Recently, the need to expand our location has occurred. For those wishing to reach us, the phone number and email remains the same however, our new address is:
If you're a non-profit organization and you are on Facebook and haven't heard of the Causes application, you need your team to get on board with this excellent tool IMMEDIATELY! Basically, Facebook Causes is one of the many applications available to centre discussion around issues of concern to a multitude of organizations.
Any Facebook user with a little passion and initiative can create a cause, recruit their friends into that cause, keep everybody in the cause up-to-speed on issues and media related to the cause, and, most importantly, raise money directly through the cause for any U.S. nonprofit or Canadian registered charity. Causes processes donations automatically via credit card, tallies the results, and reports the donation activity via a public "scorecard" in the cause.
What I love about this application is that it is a natural evolution of social networking. Leveraging real world social networks is an important part of activism, fundraising, and political campaigning. This is especially true of grassroots activism, local-chapter style nonprofit organizations, and the walks/runs used by many charities to raise money. Given all this, it's a bit surprising that online social networks haven't been more aggressively leveraged until now.
Apart from my business, I operate a small Cause page for a charity I support: Help the Chronically Unemployed find the Right Job. With very little effort, I have been able to raise awareness of the work conducted by a small grassroots Ottawa charity - the Success Factory Employment Centre.
I recently received this email from Facebook Causes. I think this new development bring about important and positive changes for the sector. What are your thoughts?
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Social media has a loyal following. Many are convinced while others from time to time that I encounter inevitably tell me a number of things:
It's been a while since this blog has been updated but what a summer and fall we have had that has lead Canada towards an interesting political environment. Parliament (in Ottawa) returns today with amongst other developments, three new ministers:
John Baird is now replacing Jay Hill as House LeaderChuck Strahl has moved from Indian Affairs replacing John Baird as Minister of Transport
John Duncan has moved in Minister for Indian Affairs and Northern DevelopmentJean-Pierre Blackburn has left Revenue for Veteran's Affairs
Here's my take on how these changes will effect the direction of government:
1. Jay Hill, now seeking to move out of politics, was known and respected as conciliator. This is not to say that John Baird is not but I expect that with his reputation of taking no prisoners, the government may become bolder in pushing forth its agenda. For associations and non-profits looking to push forth their agenda, it will be critical for them to look at means of how their issues fit into the overall objectives and political direction of the government. This will be all the more critical as the government will have to contend with reducing the deficit initiatives and political pressure to keep up stimulus spending.
2. I don't expect Chuck Strahl's movement to Transport and John Duncan's movement to Indian Affairs should affect any serious direction in policy changes. that said, this is an important change for this department and retooling one's connections will be critical to advance policy in this department. In the case of the latter department, I can state from my own experience on parliament hill that John Duncan will likely add an important voice and perspective on aboriginal issues from a British Columbia perspective. As an opposition MP, John was very vocal on aboriginal fishing disputes.
3. Jean-Pierre Blackburn's move to Veteran's Affairs means that this department will have its first Quebec minister in a very long time. He has already identified his desire to build more awareness for veteran's issues in Quebec as a personal priority. Also, with Canada's mission to Afghanistan coming to an end soon, the issue of proper compensation for veterans means he will likely be a minister to watch. The departure of his Chief of Staff (and friend of mine), Michel Lalonde, also leads to a change in the style of operating as well in his office.
Quebec City has also been a hot bed of political activity these last couple of months. Premier Jean Charest has named the yet-to-be elected Jean-Marc Fournier (now elected from a bi-election this fall) as minister of justice during a cabinet shuffle. Among the newly appointed ministers: Kathleen Weil takes over immigration, Lise Thériault is named minister of labour and Sam Hamad becomes transport minister.
Despite claims to the opposite, the shuffle was a quite deliberate attempt at deflecting attention away from current troubles the Premier is facing in claims the province's judiciary is named under partisan circumstances. With different polls indicating various levels of support for the PLQ, I foresee the Quebec Liberals undertaking more initiatives in the field of democratic transparency as a priority as they will likely attempt to reclaim popular support.
So...what do you think? Where do you see government policy going in the coming months both federally an in Quebec? What impact (if any) will developments in Quebec have on federal policy or on policy in other provinces?
_______________Mark Buzan is Principal of Action Strategies, a GR Consultancy for non-profits. If you have questions on how you feel your organization could benefit from legislative monitoring services or even undertaking a grassroots advocacy initiative. Subscribe now to his Lobbying tips newsletter at www.actionstrategies.ca
Lobbying in Ottawa has changed this fall and non-profit/ association executives would be wise to pay heed. Anyone who bends the ear of Members of Parliament and senators must now register such activities under expanded new regulations that have taken effect. Under the new rules, individuals must register when they lobby any member of Parliament, senator or senior staff in the House of Commons and Senate offices of the leader of the opposition.
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