Month: October 2019

Leading with empathy and communications during organizational change

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Written by Michelle Baldwin, Executive Director, Pillar Nonprofit Network

It was two years ago when, in an executive leadership coaching session, the idea of a sabbatical or fellowship came up. It was with a laugh and the comment, “That does not happen in nonprofits,” then I brushed it off. Janet Frood, from Horizon Leadership, asked “Why not?” and sent me links to opportunities that exist in the U.S.

Fast-forward to Tonya Surman, CEO of Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), embarking on a three-month sabbatical that ended up being extended to six months. Tonya promised, as part of this opportunity, to support two to three other leaders to share this transformational experience: 

“Taking time, creating space for others to lead in my absence, was an incredibly powerful process to support the growth of CSI. After six months, I was transformed, I was finding my source, my power, my energy coming from such a good place, such a place of connection, to our mission and a new commitment to making the world a better place.”

As I considered what was next, I knew that documenting the origin stories of Pillar, Innovation Works and VERGE Capital was part of the next stage of work that I wanted to commit to. I started to look at formal fellowship opportunities but the timing did not line up, so I created my own reflective practice fellowship. I asked myself, “What do I hope to get out of this experience and what are the questions that I want to dig deeper on?”

When I presented to the board in December 2018, Tonya Surman joined us to share her experience. The proposal was met with enthusiastic approval and I shared the news with the staff team with exuberant excitement. Our Board Chair, Jason Kerr shares:

“In academic circles, the concept of a professional leave or sabbatical is commonplace. In nonprofit and other workplaces it is almost a foreign concept. The opportunity for a senior leader in an organization to both reflect on their own professional development, but also to research topics related to their organization’s strategic directions or plan is priceless. In Michelle’s case, you have a leader that has been operating at a high level for the better part of a decade. To be able to have this time allows a leader a chance to renew themselves and infuse new knowledge and concepts into the organization on their return while allowing others in the organization a leadership opportunity in the leader’s absence.

Further validation through augmentation

While staff response was positive, I quickly discovered that they were deeply curious about the concept. I sent the fellowship proposal to staff so they could see the good thinking and planning involved. Over the holidays, as I shared the news with staff and family, I felt incredible support but picked up on some subtext that maybe I was taking six months off. Whether this was real, or my own internal dialogue, I cannot be sure but I responded by promptly adding the word “research” to the title, updating it to “Reflective Practice and Research Fellowship” and sought out a research partner to provide mentorship and lend legitimacy to the project.

Preparing the team

A full transition plan was developed over the holidays and at one point the ED and Directors talked about sharing parts of it with staff. One Director shared an article that was a turning point for me; “The Secret to Leading Organizational Change is Empathy” highlighted that teams adapt better to change with more information and this inspired me to share more and share often. The transition plan was sent to staff and almost immediately I noticed a shift. One staff member said, “You have really thought this out,” and the sense of uneasiness and discomfort decreased.

I knew that documenting the origin stories of Pillar, Innovation Works and VERGE Capital was part of the next stage of work that I wanted to commit to. I started to look at formal fellowship opportunities but the timing did not line up, so I created my own reflective practice fellowship. I also added the word “research” to the title, updating it to “Reflective Practice and Research Fellowship” and sought out a research partner to provide mentorship and lend legitimacy to the project.

We created a culture around the fellowship of asking questions; one question that kept surfacing was how the Interim ED was going to continue to fulfill her existing role and take on added responsibilities. Would this put pressure on staff, who are already at capacity? Finding the proper project management supports for an upcoming elevator upgrade and for building management were essential to create space for the added role. We also created a shared document where people could ask questions and the ED and Interim ED could answer them. We only received one question (about a staffing update), but the “in-person” questions followed, and were more personal in nature.

At a team meeting, Lore Wainwright, Interim ED, shared why she was open to taking on this role: “I’m thrilled to be leading an exceptional team like the one at Pillar. The next six months will be a critical piece of work in leadership, transformation and community impact. This is a servant leadership moment, as I want to make this possible for Michelle and the organization. It’s sort of a ‘pinch me’ moment for me.”

Early lessons

Here’s what I know at this first lap of the journey; to navigate a leadership transition takes a village. The board and staff were all essential in creating the conditions for a leadership transition that acknowledged the instability that change can bring, and they leaned into our values of openness, transparency, communication, embracing failure, and learning and co-creation.

Naturally we got some of this right and there were things we could do better. If you’re interested in an overview of the process and practices we followed to prepare our staff team, Board of Directors and network for this interlude, you can find that here.

As we navigate these six months we will be sharing the learning and experience about network building and cross-sector collaboration as well as our high dream for other nonprofit and social impact leaders to have the opportunity for a fellowship experience.

You can read more of Michelle’s thoughts on her reflective practice and research fellowship here. 

Moving towards network engagement in policy development

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When Pillar began, we were modelled after the Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations and, like them, a key objective in our organizational strategy was public policy. We had many discussions about being a “voice for the nonprofit sector” and not the “voice of the nonprofit sector.” The subtlety of “for” not “of” was about using a network approach in our public policy efforts. Today, we are mindful of balancing the need to find a collective voice for the sector for issues that impact us a whole and providing capacity building for our members so they have the tools and knowledge to advocate on the issues relevant to their missions. 

In the past, our strategy for engaging the network in public policy has been to lean on existing partners. Moving forward, we are committed to engaging our members and network more intentionally in developing our own policy priorities and strategy. Here are the ways we have engaged our network around public policy and an overview of our plans for the future.

Communicating our public policy strategy

Over the years, we have hosted several community conversations bringing together our non-profit and charity members to discuss how they are responding to the current political and economic climates. These conversations help us to both empower our members in their our policy efforts and determine how we can best represent the sector in our own policy strategy and our programming.

In 2008, we hosted a conversation centered on creating solutions for how the sector would handle the world-wide economic downturn. In turbulent economic times, it is important to stay focused on our missions and strategic directions as services and needs in the nonprofit and charitable sector increase as we see job loss, more people hungry, mental health problems on the rise and other challenges. Together we were able to generate actions and ideas to help navigate the challenging economic situation.  

Then again in 2009, we partnered with the London Community Foundation, Ontario Trillium Foundation and United Way London & Middlesex to host “Community Conversation Continued”. At the event, we summarized research, surveys and other community conversation reports to provide background and context about the current situation and the impact on the sector. We talked about the possible responses from organizations, networks, funders and government. 

Both the 2008 and 2009 community conversations led to us hosting the Innovation & Resilience Forum and also inspired our focus on social enterprise and cross sector collaboration; in particular connecting nonprofits with business and government. 

Fast forward to 2019, we hosted a policy conversation about navigating the new economic realities given the provincial budget in partnership with London Community Foundation, Mischievous Cat Productions Inc., and United Way Elgin and Middlesex. From the discussions, themes including information and resources sharing, financial resilience and diversifying funding, and future planning emerged. Along with each theme, we provided our response including resources and training opportunities.

We are mindful of balancing the need to find a collective voice for the sector for issues that impact us a whole and providing capacity building for our members so they have the tools and knowledge to advocate on the issues relevant to their missions.

Two further conversations have been planned including “Beyond the Talk” and “Getting to Action” that will focus on giving the network tools and information to build their own policy strategy and advocacy. We will also host “Future Forward Thinking” about how we prepare our organizations to be resilient in the face of shifts in government and shifts in our local and global contexts. 

Digital community animation 

Finding the right way to communicate our policy efforts with our network and keep the conversation going has been a challenge. We communicate to our members and network using policy alerts that are distributed by email and when there is relevant information to share and we have been experimenting with blogs. We are using the hashtags #policytalk and #nonprofitsadvocate in our social media to identify any posts that are related to public policy and advocacy. We also heard from our network the need to share available tools, information, and knowledge. Pillar’s digital online community has a #policytalk section for members to ask questions and exchange expertise and resources with others. 

Member exclusive content

One of the many benefits of being a Pillar member is that we send out member-only emails, which include policy updates, funding opportunities and resources. Our policy alerts and updates section are timely and aggregate the information and updates from our network partners including Ontario Nonprofit Network and Imagine Canada. 

Learning and development 

Our network also shared that boards require training and support about their role in public policy and government relations. We will be offering a session as part of our “All About Boards” program about how a nonprofit can build relationships at municipal, provincial and federal levels of government, and the role of governance volunteers in developing organizational strategy related to advocacy and public policy.

Policy and government relations committee 

One of the concrete ways we are looking to engage our network more in building our policy priorities and strategies is by expanding the mandate of our existing Policy and Government Relations Committee beyond our internal governance policy to include government relations. We are engaging our membership with experience in this area to be part of this committee to have the voices of our members and network to influence our priorities, approach and strategy.

Additional readings and resources

A voice for nonprofits and social enterprise in public policy and government relations

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Group of people

As our communities are changing and becoming more diverse, our leadership, strategy and approaches in nonprofits, charities and social enterprises are not keeping pace with this change. If we are going to address the persistent challenges facing our communities and advance the quality of life for all, our organizations and solutions need to represent the communities they are a part of. To achieve lasting change, we must consider the systems that are impacting equity and inclusion. Collaborating with government on these issues is an essential part of the equation. 

