Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/198486
New President and CEO What do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing not-for-profits today? The enormous diversity of our sector can be both a great opportunity and, at times, a big challenge. Our sector needs innovation and new ideas, but we often create new organizations rather than building on existing ones. The downside of this can be too many actors pursuing the same donor, client, policy goal or staff, leading to needless competition and inefficiencies. I serve on the board of Imagine Canada, and we've heard that finding resources and staff are big challenges for many charities, but we also struggle as a sector to get out the stories of our success. There is so much good news, but not always enough of it gets shared. You've worked in hot spots all over the world. What's your most memorable experience? " Our sector brings people together around causes that matter, so we work with people fuelled by passion, with deep patience and compassion. Working with committed people in that environment has always inspired me." My memorable experiences fall into two categories, both extremes. The images and personal stories from refugees I met in camps created after the genocide in Rwanda, or after the droughts in Somalia, were powerful and traumatic, yet motivated me in my humanitarian work with CARE for years. On the bright side, I often think of the women who participated in micro-savings and finance programs in rural Africa whose lives were transformed by the financial knowledge they gained, and the support of a community savings group. We were able to measure and attribute improvements in household income, health status of children, and increased and longer school enrolment as a result of our programs. In one community in rural Zimbabwe, domestic violence also fell as many families were able to deal more effectively page 8 I Vancouver Foundation l Fall 2013 p06-08 Q&A.indd 8 with the stresses that were contributing factors to violence against women. How do you see the work you've done in the field internationally translate into the work Vancouver Foundation does at the community level? CARE's international development work is community-based and led. We worked directly with farmers, refugees, migrant workers and the urban poor to better understand their needs, options and aspirations, then designed program interventions based on our interaction and understanding of their issues. I see many parallels, from design to implementation, monitoring, reporting (to donors and the community itself), learning and research in the work we did internationally with what Vancouver Foundation does at the community level. My international work also had me engaging with governments, private sector, and media, both to communicate about our work, but also to engage the broader group of stakeholders who are often needed to find sustainable solutions to pressing issues. Having just moved from Ottawa, what are you going to do now that you can't skate on the Rideau Canal in the winter? I've been telling lots of people about our move to Vancouver and, judging by the number of people who said they will come to visit, I think we will be showing visitors around this beautiful region for some time to come. When not acting as tour guide, paddling, hiking and skiing are all high on our family's to-do list. VF Photo: Tiffany Cooper 13-10-11 1:30 PM