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Spring 2000 Newsletter
Table of Contents
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Canadian
generosity: Give us a reason to give by William Thorsell
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Marketing
Your Site on the Web by Alyzza Hopfe -
Partnering for the Benefit of Canadians:
Government of Canada and the Voluntary Sector Initiative by
Patrick Johnston
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Canadian
generosity: Give us a reason to give by
William Thorsell
The fundamental limitation in Canadian philanthropy is not on the
supply side– that is, the willingness of people to give. It is on
the demand side: a shortage of compelling, inspiring objects for
philanthropy that go beyond guilt and duty, and that are sustained by
long-term relationships. In Canada, we do not habitually associate
giving with desire, faith, gratitude or excellence. And, admittedly,
we don’t have the same traditions of giving as the Americans:
We have always been more communal in our political life, relying
on governments to sustain the common interest. As a consequence,
there has been less need for private philanthropy in Canada. In
fact, it is illegal to establish a private university in most
provinces, much less a private hospital.
Nay more. John Ralston Saul recently argued that too much charity
is bad for us: "As Strindberg put it in his blunt and accurate
way: ‘All charity is humiliating.’... Ethics are quite
different. They don’t require the gratitude of the recipient:
i.e., the humiliation of the recipient….Charity cannot replace, in
an inclusive democracy, the organization of the public good. And if
it does, well then it excludes citizens from their role as citizens
because they are dependent on another. Citizenship is about
obligation, not about choosing to be generous."
We are less individualistic than Americans, which translates into
a weaker assumption that anything we do as individuals really
matters. Nor do we generally sport the large individual egos that
thrive in a culture of public stardom that celebrates conspicuous
achievement, generosity or evil. Our modesty is unbecoming to
philanthropy.
Proportionately fewer Canadians have great fortunes available for
philanthropic dispersal as a means of getting their personal camels
through the needle’s eye on the way to heaven.
We are less actively religious than Americans, and feel less the
"call" of giving that many God-fearing people do there.
As a reflection of all this, we provide less public tax and
fiscal support to philanthropy than the Americans, for whom the road
to giving is greased by considerably more self-interested financial
benefits.
But the Americans are also better at marketing opportunities to
make a difference, and at maintaining the personal relationships so
crucial to philanthropy over time. For example:
A university is a maw in which a donor’s money for the general
endowment is lost in a sea of other private and public funds. All the
customer’s basic frustrations about giving are deepened by appeals
for general support.
But offer the alumni seven discrete, targeted excellence
initiatives, from creating a first-rank Great Western Canon BA, to
pushing a computer science department up to third rank in North
America by 2006, to re-landscaping the campus and its streets, to
creating a chair in modern design studies – you are much more likely
to catch a donor’s personal fancy by one of these projects.
Convince them that regular government funding will never do the
job, offer a project that is visible and whose quality can be
measured, and create an opportunity for the donor to participate
through an advisory board. Add a promise to match donor funds from
extra government sources, contingent on philanthropy for special
projects, and the demand-pull for philanthropy will deliver
substantially more dividends.
What about ongoing humanitarian aid, exemplified by the United Way?
People will be looking for more evidence even here that community
social programs change the future, rather than just cope with the
problems of the past. We need to offer more than help; we need to
offer solutions. The promise of solutions creates more desire among
potential donors than repeated appeals based on compassion to
ameliorate chronic problems.
Demographics drives many behaviors, and thus many markets. With
kids leaving home, mortgages paid off and intimations of mortality
appearing in the bathroom mirror, boomers are just entering their
prime philanthropic years, defined as a time when you want to make a
lasting impression for good beyond yourself. Canada has the largest
proportion of boomers in the Western world. The market for
philanthropy is demographically strengthening.
Nevertheless, there will be more questions about qualifications for
charitable status, and more scrutiny of how tax-supported moneys are
spent. The growing delegation of resources and priority making through
tax-supported philanthropy could provoke more serious questioning.
And, of course, corporate philanthropy is evincing more market
testing, too. It’s not just a matter of visible credit for business,
but more visible links to the particular interest of corporations. The
best-known example is that of Nortel, which is withdrawing from
corporate donations to the United Way in favour of technical
education.
Idealism and vision are enormously powerful forces in our society
– and enormously underdeveloped. We should not underestimate the
power of a great cause brilliantly articulated by a visionary
champion. Ironically, we see more examples of this in business these
days than in politics, the arts or community affairs. There is a green
field waiting for that special combination of reason and passion that
has produced such advancement in these fields in earlier times.