Pillar was created in 2001 to be a “voice for the nonprofit sector” and therefore at our core is a commitment to taking a role around public policy and government relations. This work has been most often done in partnership with other organizations at the municipal, provincial and federal government levels. As part of the Maytree Policy School, our Executive Director developed a policy strategy. Pillar’s current public policy priorities are sector-focused, rather than issues-focused, but we are mindful that other sector-focused priorities may emerge going forward. 

We will share some of the issues and approaches we have taken with each level of government. With the municipal government, Pillar often leads and mobilizes partnerships, at the provincial level we work closely with the Ontario Nonprofit Network and at the federal level we work closely with Imagine Canada.

​A collaborative approach to municipal public policy

Our work at the municipal level has included election-related activities such as candidate surveys – to poll their commitment and understanding about the nonprofit sector, social enterprise and equity and inclusion – as well as organizing all candidate meetings. Our work has also revolved around raising awareness and understanding of the role of nonprofits and social enterprise and their economic impact within our community to support the need to invest in our sector’s work. For example, London Community Foundation, United Way London-Middlesex and Pillar advocated for maintaining the affordable housing and community capital funds. While we were successful in our efforts to ensure affordable housing monies were maintained, the community capital fund was cut. When a new City Council was inaugurated, we worked to have the new Innovation and Capital Fund established with increased commitment levels over a three-year period. 

Some of our most recent involvement at a municipal level includes our Director of Diversity and Governance participating in the creation of the City’s Community Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, and our Executive Director participating in the creation and implementation of the Community Economic Roadmap. Our Executive Director and Director of Innovation Works have also been meeting with the new City Council recently to ask key questions about their vision. Each meeting is followed up with the “Pillar at a Glance” briefing document. 

Lastly, our Executive Director organized ongoing quarterly meetings with the new Mayor along with the CEOs of United Way Elgin Middlesex and London Community Foundation. These meetings focus on the nonprofit sector, social enterprise and key issues impacting our community.

Engaging with Ontario Nonprofit Network for provincial public policy

Pillar’s Executive Director was part of the development of the Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN), an organization with a mission to engage, advocate, and lead with, and for, nonprofits that work for the public benefit in Ontario. Pillar partners with ONN as its key partner in nonprofit provincial advocacy. In addition to our significant contributions to ONN, Pillar participates in pre-budget consultations and submissions with the Ontario government. We meet with our local MPPs three to four times per year to share our work and to understand their priorities and opportunities for partnership. Our staff team also contributed to the development of the Social Enterprise and Social Finance Strategy. Additionally, our Director of Social Innovation contributes to the Ontario Social Economy Roundtable (OSER), and our Executive Director served on the Premier’s Community Hubs Advisory Committee.

To achieve lasting change, we must consider the systems that are impacting equity and inclusion. Collaborating with government on these issues is an essential part of the equation.

Leaning on Imagine Canada and our local members of Parliament 

Our capacity as an organization for public policy and government relations has rested mostly with our Executive Director and, more recently, the VERGE Capital team related to social finance. Imagine Canada has been our key partner in federal policy development and our ED has participated in Hill Days to bring forward issues and policy specific to charities, social innovation and social finance.

Pillar and VERGE Capital hold a strong relationship with our local MP Peter Fragiskatos, who is our representative from a geographic standpoint, and with MP Kate Young who also engages with and supports our works. Our consultations in partnership with the MPs are ongoing and our meetings are frequent. London North MP Peter Fragiskatos highlighted our work at Pillar and VERGE Capital while posing a question to PM Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons about how local organizations like Pillar will be supported with the new fund and budget.

Top 10 tips for working with all levels of government
  1. Think cross-partisan, rather than nonpartisan – Many nonprofits and charities often reference their nonpartisan stance. We have policies that state this imperative, and in the case of charities we are bound by Canadian Revenue Agency rules to be nonpartisan. The term cross-partisanship  better reflects the approach we take at Pillar. Similarly to the problem with the word “nonprofit” sharing more about what we are not than about what we are, “nonpartisan” also comes from a deficit mindset. Working across all parties and connecting with them early in our advocacy efforts, reflects an approach rooted in engagement, partnership and action. If your policy issue can be put on hold for four years because you lack alignment with the current government you may need to ask yourself how important the issue is.
  2. Start with questions and be solutions focused – When we ask questions before producing answers it leads to better solutions. Collecting and analyzing data, formulating hypotheses and assessing a range of policy options and solutions leads to good policy. When we focus only on the problems we can miss important information, perspectives and solutions. Pausing to consider whether we are creating any unintended consequences and ripple effects with our policy proposals and solutions is critical to successful and sustainable systems change.
  3. Harness the power of networks – Networks have the power to test and build consensus and to broker solutions. We can leverage a wide range of networks to serve as knowledge mobilizers around information and resources in order to drive innovation and inform policy development. We can harness the political capital of networks to better serve our communities.
  4. Establish cross-sector partnerships – Cross-sector partnerships enable all sectors to contribute to, identify and implement cross-sector solutions. Establishing trust and practicing radical empathy are key factors in creating enduring and effective collaborations, so be ruthless when making decisions about which partners fit your public policy strategy; your success depends on how effectively you work together.
  5. Embrace radical optimism – When we bring forward policy we should offer proof of possibility and share an aspirational endgame, including more allies, more resources, more support. As rightly stated by Guillermo del Toro, Oscar-winning filmmaker, director and producer, “Optimism is not uncool, it is rebellious, daring, and vital.”
  6. Value the many, and not the one – To build better movements around policy we should put value in the many, and not the one, and cultivate leadership at all levels. This includes distributing policy development across a team within our organization. Additionally, having varied partners and allies across sectors in our policy efforts will strengthen collective leadership and influence.
  7. Engage those with lived experience – When developing policy that addresses the needs of specific populations, it’s important to engage those with lived experience early and often. Having a participatory process is crucial to developing policies that are based on true needs rather than assumptions. When we engage individuals with lived experience as authors of systems innovation and policy change our proposed solutions resonate with government.
  8. Understand the value of social research and development – Nonprofits often lack the capacity, resources and data they need to rigorously measure the impact of their work. Further, it can be challenging to access the right evidence and research to inform decisions that lead to continuous improvement and strong policy strategy. Just like the private sector, investment in research and development is critical for achieving our objectives; for nonprofits it is required for evidence informed policy. Research results are a far greater tool for persuading government than relying on anecdotal observations. Evidence has become a valuable currency.
  9. Communicate your story – To ensure that your message resonates with your audience, adopt the language used by the government you are bringing your policy strategy forward to. Sharing a compelling story that is personal and evokes empathy and understanding will better illuminate the policy issue. When we share values, emotion and action, in our discussions and in our written pieces, it connects those we hope to influence to a storyline of the human experience. Practicing radical empathy and putting yourself in the shoes of the “other” to understand their thinking and perspective can change minds and hearts and generate responses that address the issues at hand.
  10. Appreciate relentless incrementalism – Public policy takes time and requires patience and tenacity. To practice ‘everyday advocacy’ requires an acceptance of relentless incrementalism. I thought I had previously understood this lengthy timeline, yet after hearing advocacy stories about campaigns that took 5-10 years of sustained effort (or longer!) I was reminded of the stick-to-itiveness that’s foundational to policy change.
Additional readings and resources

A networked approach to strategic planning

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Pillar has embarked on a three-year strategic planning process since our early days. At the time we developed our last strategic plan, we were growing at a fast pace and had many new board members and new staff. Before we started looking ahead, we wanted to make sure that our board, staff and network were all on the same page. We didn’t want the development of our next strategic plan to be just a one-day event, but rather a journey of ideas, dialogue and reflection with our whole community. Below, we’ll share the steps we took to engage our network in our unique strategic planning approach to help you ensure your own strategic planning process represents your stakeholders.

Asking good questions 

The first step we took to engage our network in the strategic planning process was to carry out a survey. We received over 160 responses from both members and non-members of Pillar that helped us to assess our areas of focus going forward. We also posed the same questions to our co-tenants at Innovation Works. The following questions were included in our survey:

  • What do you love about Pillar (answers show in word cloud below)? 
  • What questions do you have about Pillar?
  • What should Pillar focus on in the next 3-5 years?
  • What else can Pillar do to help your organization?

Jamming about our future

The next step was to host a design jam to gather input from our network. A design jam is a creative brainstorming session that engages a diverse group of individuals to come up with solutions for a particular issue. We asked participants a variety of questions including those below. Out of the session, our members generated 49 ideas about Pillar’s strategic focus for the next three to five years, and we prioritized those ideas into our top three.

