August 2022 Edition
CD4SG 2022 Applications Are Open!
Capacity Canada is accepting applications for one of its most popular programs – Creative Day For Social Good (CD4SG). Capacity Canada, in partnership with Intertek Catalyst, Conestoga College, HIM&HER, and the creative community, donates design and marketing tools to non-profit organizations across Canada through this yearly event.
As last year, all sessions will be held virtually. CD4SG will bring together teams of art directors, writers, account managers, and other creative professionals who will donate their time to guide talented graphic design and public relations students from Conestoga College.
Last year, the event received more than 100 applications, for ten spots, from non-profits across Canada. Teams of participating students and industry professionals successfully created more than $100,000 worth of pro-bono work to assist selected organizations in furthering their social impact.
Modern Board: Capacity Canada offers courses in Effective Board Governance
Serving on a non-profit board is a meaningful and rewarding experience, and the skills and expertise of a board’s directors are crucial to its collective impact. Yet, many boards cannot train their directors in a comprehensive, efficient way, and many directors are constrained by their schedules and limited access to resources. With Capacity Canada’s Modern Board, participants get access to a unique and comprehensive course offered by experts in the governance of the non-profit board. The two-course program includes multi-media guidance offered through video lectures, reading material and journaling opportunities to reflect on your personal experience with board roles and responsibilities.
In addition to the certification from Capacity Canada, you earn a micro-credential in partnership with Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning. Capacity Canada has worked with over 8,000 non-profits across the country, building their capacity in board governance and board matching, among others. Course 1 for the program begins September 12 and runs until November 7, 2022.
To register for the course, visit Capacity Canada’s website.
MatchBoard: Donating Time To Impact Meaningful Change
Since its inception in 2011, hundreds of non-profits have benefitted from Capacity Canada’s MatchBoard program.
MatchBoard links employees from major corporations with volunteer opportunities on the boards of charitable non-profits, offering participants a chance to support the causes they care about most. The program has successfully matched employees from Manulife, TD, Aecon, and several other corporations to charitable non-profit boards in Toronto, Waterloo Region and surrounding cities and communities. Matches have also been made in Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa and Montreal. Matches include local, provincial, national and international non-profits.
Since 2012, Capacity Canada has placed over 300 employees from Manulife alone on non-profit boards across Canada. Jennifer Smart, an Employee Experience Enablement Lead with Manulife, was matched to the board of the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy and has been happily volunteering with them since 2017. Read about her experience here. Similarly, Kyle Leng was matched Birchmount Bluffs Neighbourhood Center. Ria Madan, Director, Procurement at Manulife, was matched to the board of her choice and has been volunteering with Skills for Change and Kids Kicking Cancer Canada since 2018.
In 2018, an extensive evaluation of the MatchBoard program found the program has had a substantial impact on both the employees and the non-profits they have been matched with. Highly skilled and experienced employees were matched with charitable boards. Learn more about the MatchBoard program on our website.
Women’s Leadership Co-Creation Studio Invites Women to Share Their Stories
As part of Capacity Canada’s Makeover Project, a team of women is gathering in September to explore the enablers and barriers to leadership for women who are underrepresented in the leadership and decision-making spaces within the non-profit sector.
It is the first phase of the project’s design studio that utilizes the principles and approaches of human-centred design thinking to learn from and with women about ways to strengthen women’s engagement as leaders in the sector.
During this first phase, we seek to learn more from the experiences of women from underrepresented groups such as those from low-income backgrounds, disabled, 2SLGBTQ2S+, First Peoples and racialized communities, and those who experience intersectionality of these. We are looking for women from the Waterloo Region willing to share their experiences with us through an interview by a member of the design team.
Aspiring leaders, existing non-profit leaders and women who exercise leadership as volunteers in the community are welcome. If you’re interested, please contact project team member Liz Dennis before September 2 (Friday) at [email protected].
The project also invites women from the Waterloo Region to participate in our second design studio, where we will co-design potential solutions. The second studio event will take place virtually later in the fall. Please contact Liz to learn more or sign up for this event.
Emerging Governance Trends Webinar Series
If you haven’t yet registered for Capacity Canada’s new webinar series, now is the time! The Emerging Governance Trends Webinar Series 2022 will prepare you and your board for success. Tailored to prospective, new, and experienced non-profit board members, executive directors, CEOs, and corporate partners, Capacity Canada’s 90-minute workshops on post-pandemic governance trends and strategies are an ideal way for you to meet your professional development goal. The last two webinars are:
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion – 
Making It Happen (Part 2): September 22, 2022, 6:00 – 7:30 pm ET, presented by Sandra Hanmer.
Building a High-Performing Board – Board Recruitment and Retention: November 10, 2022, 6:00 – 7:30 pm ET, presented by Marion Thomson-Howell.
For more information, visit our website.
New Workshop Alert: High-Performance Meeting Habits for New Directors
Are you looking to make an impact as a new board director? Look no further! Registration is open for Capacity Canada’s upcoming workshop – High-Performance Meeting Habits for New Directors. The workshop will be held on October 20 at 1:00 p.m. ET and will be led by our two board governance experts – Andrew Jardine and Paul Wilton. Jardine is an executive assistant to the principal and secretary to the board of directors at King’s University College at Western University, and Wilton is a Ph.D. student studying higher education at the University of Toronto who has served on several local and national boards.
Register For Virtual Workshop: Running Effective Meetings
If you are looking to make the most of your meetings, register for Capacity Canada’s
upcoming virtual workshop – Running Effective Meetings! Our board governance experts will share information and best practices facilitated through discussions to ensure your next meeting is everything you expected it to be and more. The workshop will be held on January 26, 2023, from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm ET.
It will be led by two board governance experts – Andrew Jardine and Paul Wilton. Jardine is an executive assistant to the principal and secretary to the board of directors at King’s University College at Western University, and Wilton is a Ph.D. student studying higher education at the University of Toronto who has served on several local and national boards.
Setting strategic priorities for your board
Not sure how to set your strategic priorities for the board? Join Capacity Canada’s upcoming workshop on Strategic Succession Planning on March 30, 2023 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET.
The workshop is led by our board governance experts – Andrew Jardine and Paul Wilton. Jardine is an executive assistant to the principal and secretary to the board of directors at King’s University College at Western University, and Wilton is a Ph.D. student studying higher education at the University of Toronto who has served on several local and national boards.
You will learn the following:
- Setting strategic priorities for the Board and aligning membership/leadership needs
- Developing an effective skills matrix.
- Identifying leadership candidates within the board.
- Developing leaders on the board Searching for board candidates with leadership potential
- Training and onboarding chairs and vice-chairs of committees and the board
- Planning and executing on a succession plan for the Board’s long-term success.
Support Capacity Canada
Each year, we help non-profits from all across Canada with Board Governance training. We are always grateful for our non-profit partners, community leaders, and their support. We are also grateful for the ongoing generous support of Suncor Energy Foundation and the Lyle S. Hallman Foundation.
Your financial support will help Capacity Canada bring together the ideas, people, and resources that fuel social innovation.
Thank You To Our Funders
