I had the opportunity to attend the Imagine Canada National Summit for Charities this past week, courtesy of a sponsorship by the Maytree Foundation. At the outset, I am incredibly grateful to Maytree for agreeing to assist in my attendance; without which I would not have had the privilege of attending.
A few brief thoughts:
- While it was great to reconnect with the many old faces present in the room, developing new relationships with the young/emerging leaders in the not for profit sector from across the country was incredibly invigorating. I’ve forgotten how passionate that leaders in the not for profit world can be; especially with respect to the general population.
- Whoever chose the speakers at the conference knew what they were doing. I was especially appreciated the talks by Alan Gregg, Naheed Nenshi (Mayor of Calgary, who I am comfortable calling Canada’s urban mayor) and Shawn Atleo (National Chief to the Assembly of First Nations, and by leaps and bounds the most thoughtful speaker). I have made a Bundlr of the content of each speech as observed by the Twitterverse, but will do a followup critique of the speeches later.
- From my conversations, I truly believe there is a major disconnect between what the leaders of the non profit sector want as solutions to the problems that ail the sector and the practical solutions that reality makes available. Finding a way to bridge that gap is a problem that I feel will be the responsibility of the newer generation.
- The working groups that I participated in were very productive; so much so that I look forward to seeing the next steps. I truly hope that next steps are taken; I would not want to see the recommendations proposed fall by the wayside.