  • What does it means to be part of a network?
  • What is Pillars role in creating a network?
  • What is Pillar’s role in “system” work for the nonprofit sector?
  • What is Pillar’s “next level”?
Engaging past chairs in reflection 

We held an informal board social where we asked our past board chairs to reflect on the strategic planning journey during each of their times as chair. Together, they shared what they considered to be their key moments and learnings from Pillar’s past strategic plans. Below, Willy Van Klooster, founding board chair, shares his reflections on Pillar’s early strategic priorities.

Exploring our epic tale

Our past board members, current board members, past staff and current staff came together to participate in telling our “epic tale”, a session facilitated by Janet Frood of Horizon Leadership. The epic tale is a process of telling the story of an organization through the experience and lens of the many people who have been part of it. All members identify the major milestones and achievements, as well as the disappointments and challenges. This process allowed us to capture a snapshot of Pillar today and things to consider in preparation for our strategic planning process.

Leaving behind our baggage and packing our luggage

Part of the process of developing an epic tale for your organization involves looking at what “baggage” you want to leave behind and what to pack in your “luggage” for the future. Baggage includes those ideas and practices that no longer serve you and luggage are those things that have been successful for you or new ideas for the future. For example, one element of our baggage was that we had to fight to be at the table on important community issues and embrace that we’ve earned our right to be there. One element of luggage was that despite our growth we maintain the enthusiasm, innovation, heart and nimbleness of a small organization. 

Capturing our adaptive cycle

The adaptive cycle was originally born out of environmental research, but can be applied to natural systems, social systems and organizations. The concept is a four stage cycle that includes birth, growth, maturation and creative destruction. In the context of systems or organizations, it is meant to explain what stage of development the system or organization is in and how resilient it is. We use this concept, shown in the image  below, to help us monitor our various programs and services. 

Thinking of this concept as it applies to a forest ecosystem can be helpful to understand it. Creative destruction is when old trees decompose or get burnt down releasing energy and providing opportunity for new trees to grow. In the birth phase, new seedlings or ideas are planted that require ample care and tending. During the growth phase, trees get bigger but also compete for resources. Lastly, during maturation trees are well established but need to be tended to to keep them healthy so they don’t burn or decompose. 

We didn’t want the development of our next strategic plan to be just a one-day event, but rather a journey of ideas, dialogue and reflection with our whole community.


Reconnecting to our why

According to author, motivational speaker and organizational consultant Simon Sinek, every organization needs to define their “golden circle” in order to define their “why” or reason for being. The golden circle starts with the question why in the centre of the diagram, as in why does the organization exist and for what purpose. The second circle asks how, or what sets the organization apart. Lastly, the outward circle asks what, or what are the programs, products or services the organization provides. During our strategic planning process, we determined our golden circle – pictured below – as a team to ensure we stay focused on our core reason for being. 

Sharing a staff perspective

At Pillar, we define both board and staff strategic plans and feel it is important to ensure that there is an interplay between board and staff in the development of both plans. We asked our staff to contribute their ideas of what they would like the board to consider during their strategic planning process; these topics included:

  • Our nonprofit services are our foundation
  • Our mission must include social enterprise and social innovation
  • We will play a lead role in diversity
  • We will have work/life balance
  • We must consider the sustainability of Pillar 
  • Cross-organization communications is key
Committing to our priorities 

On the day of our strategic planning session, our staff discussed their top six considerations with the board. We reviewed Pillar’s golden circle and created an environmental scan using the PESTLE framework to identify external influences including political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. Out of this session, we determined our three strategic directions for the next three years and renewed our mission statement.

Pillar’s current strategic directions:
  1. Be Ready: Be ready for future opportunities and growth.
  2. Be Focused: Be focused to maximize our impact.
  3. Be Inclusive: Provoke discussion and action around equity and emerging cross-sector community issues.
Pillar’s mission statement:
  • To strengthen individuals, organizations and enterprises invested in positive community impact.
 
Getting to action

Each year, we develop both board and staff action plans to ensure we carry out the goals of our strategic plans. The board action plan identifies each action with timing and who will be responsible to make sure we fulfill our priorities. This annual best practice clearly defines the role of the board and engages the board fully in the future of the organization. Each year the board reviews the strategic priorities and makes any adjustments and plans for the year ahead.

To create our staff action plan, mini-interviews are conducted with staff asking how they think Pillar might achieve the objectives set out by the board. This approach breaks down silos and ensures all voices are heard. Staff came together to identify tactics to achieve the objectives set out by the board and created a master staff action plan that is updated annually. 

Keeping tabs on progress

To monitor our progress on the strategic plan a quarterly review of our performance measures is brought forward to the board. This has been an area of growth for Pillar as it is the most challenging part of the strategic planning process to find meaningful performance measures that demonstrate progress and do not create additional work without return.

To check out Pillar’s past strategic priorities and see our evolution as an organization of meeting the needs of our network read more here.

Reimagining board governance at Pillar

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Every nonprofit and charity must have a board of directors to guide the organization, ensure it has adequate financial resources to be sustainable and advance its mission. Since its inception, Pillar has engaged in board research and played a capacity building role to support the development of high performing and diverse boards. Read about how we have supported our members through our research, learning and development programs, and consulting, along with how our own board journey has evolved and the tools we use to help guide us. For more information on how we strive to embed diversity into our own board practices and share our knowledge with our network, read Bringing diversity to volunteerism at leadership levels. 

How research has shaped our network approach to board governance

The research we have conducted has consistently shown that our boards lack diversity and are not representative of the London community. In 2004, the London Voluntary Sector Employment Training and Needs survey showed that fewer than 10 percent of organizations recruited at least one newcomer to their board of directors. This sparked additional research to dig deeper and we conducted a study called “A New Canadian’s First Decade of Volunteering” to explore how nonprofits have incorporated new Canadians into their volunteer base and what new Canadians need from organizations to support them in volunteering. The results of this study showed cultural differences, language levels and discrimination make this solution complex. This study further confirmed there was a lack of diversity on boards and respondents indicated that adding diversity training and mentoring supports helps both the organization and the new volunteer.

In 2016, as part of the DiverseCity onBoard project, we participated in further research in partnership with Western University and MITACS looking at “Visible Minorities and Women in Senior Leadership Positions: London, Hamilton, Ottawa.” In London, only 7.9 percent of senior leaders in the nonprofit and municipal public sectors were identified as visible minorities compared to 13.1 percent of the general London population. In London, only 3.1 percent of senior leaders in the nonprofit and municipal public sectors were visible minority women compared to 6.5 percent of the London population. These results demonstrated there is still much work to be done to ensure that the voices of visible minorities and in particularly visible minority women, are represented in senior leadership positions in the nonprofit and public sectors. These findings have helped to shape our areas of focus in both our learning and development and our consulting programs.

Building capacity through learning and development for boards 

Education has been a core offering since the inception of Pillar and board governance training has been a central topic. Our board education offerings have included sessions specific to board diversity and we have integrated the concepts of building board diversity into organizations in all board programming. In 2012, we shifted from single course offerings to a program based approach called All About Boards that is offered annually in the fall and includes topics such as board structure, roles and responsibilities, governance policies, financial role, recruitment and retention, board diversity, best practice and trends. Through this training, the participants also develop a professional network of peers. Each year we have included a session of best practices and trends and these have included board diversity, governing through changing times, the role of the board in government relations, generational changes, mergers and partnerships, as well as social enterprise and social finance. We have suggested that board members go back to their board meetings and share their learnings with their board.

To help support an organization’s full board to dig deeper we have offered board governance training through the Willy Van Klooster Nonprofit Governance Scholarship. The scholarship was established in 2008 to honour the founding and long-serving Chair of Pillar Nonprofit Network and his exemplary leadership in board governance. It was awarded annually to build excellence in board governance of a small- to medium-sized member organization of Pillar. The scholarship was aimed at organizations who wished to enhance the governance capacity of their board and ensure a productive relationship between their board and executive director. One organization was selected annually and provided support by a local consultant or coach depending on their governance needs. In 2019, the program evolved to become Board & Executive Director Partnership Coaching created to help executive directors and board chairs design their working alliance to create a high trust relationship. When an ED-board Chair partnership flourishes, it creates conditions for a high-performance board governance culture. We have had 13 board chair and ED pairs participate in this program with outstanding feedback and the program will continue going forward.

Pillar has had a strong history of a board who is committed to the needs of the community and to being adaptable and innovative. Board diversity training and making sure our board practices have an equity and inclusion lens have been cornerstone practices throughout our history. As board members change, our commitment to having an equity and inclusion lens continues.

The role of consulting in meeting the needs of boards

As our DiverseCity onBoard three year Ontario Trillium Foundation funded project was coming to an end, our Director Diversity & Governance started to take on a significant role as a consultant offering local organizations support related to board governance and board diversity. We are fortunate that the volume of contracts has now exceeded the time of one person focused in these areas. We have had great success in our consulting program in the areas of board policy development and review, board diversity training and board planning. 