Canadians capable of giving are more willing, perhaps, than many
charities experience and believe. If these groups skillfully address
donors’ reservations and tap their imaginations, they will not so
comfortably let them down.
William Thorsell, chairman of the Editorial
Board of The Globe & Mail, was the opening speaker at
Symposium 2000 "Does Philanthropy Have a Future?"
co-hosted by The Canadian Centre for Philanthropy and Grant MacEwan
College. Reprinted from The Globe and Mail, April 22,
2000.
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2. Marketing
Your Site on the Web by
Alyzza Hopfe
The Net, the most powerful and diverse media tool in human history.
With large businesses, especially web based ones like Ebay or Amazon.com
generating tens of thousands of world wide hits per day, it’s easy to
see why nearly every business is scrambling for a billet in cyberspace.
In reality though, the web sites of smaller businesses and
organizations are usually overshadowed by giant competitors. What can the
small business or organization do to make their presence known on the Net?
Quite a lot!
People tend to forget that many of the large domains started out small.
In some cases, they were one person operations that started growing
shortly after the birth of the Internet. If you capitalize on your web
site, it can be an asset to the growth of your business. Here are a few
simple strategies for making your web site known.
Tell people: It’s amazing how many web site owners fail to simply
TELL their associates that they have a new site up. A casual mention of
the site and its features to a client can make a daily visitor out of
them. People tend to talk, and if they see a well built and informative
web site, many of them will mention it to their friends.
List the site on your signature line in your e-mail: Everyone you
mail will have an instant ad for your site. A simple yet effective way to
make it more popular.
Make sure the site is included along with other pertinent information
on your voice mail or in your after hours box: 24 hour service is the
best that a business can give; however, most people don’t have the
budget to offer it. The next best thing is to direct after hour callers to
your home in cyberspace. Chances are, in a well built web page, people may
find the answers they were looking for.
Use catchy titles to help people remember or stay interested: If
the title of a page or product stands out, it is more likely to receive
attention than something that fades into the background.
Do not build web sites then add features that make the site
inaccessible to some of the clientele and the general public. People
would be surprised at how many things can render a site inaccessible. Here
are a few:
Heavy graphics are a site killer. Though they may look good, they
can bog down those with slower modems, poor connections, non-graphical
browsers, text-to-speech software, older versions of popular browsers, or
even poor screen quality. Those groups together actually account for a
large portion of the net surfing public.
Another thing which can make the site inaccessible or annoying is the over
use of sound. Background music is one thing, but for it to occur on
every page in a continuous loop is a bit much. Sites which RELY on sound
to convey important information yet provide no text version are in really
hot water. That immediately makes the site inaccessible to people without
sound cards or speakers, or to the deaf.
The gratuitous use of Java applets: an applet or two on a page
may look cool, but a page stuffed with applets will never download.
Chances are, unless a person has a cable or satellite modem, they will
leave your page before the applets even start. I would suggest avoiding
pop up screens as well.
Diversify the content of your site as much as possible within the
context: The more diverse the links and articles on your site are, the
more appealing it becomes to a larger population. Diverse sites have the
flexibility to offer news, links, and events on a given topic. Diversity
and quality information bring people back.
Create an e-mail list for preferred customers:
Send people who visit regularly (or are clients) information on updates
to your web site or/and product. You can send out individual e-mails, or
if your list is large, you could use mailing services like Onelist.
Update your site regularly: When you develop a reputation as
someone who continually updates their site, that in itself will bring the
coveted repeat visits. For those who don’t update your sites, leave no
indication of the time frame when you did it last.
Encourage user participation: Make an e-mail address available and
easy to find on your site. Encourage people to use it for anything from
reporting trouble to questions and comments. You could also add a web
based forum or even a chat room if these lend themselves to the business
you are developing. Some good ones can be found at Beseen or Delphi.
Encourage people to link to your site by linking to theirs: When
applicable, web based partnership with like businesses can enhance the
quality of both your site and theirs. The exchange of advertising and
banner space can bring both parties more hits. For nonprofit organizations
and individuals, you can join large programs wherein people basically swap
links and banners. Always make sure your banner represents the best side
of you, because in exchange programs, that’s the side many are likely to
see. You could try Link Exchange or similar programs.
