolerons certaines des dispositions légales liées aux AGA et aux AE, et soulignerons l’importance des assemblées générales pour mobiliser les membres et favoriser la santé de nos organismes.

Au cours des 30 dernières années, le nombre d’organismes sans but lucratif (OSBL) s’est accru de façon considérable. Or, peu après leur incorporation, nombre d’entre eux sont incapables de survivre de façon autonome. Pour savoir si votre nouvel OSBL est sera solide pour survivre, vous devez pouvoir répondre aux quelques questions qui suivent AVANT de faire une demande d’incorporation.

Cette fiche-info survole la politique officielle de l’Agence du Revenu du Canada (l’ARC) en matière d’activités politiques. Elle vous guide également vers des ressources qui remettent en question cette politique.