Our story of board governance

Pillar has had a strong history of a board who is committed to the needs of the community and to being adaptable and innovative. Our board has strong governance policies and processes and yet can also be nimble and responsive to opportunities that arise. Board diversity training and making sure our board practices have an equity and inclusion lens have been cornerstone practices throughout our history. As board members change, our commitment to having an equity and inclusion lens continues. Our current strategic plan has us looking at the next stage of growth and being focused, for this reason the role of the board is ensuring we go deep with our impact and measure our impact. This change in focus for those who came on board as we were launching Innovation Works and VERGE Capital has impacted our board engagement. We are looking for opportunities for engagement and this will be the new board chair’s key priority during this term. A first step is to meet with each board member to better understand their goals, interests and opportunities to maximize their skills and energy.

The future of board governance

Pillar has been engaged in the Reimagining Governance project and we have been asking the question will the way boards work today serve us tomorrow? The project is a collaboration designed to advance new approaches to the governance of nonprofit organizations. The aim is to help nonprofit leaders reimagine a more effective way to fulfill organizational governance, including its structures, processes and practices. In partnership with London Youth Advisory Council and Ignite NPS, the Next Generation Governance: Emerging leaders’ perspectives on governance in the nonprofit sector report explored trends, views about governance and how the next generation of governance could meet their needs and expectations. 

Top 10 promising practices at Pillar

Here are some of the promising practices that the Pillar board has adopted over the years to enhance, engage and evaluate their board governance. Feel free to adapt our documents for your own board management purposes. 

  1. Board Diversity matrix – Use the matrix to assess areas including sector representations, perspectives, field of experience and areas of diversity. An analysis of what is needed to best reflect the community and strategy of the organization will help to ensure diverse perspectives at the board table.
  2. Board nomination process – We have learned that a public process is the most inclusive and promoting it through networks yields a strong and diverse pool of candidates.
  3. Board orientation – New board members attend a comprehensive board orientation to introduce them to our history, strategic plan, role of the board, policies, financials, board committees, programs and services, relationship between the board and the Executive Director, role of the board in fundraising, and the role of board in government relations. Orientation also includes and a further discussion from the interview about what they are hoping to get out of the volunteer experience. 
  4. Board mentors – Each new board member is paired with an existing board member with at least one year experience. For six months, they connect before and after each board meeting to onboard them and offer guidance and support.
  5. Board governance handbook – The policy committee of the board at Pillar does an annual review of the board governance manual to make revisions and reflect any changes required to guide and protect the organization. The manual includes executive limitations to guide the Executive Director. 
  6. Board action plan – Each year of our strategic plan we have a facilitated session to create a board action plan that will help us achieve our goals in our strategic plan. We start by revisiting the strategic plan and assess the impact to date and its relevance. This ensures that the strategic plan is adaptive and serving our members.
  7. Board evaluation – The board of directors annually completes a board evaluation about how well the board has done its job, how well the board has conducted itself, the board’s relationship to the Executive Director, feedback for the Board Chair and suggestions for improvement. A board member volunteers to compile the results and brings a brief forward with recommendations and a discussion at a subsequent board meeting.
  8. Board socials – During the holidays and summer we host board socials to connect the board on a more personal level and to create a sense of team building and connection.
  9. Board Chair and Executive Director partnership coaching – With each transition to a new board chair, the incoming chair and Executive Director participate in coaching to explore their strengths, shared vision, how they will engage the board, how to communicate and how to resolve conflict.
  10. Effective board meetings – We establish a sense of consistency and order by ensuring our Board Chair starts meetings on time, ends meetings on time and holding our meetings on the same recurring dates that do not change. Further, our Board Chair facilitates a discussion that trusts in the wisdom of the group and works to hear from all board members.

Building a team culture that reflects your values

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At Pillar, we are connected through strong values and a shared vision of creating a vibrant community, and we know that achieving that vision starts with us. We collectively put people first and we believe deeply that together we are better. Employees here have a genuine respect for each other and acknowledge each other’s differences without passing judgement. Our team has an energy of passion, commitment and belief that change happens when you are willing to accept people from where they are at.

We believe the way that we work is just as important as the work that we do. We also hold space for generosity and forgiveness knowing that we are not perfect and our culture will always be in flux. While there is always more to learn and we continually adapt our practices as our team shifts and grows, the core processes and values outlined below help us maintain a culture we’re proud of – a culture that landed us on the list of London Inc. Magazine’s best places to work in 2019.

Breaking down silos with a cross-cluster communications team and plan

While our new organizational structure created certain efficiencies, it also created silos and we had to be intentional about how we would share our work both internally and externally. We created a cross-cluster communications committee to develop and implement an integrated, cohesive communications plan for Pillar aligned with our current organizational strategic priorities. Our communications plan was informed by a human-centered leadership approach. 

Taking time together to build connection

We make time to be together outside of work for fun and to build connections. Over the years, some of our more memorable team outings have included a caravan tour to thank our sponsors by singing a jingle, making fortune cookies that had the message “Be The Change – Volunteer” and handing them out in a local park, attending the Grand Theatre to see Prom Queen, and participating in random acts of kindness. We do simple team outings to local restaurants too. The important point is time to connect outside of work to get to know each other on a personal level as this builds understanding and human connection. We have volunteered  at the Special Olympics, ONERUN, United Way Stair Climb and for Reforest London, and together we also collected over 1000 pairs of “Underwear for Kindness”. Taking the time to volunteer together is good for the collective heart of the organization and is just one way we lead by example in our community. 

Living out our team alliance

We have created and live out our Team Alliance – a set of agreements that we have built together. It includes important aspects like celebrating successes, being present to each other, honouring self-care and supporting flexible working hours. We value failure, because we know that it creates a culture of learning and innovation. We also prioritize inclusion and mutual exchanges and invite community to those conversations. We recognized we have a bias for positivity so we have committed to ensuring conversations are honest and non-judgemental, checking out assumptions, saying what we need to say, actively listening, and following up so nothing is left hanging. We have fun together because we recognize that knowing each other as our full selves is just as important as knowing what our roles are in the organization. Our leadership team models these values and encourages feedback from the team if they are not. We plan to revisit our team alliance regularly as our team grows and changes.

 Adapting our organizational structure 

In 2016, with growth to our team we had a need to reevaluate our organizational structure. Previously, more than 15 staff reported to our executive director and this model was not sustainable. We opted to create clusters with a director who would support the team members. The clusters offered focus and better connected team members working together on common programs and services. While we have tried not to create a hierarchical organization, the reality is that there is power and privilege that comes with being in a leadership role and we are exploring this further. We think it is important to acknowledge that hierarchy exists within teams and to talk openly about who has access to power. 

It’s never like ‘work comes first.’ It’s the understanding that you bring your holistic self to work.

Maria Luisa Contursi, Director of Network & Engagement

As change happens within an organizational structure, employees can feel a sense of ambiguity and unease. When one of our team clusters was facing these feelings, they went through a journey of reflection about their role at Pillar. They used a poem to frame their experience and work, and shared the poem and new name of their cluster – the Network and Education Cluster – at a team meeting. This creative expression was just one example of the way we encourage open dialogue at Pillar. The practice empowered the team to establish a new identity while acknowledging all of the pieces and individual experiences that make them who they are. 

Building and relying on our decision making tool

Our team is always thinking in terms of future possibilities and look for ways to maximize opportunities. While this makes for a lot of great ideas and projects, sometimes there is a need to go deep and not wide. One of the priorities for our current strategic plan is to “Be Focused”, which has us focusing on maturing our core services and existing programs among other objectives. To help us stay on track, we co-created a decision making tool as a staff team that walks us through strategic alignment, organizational fit, resources and time commitment to get to a decision.

Walking together for empathy and discovery

After participating in the Shifting from Ego to Eco conference in 2016 that was based on the ULab method, we were introduced to the idea of empathy walks. Our team suggested that we implement this simple but powerful tool for deep listening to build trust and empathy. We also use discovery walks with our team where each member takes the time to get to know each other, and when new team members start we have them meet with each team member. Walking meetings have also become a common practice as well as we know that walking alongside someone mitigates hierarchy, puts people at ease and of course you get to be outdoors getting fresh air. Here are the instructions on how to do an empathy walk.

Leading the way through ambiguity 

Teams are made up of people who thrive with clarity and those who thrive with ambiguity, finding the balance requires time, open conversation and recalibrating. As we prepared for our Executive Director to embark on a Reflective Practice & Research Fellowship, we tried to reduce ambiguity through extensive preparation for the transition. Half way through the fellowship, a survey was sent out to the staff and board to check in and the results showed that our team culture was struggling and the pressures that our building was putting on our team were significant. We had team coach come in and facilitate an open dialogue about what was working and what was not working. We are now recalibrating and making adjustments and this open conversation has helped the team to feel supported through this transitional time.