List your site with popular search engines: Most of the large
search engines allow you to electronically submit your site. Host a
nonprofit site within the context of your own. Though the ability to list
your site on a search engine is important for global recognition, if
you’re selling a product or service city wide, the listing is not nearly
as important as an actual presence outside of cyberspace.
Use site inspection utilities to measure your presence on the web and
your site’s readiness for listing: Tools like SiteInspector
can indicate your presence on certain search engines and pages on the web.
In the world outside cyberspace, you can also advertise your site in
more traditional ways, such as billboard ads, stickers, or the
occasional "site address" T-shirt give away. If you are a for
profit organization, involve yourself in nonprofit activities regularly,
this will give you more attention as well as helping people in need … a
good way to spend advertising dollars.
Reprinted from the January 2000 edition of
"attention…@ease", published by the batsch group. They can be
reached at <www.batschgroup.com>. The author, Alyzza Hopfe, also
writes for the visually impaired. Visit her site at <http://newvision.mainpage.net>.
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Partnering
for the Benefit of Canadians: Government of Canada and the Voluntary
Sector Initiative by
Patrick Johnston
On June 9, the federal government officially launched what is being
called the Voluntary Sector Initiative. The government committed more than
$90 million over the next five years to enhance its relationship with
Canada’s voluntary sector and to help us meet some of the increased
demands being placed upon us.
A news release and backgrounder about the Initiative can be found
online at: <http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/volunteer/pub-june09_e.html>.
Most of the specific issues that will be addressed by the Initiative
are based on the views and proposals contained in two documents; the
sector commissioned February 1999 report of the "Broadbent"
panel on Accountability and Governance and the September 1999 report
"Working Together" which was the product of three joint tables
with equal representation from federal officials and voluntary sector
representatives.
The $90 million expenditure is NOT a grants program for individual
organizations. Rather, it is to be used for measures that have the
potential to strengthen the capacity of the voluntary sector as a whole.
Among others, these could include measures designed to better help us
recruit volunteers and paid staff, to streamline and clarify Canada
Customs and Revenue Agency’s rules and regulations for charities, and to
maximize the sector’s use of new and emerging technologies.
A number of proposed measures are still at the "idea" stage
and will need more consultation with the sector. In fact, a much larger
number of people from the sector will be asked to "volunteer"
their time and energy to help implement these initiatives over the next
few years. A broad-based "call for nominations" has been
developed. In order for this exercise to speak to the perspectives of
organizations large or small, rural and urban, whatever field they work in
and in whatever part of the country they serve, it is essential that
participation in this process be very open and inclusive.
A number of joint tables will be established over the coming months to
focus on the development of an accord (or memorandum of under-standing)
between the sector and the federal government support for volunteerism
capacity (funding, human resources, organizational, research, policy
development), regulatory and legal framework (regulatory institutions,
legal liabilities, reporting, sanctions) informational technology and
increasing awareness and understanding of the sector.
Obviously a number of these tables will require sub-groups and other
topics may be added at future dates. Down the road there will be further
work at the provincial and community levels. Each of the tables, to be
chaired jointly, will be composed of seven senior government
representatives and seven participants from the voluntary sector.
You are invited to nominate members from the voluntary sector who could
participate in this process in a number of ways:
You are invited to propose people who could serve on a joint table:
such a person would serve as an individual, have a good awareness and
understanding of the issues and perspective of their own organization,
but also be familiar with the larger issues touching the sector.
At the same time, you are invited to identify people with particular
interests or expertise who could be a part of a reference group or
consultations which could be called upon in the course of this
initiative. For example, people with knowledge of the laws on liability,
or human resources planning in the sector, or community-driven research,
or provincial initiatives.
Thirdly, you are invited to indicate interest in being involved
and/or kept informed about this initiative, whether that means being
invited to consultations to be held in your community, or receiving
regular updates.
Directions and a nomination form can be found at: <http://www.vsr-trsb.net/ISC-e.html>.
They need to be sent by August 4, 2000. If you have questions, contact the
Coordinator, Susan Carter at: carter@ccsd.ca, or 613-236-5868, #247, or
JoAnn Crichlow, Coordinator, VSR Secretariat at: 613-238-1591 (228) or by
e-mail at: <joannc@vsr-trsb.net>.
This imitative has the potential to make significant improvements for
the voluntary sector and move the relationship between the sector and the
government to a new level. We hope that you will be part of this.
Patrick Johnston is President & CEO of the Canadian Centre for
Philanthropy
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