10 Practical Ideas to Make Your Non Profit an Awesome Place To Work

It is common sense that liking your job, and staying in it, has to do with a lot more than just salary. In the years I spent as a primary caregiver, flexibility in when I worked my hours and being able to leave for emergencies were my top priorities. Now, at a new job, I am hungry for learning opportunities for myself to better my own practice working with organizations. Thinking through all of the ways we can provide great workplaces can help non-profits retain staff—which, as is laid out here, here, and here, is a very smart thing to do.

Here our some ideas we’ve come up with that can help Quebec non-profits create great working conditions for the people who give so much.

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3 Practices Non Profits Need to Change if We Want Fair Wages

This week, as has happened before, I got a phone call with one of my favourite questions: do non-profits really have to follow the labour standards act? To translate this question more bluntly: does the law really apply to us?

That question was pretty straightforward to answer (yes, labour law applies to nonprofits), but it is part of a trend that many of us are familiar with: the weird, confusing and frustrating belief in the community sector that because our mission is good, our staff should willingly endure poverty wages, constant overtime, absurd job descriptions, and total instability. 

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Labour Politics in Non Profit Organizations: What’s the deal?

It’s not news that the working conditions in the non profit sector are…unique, and we aren’t the first people to write about it. To start us off, we’ve done a little roundup of some of our favourite pieces about what it can be like to work in non profits, and what we might be able to do about it. The common thread? The way we treat our workers is an important indicator of whether or not we are living our own values. Read more.

Fundraiser’s 5 à 7: Meet, Greet & Raise $$!

We’re very excited to announce an event we have been scheming for a while– well, ever since we brought Juniper Belshaw onto the COCo team. Juniper is an amazing funding trainer, bringing ten years of experience in fundraising for Montreal nonprofits such as Head & Hands, Dans la rue, and now COCo. We’ve got all sorts of plans for how Juniper will be supporting our members and network with their funding challenges, starting with our favourite kind of event: a 5 à 7.

The event is free, and will take place on Wednesday, June 29th. Spaces are limited. 

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Resource: Starting up Community Arts Initiatives in Rural and First Nations community contexts

We have been digging through the Art Bridges resource center and it is full of great resources for small, arts-based community groups– although most of them, including this one, are totally applicable to any grassroots organization. This interview is short and sweet, and we encourage you to check it out.

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Projet de Recherche: Pour que travailler dans le communautaire ne rime plus avec misère

Cette recherche a été effectuée en 2005, mais nous l’avons redécouvert durant ce mois plein d’enquêtes sur les conditions de travail dans les organismes à but non lucratif. C’est rempli de statistiques utiles, des conseils et des analyses sur nos lieux de militance et action.

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