Pillar Nonprofit Network Team Alliance

How Pillar approaches diversified funding

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As traditional funding models for nonprofits are changing, diversified funding has become critical for the sustainability of many organizations. These changes are being felt across the sector with a reduction in government funding, a decline in donations and a shift to goods and services making up 45.1 percent of the total income for the sector. Like many other nonprofits, Pillar was funded primarily by grants in our early days. We faced our first wake-up call when a significant grant with the federal government was almost signed off on and then an election was called that delayed the funding. This caused us to be unable to cover the costs of our core staff role of our Executive Director. As we recovered and learned from this failure and, our board turned their focus to our sustainability and diversified funding. 

As we now support other nonprofits and social enterprises through our consulting and learning and development programs, we can talk first-hand to the dangers of having a single funder or funding source. Over the past decade, we have diversified our funding to include earned revenue, corporate sponsorship and multi-year municipal grants. For example, our earned revenue has increased from $300,000 in 2014 to $1.176 million in 2018. Bringing on new revenue streams has required us to build detailed business plans and evaluate risk, which has created better stability and organizational capacity. Further, we are walking the talk and have seen how revenue diversification gives options when the ground shifts beneath us. Throughout this process, staying focused on our mission, being adaptive to changing trends and pressures on communities, and ensuring the capacity of our team has been essential to our growth. If you’re looking for ways to expand your revenue approach, read on for an overview of our funding evolution at Pillar and what we learned in the process.

Core municipal funding

We presented for the first time at a public participation meeting in 2006 to ask for funding from our municipal government. While we were not successful the first  time around, the experience did get us in front of city council and started the discussions about having the City of London provide operating funding. We then hired a past municipal staff member to put together a business case for support. In 2008, we were successful in securing $40,000 in one-time funding. From here, it took a few years to solidify our funding request and in 2011 we secured $50,000 of ongoing funding. Receiving this stable source of core funding was a game changer for us as we have been able to leverage these funds to focus on building the capacity of staff, volunteers, board members and social entrepreneurs. In 2017, the City of London introduced multi-year funding and this move provided the nonprofits the opportunity for longer term planning, as well as better evaluation and impact. 

Pillar Community Innovation Awards

In 2006, Pillar launched the Pillar Community Innovation Awards with a vision of the nonprofit, business and government sectors coming together to share, inspire and recognize those making our community brighter and better. While we knew that our goals for the event included building stronger relationships with business and media, we did not have the foresight to see how just how much it would grow. Today, the annual event sees over 1000 attendees, more than 45 corporate sponsors, 156 finalists and has resulted in solid relationships and storytelling from our local media. While special events do not typically yield revenue, we have been able to cover the staff and event costs year over year, and the relationships we have built and the increased profile we have garnered has lead to other revenue sources.

Learning and development program 

For several years, we ran our professional development program with contract employees who were part of the job creation partnership. While we were happy to provide this opportunity for these individuals to gain valuable skills while searching for employment, it was not a sustainable business model for us. In 2010, we embarked on an evaluation of our current program and developed a business plan to guide the future of the program. This approach has been highly successful allowing us to cover our development and implementation costs while maintaining a financially accessible program with bursaries for smaller nonprofit member organizations. While this was an earned revenue strategy that was aligned with our mission, it was only in more recent years that we adopted the language of calling our learning and development program a social enterprise. We are due to review our program and update our business plan and  are now in the planning stages.

Sustaining members 

In 2010, our board recommended that we start a new Sustaining Member program. For a $1,000 annually, individuals, organizations or enterprises can become Sustainers who support Pillar’s work in building a strong, connected and influential sector. The money from this fund gives us the financial flexibility to respond to emerging issues and opportunities and allows us to maintain accessible fee levels for all groups. We have had up to 23 Sustainers annually and we are looking to grow the program to 50 Sustainers in 2019.

Impact Consulting 

In 2010, we were exploring our sustainability and recognized we were supporting others to consider social enterprise and we should walk the talk. We started the process of exploring social enterprise with a readiness assessment, discussion about values and impact, evaluation criteria, and completed idea generation sessions. We also conducted market research, evaluated and presented social enterprise ideas, held board information sessions, secured funding, hired a Manager of Consulting Services and completed a business plan. 

This comprehensive process engaged both our board and staff and ensured we were all on the same page about the value and impact of social enterprise. Our primary goal for the consulting program was to be dynamic and flexible so that we could respond to the needs of the nonprofit sector. Through the program, we wanted to both dig deeper to respond to the needs of nonprofit organizations and generate unrestricted funds to become more sustainable. We now offer service in areas including social innovation, social enterprise, social finance, board governance and diversity training. 

As traditional funding models for nonprofits are changing, diversified funding has become critical for the sustainability of many organizations. These changes are being felt across the sector with a reduction in government funding, a decline in donations and a shift to goods and services making up 45.1 percent of the total income for the sector.

We have had many variations in our model for consulting services including a single consultant, an associate model, and a principal associate model. Today we have a staff team approach with associates. Through testing various models, we have found that leveraging the skills and expertise of our staff team in areas that are not overlapping with the existing consultants in our network best serves nonprofits, social enterprises and collaboratives. In 2015, Ivey Connects had a group of students work with our team on a next phase business and marketing plan. We also rebranded to Impact Consulting to better represent our goal to provide cutting edge consulting to amplify impact. Over the years, we have had significant growth in our consulting including broadening our work nationally. Recently, we have had a shift in our staffing and we are in a reset period of re-establishing our partnerships with associates and planning for our next stage of growth for Impact Consulting.

Innovation Works co-working space

Pillar was involved with the creation of Innovation Works  from the very beginning when it was just a dream born in a living room gathering. During the development phase, all the partners had a focus on ensuring that this new social innovation shared space for London was backed by a sustainable business plan.  Pillar stepped up to become the backbone organization, and after we had gathered a commitment of $1.2 million in social finance investments, we took on the role of purchasing a building. Pillar’s board boldly took on the role of financial steward while other the partners continued to hold the full vision, engage the community, and initiate the start-up phase collaboratively. 

Today, Innovation Works is a social enterprise that has generated $1 million in revenue from co-tenants and event bookings and, after three years, is on a solid path to sustainability. As a nonprofit and charity, the assets from purchasing a building and the revenues are invested back into the mission of Pillar.

VERGE Capital social finance program 

The launch of VERGE Capital, a local investment for local impact intermediary, along with our own social finance journey with Innovation Works, has opened up new capital for Pillar. VERGE Capital catalyzes an ecosystem of impact investing that redirects wealth to help tackle our region’s most challenging social and environmental issues. The model for VERGE is a social enterprise where interest from the loans and investment management fees are reinvested back into the work. With the leadership of the VERGE team, we have secured $1.2 million in social finance investments and $1 million in a community bond for Pillar and Innovation Works.

Finance and audit committee

With the growth at Pillar with Innovation Works and VERGE Capital, we created a Finance and Audit Committee to better monitor and support our more complex financials with a mortgage, social finance loans, community bond and social finance impact investment portfolio. Additionally, the responsibility for generating revenue is dispersed across each of our team clusters with targets for each group. Our audited financials have become more in-depth with these diverse funding streams and can be seen here.

Key lessons and failures

Pillar’s growth in earned revenue and undesignated funding has provided us with the flexibility to fund new programs and adapt to the needs of our network. Many of the funding strategies outlined above, including consulting and Sustainers, have required us to experiment and redesign the models as we learned from our failures. Throughout this process, we have been fortunate to have a board and staff team who are bold in their ideas and open to innovation. 

While we have seen growth in our revenue there have been times where some revenue strategies have had more attention than others because we have more staff resources to dedicate to them. For example, we still have challenges in securing ongoing funding for our volunteerism and board diversity programs. We have had 11 grants to support our board diversity program over the years which illustrates the challenge for nonprofits to secure ongoing core operational funding and decide what new projects to fund. Now, we are at a time when we can reflect on our capacity to maintain the social enterprise and revenue strategies we have today and ensure we continue to nurture each of these to build a sustainable future to deliver on our mission.

Building, recognizing and enabling leadership development

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Leadership development has been a core element of our programming since Pillar’s beginnings. In our early days, we focused solely on developing nonprofit leaders. Over time, we saw the possibility of recognizing and influencing leaders from various sectors with the overarching goal being to enable them all to hold a community impact lens. Our support and recognition of leadership has spanned across generations and sectors and continues to evolve as societal trends and communities shift. 

As a network, we look to build, recognize and enable our community to gain leadership opportunities. Through our learning and development program, the Pillar Community Innovation Awards, and our volunteer supports, we have provided knowledge, awareness and connections to leaders across our community. Across sectors, we believe that it is core for all organizations to support their employees in developing these important skills. Here is an overview of the ways we support leadership development and our top tips on how to develop leadership capacity in your employees or network. 

Building leadership potential through learning and development 

Building success and inspiring leadership in individuals, organizations and enterprises invested in positive community impact has been foundational to our learning and development program. Our efforts in this area began in 2004 when we hosted the London Leadership Conference to address how leaders from each of the three pillars could work together to solve the challenges facing the London community and how to bring a systems lens to our solutions. One of the themes from the conference was the fact that we all want to make a difference but cannot do so in our own silos. Many of the speakers stressed the importance of working together as a collective to make a difference and using our power to rally support from the public and private sectors.

