In 2008, the Tides Canada Initiatives Society (TCI) began a project to consider a model support structure for charitable activities that is variously and perhaps erroneously termed “fiscal sponsorship,” a support or “umbrella” organization, or a “facilitator” organization. None of these terms adequately describes the multi-faceted structures that currently exist in Canada in support of Canadian registered charities, nor are the operational and compliance issues appropriately addressed.

The TCI project has two phases. The first phase culminated in a Consultation Paper seeking the views of the public on our tentative recommendations regarding the new model. The second phase, built upon the recommendations and the responses we received from the public, involved a series of consultations in Toronto and Vancouver and the publication of this report.

The project was made possible by grants from the Law Foundation of British Columbia and the Law Foundation of Ontario.

BACKGROUND

Scope and Objectives of Project

TCI initiated this project with the intention of advancing the development of the Canadian legal and regulatory framework to support and promote an innovative model that provides comprehensive infrastructure, organizational, and governance supports for emerging charitable activities, for projects with limited mandates, and for community coalitions and international charitable organizations seeking a “home in Canada.”

More specifically, TCI’s objectives are:

    (i) to introduce the concept of a “charitable venture organization” (CVO) in order to create a common language and provisional framework for a phenomenon that already exists in various forms in the Canadian voluntary sector; and

    (ii) to propose the creation of “good practice” guidelines that will enable CVOs to operate in compliance with existing legislation...

(more).

Welcome to the Spring 2010 issue of The Philanthropist.

Our February issue focused on some of the big challenges facing the Canadian nonprofit sector. We heard from you that you like the approach and look of the “new” Philanthropist, and that these are indeed the big questions facing the sector. In this issue, we explore some new ways of working – evolving organizational forms and groupings of different players. In other words, this issue looks at structure and collaborations within the sector. Our summer issue will delve into social innovation exploring both the concept and concrete examples of innovation in the nonprofit sector. After all “true innovation cannot happen without collaboration.”

Our feature article is an exploration of “Charitable Venture Organizations: A New Infrastructure Model for Canadian Registered Charities” prepared by David Stevens and Margaret Mason. This Tides Canada Initiative is one of the most innovative approaches to come on the scene in some time, and this article explores it in some depth. Prefacing the feature article is an introduction by Leslie Wright, which sets the context of this initiative.

Several articles address coalitions and how they are changing the landscape of the nonprofit sector:
   • Hilary Pearson writes on coalitions of grantmakers,
   • Terris Lutter zeroes in on the work of one of these – the environmental grantmakers, and
   • Liz Mulholland looks at new ways of doing policy work including the important roles of coalitions in such work...