Over the years, we have offered programming for Executive Directors including workshops and peer learning circles. We have provided boards with diversity and governance training, and have hosted forums for foundations to build their capacity and knowledge of emerging trends. We started a leadership development series to bring together peers including nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs and those wanting to maximize their leadership potential to create positive change in their communities. To keep the program innovative and fresh, the themes have evolved from Leading for Community Change, Leadership Beyond the Box, and Leading from the Inside Out. 

Shining a light on those making positive community impact

An important part of encouraging leadership development in our community is recognizing those people and organizations whose efforts make a difference to create a stronger, more vibrant community. We developed the London Community Innovation Awards in 2004 to celebrate best practices within nonprofit and charitable organizations across London, the people at the heart of these organizations, and the individuals and corporations who provide ongoing support. 

In 2007, we redesigned the program in consultation with a group of diverse community members and it was renamed the Pillar Community Innovation Awards. The four award categories included: Community Innovation, Community Leadership, Community Impact and Community Collaboration. The potential nominees could include individuals, nonprofit organizations, corporations and government who provide ongoing support to the nonprofit sector demonstrating our commitment to recognizing the three pillars for their contributions to the community. There is an independent selections committee of community members who make the tough decision of who the finalists and award recipients are annually.

As a network, we look to build, recognize and enable our community to gain leadership opportunities. Across sectors, we believe that it is core for all organizations to support their employees in developing these important skills.

As part of our diversity and inclusion work, in 2008, we added to the criteria for each of the awards on how the nominee encouraged diversity and inclusiveness in the community. Then in 2017, we introduced the Community Choice Award to engage the community recognizing an individual who is not already selected as an award recipient in another category. Since launching the Pillar Community Innovation Awards, it has evolved into one of the biggest celebrations of positive community impact in our city drawing more than 1000 people last year alone. 

While there is a specific community leadership award category, each of the awards recognizes community leadership excellence. Inspiring our community through the storytelling leading up to the event, the night of and following the event is intended to inspire our community to see how they too can be community changemakers. Each of us has a role to play to build a community for all to live, work and play. See a list of our past Pillar Community Innovation Award recipients visit here.

Volunteering to gain new leadership skills

Pillar’s first major program and project was building an online volunteer portal to connect the community to volunteer opportunities. Our website still features this functionality and accounts for a large percentage of our online traffic. Over the years, Pillar staff have also spoken at schools, community groups, and businesses about the value of volunteering. With our commitment to supporting newcomers and immigrants in volunteering we have had 10 different funded projects related to board diversity and volunteering at leadership tables including a Board Diversity Project, onBoard Canada and The Art of Volunteering for New Canadians. 

We continue to work with the Indigenous community around how to engage them in the nonprofit sector and at leadership tables. Supporting youth volunteerism has also been a core program including the ChangeTheWorld Youth Volunteer program that ran for more than 10 years and the Canada Life Young Leaders program. Our work related to volunteerism has been precarious as it has been dependent on grants and therefore takes on different focuses and demographics. We see volunteering as a key way to build leadership skills, career experience and community impact and remain committed to connecting our community to these opportunities.

Ideas for developing leadership capacity in community
  1. Bring diverse people together – There is great value in bringing together different generations, backgrounds and sectors to learn from one another. There is much to gain from the perspective of those with different lived experiences than our own. 
  2. Build basics and beyond – It’s important to provide foundational leadership programming, but to also to weave in fresh and innovative concepts that reflect trends and shifts in society. Look to reinvigorate programs with input from your network and community. 
  3. Be a catalyst for deep learning – Go beyond hosting one off sessions and provide an ongoing learning and development series that provides opportunities to dive deeper into content and learn through peer discussion and reflection.
  4. Highlight outstanding leaders – Share, recognize and celebrate leadership in your community or organization to build awareness and inspire others.
  5. Embrace technology to connect – Using technology as a way to connect community to leadership and volunteer opportunities can be a game changer, making the process more efficient and less reliant on human resources.
  6. Receive through giving back – Whether you’re a seasoned professional, a newcomer or a young person, there are many leadership opportunities to be found through volunteering. Taking on a role on a board or at a leadership table is a valuable way to build your network, skills and experience.
  7. Bring a network mindset to your leadership approach – The leadership team in an organization can practice a networked approach even with the way it interacts and engages the team. This includes involving the team in decision making and creating a culture that leans on one another. 

Reflective practice and research fellowship

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Written by Michelle Baldwin, Executive Director, Pillar Nonprofit Network

What is a reflective practice and research fellowship? As the Executive Director of Pillar for more than 10 years, there was an intensity to my role during the growth phases of Pillar, Innovation Works and VERGE Capital that had me all in and firing on all cylinders. I had reached a point in my career that I was looking for a renewed sense of meaning, energy and purpose both personally and professionally. I had heard of other leaders who had done something similar to a fellowship and how it was a transformational experience. I chose to design a reflective practice and research fellowship to explore leadership growth, succession planning, and reflective practices in a meaningful and sustained way. Having others step into leadership and documenting our network approach were intentional to create succession planning for the organization. My fellowship included five main elements including those below. Whether you’re able embark on your own fellowship or just adopt a few of these practices for yourself, I hope what I have learned will provide inspiration to you on your leadership journey. 

  1. Reflective practices and coaching – I developed reflective practices that integrated pause, nature, arts and inner exploration supported by a life and leadership coach and a trusted circle of like-minded people.
  2. Network research – I met with impact and social innovations networks across the world to learn more about the network building principles that we had been exploring at Pillar including collaboration, leadership and governance, equity and inclusion and storytelling and impact.
  3. Strategic projects – The three main project deliverables from my fellowship were to develop a policy strategy, conduct a networking mapping exercise to illustrate our impact and reach and create a micro-site to share our network approach at Pillar.
  4. Learning opportunities – I participated in programs that fit with the themes of purpose, policy and networks and I also did a deep dive into resources related to these themes.
  5. Transition and change management – We prepared our staff team, board of directors, and network for the fellowship, did a mid point check-in through a survey with the staff and board, and we did transition planning for the re-integration.
Reflective practices and coaching
Nature practices

Through my coaching over the years I have recognized that being in nature is a place of renewal and healing. At the outset of the fellowship, my coach suggested a ‘sit spot’ practice where you go somewhere in nature and take a question and notice what your surroundings are telling you; the longer you sit the more you will notice. This practice connected me to the land, to my inner self and was an intentional way of slowing down each day. At first I was doing a sit spot daily and now it is two to three times per week, which seems more sustainable going forward. During each sit spot, I would capture a photo and share it along with the question on social media and then write a short reflection about it.

Leadership and peer coaching 

As part of the fellowship, I continued the coaching relationship I have with Janet Frood from Horizon Leadership. The dedicated time to think through the transition, learning, and challenges along the way was invaluable. We also did coaching sessions with the interim executive director and board chair to set intentions about how we would structure our relationships during the time and to reflect on the journey. Horizon Leadership did a survey to our staff and board at the mid-point, provided a summary and facilitated a staff team discussion about the results. 

I also leaned on my learning sister and wise council throughout the fellowship. I reached out to these people in my trusted circle who inspire me and had knowledge around networks, purpose driven work and personal growth to be a sounding board and hold me accountable along the way. Sharing ideas, resources and what has surfaced for me with these peers has added to the richness of my fellowship experience.   

Self care practices

After attending the Foundations of Purpose program, I wanted to test other reflective practices and I decided to start a gratitude journal. Each day I now journal three reflections of what I was grateful for from the day before. To keep on top of this and other daily practices I want to maintain, I use an app one of my team members mentioned that they use to track their reflective practices. The Momentum – My Habits App sends me a notification daily to remind me to do my gratitude journal, sit spot and drink water daily. I’ve also incorporated both reiki and massage as practices for stress reduction and relaxation that have helped me to create time for healing.

Expression through arts 

Like so many of us, I thought because I could not draw when I was younger, I was not an artist. During my fellowship, I wanted to explore my inner artist through various art forms. Why? Because innovative ideas are required to solve the big problems facing people and planet, and it is important to nurture creativity to spark new ways of thinking. I attended a ‘Sparks & Splatter’ workshop with Revel in the Mess to be playful while pausing to create the space in my life to unlock potential. After attending Foundations of Purpose, I was also inspired to delve into the world of watercolour painting. I asked my nieces and nephew to come over and bring their watercolours so I could try it. It was intentional to do this with younger people as I knew they were less inhibited when it comes to art and would be great coaches. I enjoyed it so much I bought my own watercolour painting supplies and now find it to be peaceful and playful.

I experimented with poetry during the fellowship and found through this practice that it revealed parts of me I had not connected to and the darkness and light that were in the crevices of my mind and heart. The following is a poem I wrote: 

It’s About All

A once in a lifetime opportunity created from nothing but a seed,
A moment about self, to reclaim purpose and direction, 
It was there and then taken away,
Slowly reflection and pause emerge between the crevices,
Not fully realized, sometimes forced,
More resilience peeks out,
Alone and lonely shifts to calm,
Time to think & listen to the thoughts,
Yearn for what was, pine for anonymity,
Lean into natural hopefulness despite its distance,
Find the rhythm in nature, in corners undiscovered,
Let go of what is expected & emerge into what is,
It is not about me, about other, about them,
It is about we, about us, about all.

I also took many pictures along the way and when scrolling through them, the theme that emerged was pathways – along the beach, canals, sidewalks, roadways and hiking trails – representing the journey I was on without any set destination or decisions. At the Foundation of Purpose program when we were to share a performance that was a culmination of our experience, I shared these photos as way to represent that I was still on the journey.

Through my travels I visited many art galleries and museums including Art Gallery of Ontario; Vancouver Art Gallery; Palazzo Pitti and Fort Belvedere in Florence Italy; Leopold Museum, Museum of Modern Art and Albertini in Vienna, Austria; Anne Frank House, MOMO, Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands; National Museum of African American History, Library of Congress, National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC; and Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. I found meandering through art galleries and museums to be calming and almost meditative while sparking my curiosity and making me feel whole.

Network research

Throughout my travels, I met with 17 impact and social innovation networks across the world to discuss key research questions related to themes we were exploring at Pillar including collaboration, leadership and governance, equity and inclusion, and storytelling and impact. The discussions were a shared exchange of mutual learning and connection rather than formal research. As I embarked on the research and conversations, I quickly realized that our work in the impact sector is complex; I was coming at this looking for answers and what I found was more questions. Here is a list of the key questions I asked members of each of the networks I visited.

  1. Collaboration: How has cross-sector collaboration contributed to network building in your community? How do you engage with those who are outliers but are needed to move forward your vision?
  2. Leadership and governance: What is the governance structure of your network, what works well and what would you reimagine if you could?
  3. Equity and inclusion: How does your network support and live out empathy, equity and inclusion?
  4. Storytelling and impact: How has storytelling shaped your network? What story is your network currently telling? Where are the diverse voices in our stories? How has failure and learning played a role of innovation and systems change?

You can read more about what I learned from these networks in More Questions Than Answers: The Learning from Networks. 

Strategic projects

Policy strategy 

As part of the six-month program with Maytree Policy School, I developed a policy strategy for Pillar that is rooted in our strategic theme of equity and inclusion. It outlines our focus for government relations with the municipal, provincial and federal governments.

Network mapping 

We are mapping our network through data visualizations in partnership with The CutlurePlex Lab at Western University to establish a baseline so we can monitor our network evolution to compare pre- and post- our membership redesign and inform our network strategy. We are testing this model with our new program CityStudio London to track the strength of the relationships and the increase in the relationships for students, faculty and partners from the outset of the program and to evaluate the change and impact in relationships.

See an example of network visualization analysis in this overview of annual Pillar events, 2011-2018. 

I chose to design a reflective practice and research fellowship to explore leadership growth, succession planning, and reflective practices in a meaningful and sustained way. Having others step into leadership and documenting our network approach were intentional to create succession planning for the organization.

Network approach micro-site 

A key goal for the fellowship was to share our network approach at Pillar and share a cohesive story of Pillar, Innovation Works and VERGE Capital. We decided on a micro-site “The Network Approach by Pillar Nonprofit Network” that would provide educational content about our promising practices using the network building principles of collaboration, leadership and governance, equity and inclusion and storytelling and impact. Developing this site has been a succession planning exercise to have myself and our team document our learning and promising practices since the inception of Pillar. It is our hope that is will also serve as a thought leadership hub for those starting a similar network to Pillar or for those who want to borrow some of our promising practices for their own organizational development. 

Learning opportunities

When I was researching different learning opportunities I wanted to find a balance between personal and professional development. I applied to the Maytree Policy School with both my roles as ED at Pillar and incoming Chair for Ontario Nonprofit Network in mind. Up to this point, I had really learned about public policy and government relations by trial and error and I knew that having some theory and knowledge behind me would be an advantage as a leader for both organizations. I had heard about the programs at Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity and in particular the Foundations of Purpose program. There are scholarships available and with a successful application I was ready to explore my next stage of purpose. 

Learn more about my Top 10 takeaways and actions from Maytree Policy School and Journey of finding my foundation of purpose.

I also had the opportunity to attend the National Council for Nonprofits Learning Confab with Ontario Nonprofit Network and Imagine Canada. The National Council for Nonprofits gathers annually to bring together the leaders of the network of state associations. Given the current political climate in the United States, there was much to learn from the innovative and adaptive practices of our counterparts. The concept that change should be cross partisan rather than nonpartisan was one takeaway that I will integrate into my language for our approach to government relations. The principle of moving from diversity to equity and being more explicit about racism and oppression also resonated and aligned our organizational approach. A session on building better movements with Leslie Crutchfield based on her book How Change Happens reminded me that we need to change hearts and minds to change policy. 

During the fellowship I read and listened to more than 100 books, blogs, and podcasts about networks, inclusive economies, equity and power, and leadership and tracked them along with their key themes. These have shaped my learning and thinking and really sparked my contemplation about how philanthropy and social impact work needs to be deconstructed and reimagined since the very systems we have assumed are helping people and society are holding power and privilege. To decolonize and reshape it requires giving up power. With our propensity in society at this time in history for an individualistic rather than a collective perspective, we have some critical thinking and action ahead of us. To check out the resources click here. 

Transition and change management

My fellowship journey all started with a proposal to the board along with conversations and a transition plan. This document was created to help our team navigate leadership and functional changes to the team during my fellowship. To read more about how we managed the transition with the staff team at Pillar read this article. 

About half way through the fellowship we sent out a fellowship survey to the staff and board to check in on how they were feeling. We then held a team meeting to discuss and unpack their responses and provide further support and direction. With about six weeks left in the fellowship, we created a reintegration and change management plan as I re-enter my role as ED. 

By the numbers
Aha moments
  1. I resonate with being an ecosystem tender and how do I prioritize tending to myself?
  2. How can we embed in the organization the mantra – Everyone follows, Everyone leads?
  3. How do I and we “paint it done”? What is the future state and impact we collectively want and how do we clearly communicate this with new staff and new programs?
  4. Is Pillar is an “impact network” not a network based on legal structure anymore (nonprofit, social enterprise, co-ops)?
  5. Daring leadership is about serving others not ourselves, how do we choose courage over comfort?
  6. How as a network are we mindful of power we hold and that systems hold power, how do we use our power as a bridge?
  7. Does our network feel they have a voice for change? 
  8. How can we measure the ways our network and shared space creates a sense of belonging, connections and reduces loneliness? 
  9. In a time of such uncertainty, how can we hold true that optimism is not uncool, it is rebellious, daring and vital?
  10. How do I become a human being not simply a human doing?
  11. How do we check our own blind spots daily?
  12. How do we make sure that individuals are authors of system innovation and give more resonance to community voices?
  13. How can we support that place-based networks are a driver for change in addition to being social and economic drivers?
  14. How does our consulting program go beyond a transactional in and out and support those by providing them with the skills and training to not need us in the future?
  15. What would it take to do an audit of our programs and practices and how they could be perpetuating the power structures and colonization that we are trying to address through our work as organizations?
  16. The fellowship is not a book end but a series of inflection points that requires care and attention. How do I carry forward the reflective practices as I go back to the intensity of an ED role at Pillar?
  17. How do you prepare for the inevitable change that will happen during a fellowship and provide clarity about what decisions the leader would be engaged in during this time?
The next stage

As I re-enter my role at Pillar, there are a number of projects and practices that I plan to continue going forward. Here is a look at some of the outcomes of my fellowship that I will complete going forward. 

  • Re-evaluate my reflective practices to make sure they still serve me and continue those that do
  • Have regular check ins with coach and learning sister to hold me accountable
  • Being present for the Pillar team at outset and pacing meetings
  • Share learnings with board, staff and community
  • Continue with the expression of art
  • Spend as much time on the implementation for the policy strategy network mapping and micro-site about our network approach as the development stage
  • Be authentic and open about what worked and did not work during fellowship
  • Be gentle with myself as I step back into leadership and accept I will make mistakes and need to own them and recalibrate
  • Have a conversation about our advocacy role as a team and board
  • Have a conversation about who are our key audiences and our role with business as a team and at board
  • Have a conversation about our role connecting to land, climate change, planet-first with team and at board
  • Host a workshop with Janet Frood, Executive Coach called Leadership Time Out – Power & Purpose of Structured Reflection
  • Partnering on a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council research partnership engagement grant with Dr. Neil Bradford at Huron to research opportunities for learning and intellectual capacity for leaders and collaborative network structures as a continuation of the fellowship themes
  • All About Boards session on Boards & Government Relations on Dec 5th with Sara Middleton from United Way who also took the Maytree Policy School last year
  • Booked one Friday off a month for reflection and strategy for rest of year and will have team help me be accountable to keep them open
  • Speaking at Global Co-Working UnConference in Toronto October 30th about my reflective practice and research fellowship 

Learning from other networks: More questions than answers

by

Written by Michelle Baldwin, Executive Director, Pillar Nonprofit Network

My reflective practice and research fellowship included the opportunity to meet with and learn from 17 impact and social innovation organizations across the globe (listed below) about network building principles that we had been exploring at Pillar including collaboration, leadership and governance, equity and inclusion and storytelling and impact. As I embarked on my research and had conversations with various networks across the world, I quickly realized that our work in the social impact sector is complex and often not clear cut. I was coming at these conversations looking for inspiration and answers, but what I found was more questions. While coming away with these questions was not what I initially expected, the conversations were a valuable exchange of our experiences and learning and it offered a moment of collaboration and connection. The themes and questions that emerged demonstrate common trends and needs to be addressed within our sector.  

Questions for our network partners

The key questions that I asked at each meeting with the networks included:

  1. Collaboration: How has cross-sector collaboration contributed to network building in your community? How do you engage with those who are outliers but are needed to move forward your vision?
  2. Leadership and governance: What is the governance structure of your network, what works well and what would you reimagine if you could?
  3. Equity and inclusion: How does your network support and live out empathy, equity and inclusion?
  4. Storytelling and impact: How has storytelling shaped your network? What story is your network currently telling? Where are the diverse voices in our stories? How has failure and learning played a role of innovation and systems change?
Emerging themes and questions for the sector 

Collaboration

  • As network support organizations, how do we adapt to change, anticipate shifts and support our members to be adaptive and not static?
  • How can we build trust-based relationships with partner organizations before starting any project? When you trust someone you say yes more than no, and you go places together that would otherwise be impossible to imagine. 
  • How do we help businesses and institutions within a community understand the benefits they receive from and the responsibilities they have for that community?
  • How do we encourage the belief that a network approach will lead to collective success? None of us are big enough to solve major societal issues on our own; we can achieve so much more together.
  • Next generations are asking companies to do no harm and to do good in communities, how are businesses adapting to this new reality?
  • If collaboration is not well coordinated and thoughtful, are we ‘starving the problem’ and creating deeper issues?
  • How do we engage with everyone not just social enterprises or nonprofits when supporting social change? When we focus on the legal structure of an organization, does it only preclude inviting more people to the conversation rather than including?

Leadership and governance

  • Do your board members reflect the organization and the community and are they part of your membership?
  • Do we need “everyday advocacy” between elections and not only during election campaigns?
  • Can we just duplicate a network in another community? No, we need to consider existing partners, unique needs and cultural considerations.
  • What are we working on as a network that is incremental change, quick wins and transformational? We can’t be working at all levels always so choose wisely.
  • At different stages in the lifecycle of a nonprofit or social enterprise different competencies are required from leaders and teams, how do we recognize this and plan for this?
  • How can boards be advisors and champions rather than seen as something to fear by staff?
  • What if governance is distributed beyond the board?

Equity and inclusion

  • How are we mindful of the power that networks and systems hold? How do we use our power as a bridge?
  • Does our network feel they have a voice for change? 

We believe that mobilizing networks to work together on finding solutions to pressing issues in our communities is the best way to make lasting change. We hope that in sharing these learnings with our network we will inspire dialogue on these questions and issues and that the topics will contribute to future changes in the sector.

  • How do we create spaces that welcome every human and make them feel the space is their own?
  • How do we own when we stumble and fail in being inclusive? We should be checking our blind spots daily.
  • How as networks do we consider the power structures and ways that we have contributed to system barriers and colonization?
  • How as networks can we use our power to influence?

Storytelling and impact

  • Is our society facing a lack of sense of belonging and loneliness? Can impact and social innovation networks and shared spaces create this sense of belonging and connection, and reduce loneliness?
  • How does the language and terminology that our networks use (see photo below for a selection of common terminology) create barriers to access? Should we use the term “social impact” or does it limit the understanding of our impact? 

  • How can networks embed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into their collective work and lean on each other for examples of how to do that well?
  • How do we focus on the quality of engagement not the quantity of interactions with members of our network?
  • When we talk about failure we usually share a story with a happy ending. How are we authentic about the experiences and stories that were really hard, devastating and not a happy ending, and how do we deal with prolonged periods of failure? 
  • How do we collect stories that are useful and can provide insight while  not forcing a positive response about our network that is not genuine?
  • How can we influence and demonstrate an impact-first focus rather than a profit-first focus for social enterprises and business? 
Next steps 

We believe that mobilizing networks to work together on finding solutions to pressing issues in our communities is the best way to make lasting change. We hope that in sharing these learnings with our network we will inspire dialogue on these questions and issues and that the topics will contribute to future changes in the sector. Within our organization, our staff and board will have an opportunity to review the learning and share what it sparks for them. Together we will look to these ideas as a starting point for future decision making and explore where further discussion and exploration is needed.

Networks from around the world 

To learn more about some of the amazing networks and organizations making a positive impact in their communities around the world, explore the links below. 

10C Shared Space

10C Shared Space is the hub for community changemakers in Guelph. It is working and event meeting space, offering students, professionals and researchers working within Guelph a place to gather, exchange ideas and work for change. They are a not for profit social enterprise creating a platform for those working across sectors and engaging in collaborative work to improve our community. 

Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations

Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations is a member-based charitable organization that was established to strengthen Calgary’s vibrant nonprofit/voluntary sector, and address sector-related public policy issues in Alberta. They are proud to support their member organizations through sector research, advocacy, and informed convening and programming activities.

Centre for Social Innovation

The Centre for Social Innovation works across sectors to create a better world. They accelerate their success and amplify their impact through the power of coworking, community and collaboration. Together with their members, they are building a movement to put people and planet first.

CityStudio Vancouver

CityStudio Vancouver is an innovation hub that brings together city staff, students, faculty and community to co-create experimental projects that make Vancouver more sustainable, liveable and joyful. It accelerates sustainability in higher education and provide students with direct opportunities to work in and with the city on urban challenges.

Centre for Connected Communities

The Centre for Connected Communities (C3) was born out of the pioneering work of the East Scarborough Storefront. Since 2001, the Storefront has been developing and adapting a new approach to community, the Connected Community Approach. C3 was created to help as many people as possible to be active players in their own communities and to be effective agents for positive change.

HiVE Vancouver

Vancouver’s longest standing coworking space that operates as a nonprofit society. HiVE has wild dreams of building a network of knowledge, connection and innovative action in order to take on society’s most complex challenges. They are making this happen by using the powerful tool of shared space to cowork, host events, deliver programming, and build community.

Imagine Canada

Imagine Canada exists to work alongside other charitable sector organizations – and often in partnership with the private sector, governments and individuals in the community – to ensure that charities continue to play a pivotal role in building, enriching and defining our nation. They offer programs and provide resources to strengthen charities and their operations so they can, in turn, support the communities they serve.

Impact Hub

Impact Hub is a network of 100 Impact Hubs, 16,500 members in 55+ countries around the world that make up one of the world’s largest networks focused on building entrepreneurial communities for impact at scale, In locally rooted and globally connected collaborative co working spaces they inspire, connect and enable entrepreneurial action for a more just and sustainable world. Impact Hubs interviewed included Impact Hub Amsterdam, Impact Hub Florence, Impact Hub Ottawa, and Impact Hub Vienna. 

Ontario Nonprofit Network

The Ontario Nonprofit Network (ONN) is  the independent network for the 58,000 nonprofits in Ontario. They are focused on policy, advocacy, and services to strengthen Ontario’s nonprofit sector as a key pillar of our society and economy. ONN works to create a public policy environment that strengthens nonprofits so they can do more. 

RADIUS SFU

RADIUS is a social innovation hub based out of the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in the heart of Vancouver at the Charles Chang Innovation Centre. RADIUS builds programs to collaboratively develop, test, and accelerate innovative responses to tough social problems. 

Social Enterprise Netherlands

As a national membership body, Social Enterprise Netherlands (NL) represents, connects and supports the growing community of social enterprises in The Netherlands. Social Enterprise NL aims to increase the visibility of social enterprises by providing support to its members, facilitating a favourable business environment and inspiring social and entrepreneurial action.

Social Innovation Canada

Social Innovation Canada aims to create a unique, inclusive and open movement to put people and planet first. It will provide the collaborative infrastructure to strengthen Canada’s social innovation ecosystem, empowering people, organizations and systems with the tools, knowledge, skills and connections that they need to solve real and complex problems.

Vantage Point

Vantage Point is a not-for-profit that provides high-value, immediately applicable training and services to not-for-profit leaders – board directors, executives, and other team members. Their work builds organizational capacity, for improved outcomes and impact.

Yunus Social Business, University of Florence

The Yunus School of Business aims to harness the power of business to end poverty through philanthropic venture funds and corporate social innovation, and by growing and supporting social businesses to help solve the world’s pressing problems.