The Discovery Pod

All youth deserve an opportunity to improve their lives and explore their potential. In this episode, Douglas Nelson interviews the CEO of Take a Hike Foundation, Gordon Matchett, who provides some information about his wonderful and helpful program for the youth to help them work through whatever issues are holding them back. Reflecting on his own experiences, Gordon shares some wonderful advice on exploring the youth’s potential and talks about how his program has expanded and its personal impact to him.

Leading a large organization is a huge task and can be very daunting for most CEOs, particularly one that is a national health charity such as the MS Society of Canada. Pamela Valentine is a clinical researcher and a leader of innovation who is also currently the CEO of the MS Society. Pamela relates how she came through the door of the organization in the most opportune time just as they were working towards a change in leadership and looking for somebody who understood their accelerating research process. In this episode, Pamela shares what it’s like leading a national health charity and gives some advice to other leaders and CEOs on taking new strategic directions and leading their organizations in a different way.

Campaigning for capital to support a wonderful cause is a noble job, but regardless of what it brings, there will always be ups and downs. Today on the show we have Teri Nicholas, who is known as a transformative leader in children’s health circles, and has been the CEO of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation since 2011. Seeing the success of the facility, you could say that their campaigning efforts really paid off. Teri shares how she transitioned to become a leader and how she leads a huge fundraising organization, bringing in millions of dollars for the last seven years. Learn more from Teri’s adventure as she narrates the journey she went through to make the hospital a community success.

Most charity foundation CEOs are in the position where people put them in the ownership, but the good ones are those who try to avoid having their names be synonymous to the cause. In this episode, Eva Friesen, the CEO of the Calgary Foundation, talks about collaborative philanthropy and shares the highlights of her 14-year career as the CEO of three social profit organizations including YWCA. Discover how a CEO supports its board to align current activities with long term vision and how this position is key to individual members’ career growth. Learn how you can stay grounded while being an excellent leader.

Nothing beats a comeback more than becoming a CEO of an organization you used to work in. That is exactly what Jonny Morris’ story looks like. Having worked at the Canadian Mental Health Association for a number of years, Jonny left to work at the provincial government and came back as the CEO. He narrates his fascinating story of rising to the top while maintaining a heart that is passionate for service and advocacy. Sharing the challenges he needed to overcome, Jonny lets us in on how he positioned himself as the new leader along with some pieces of advice on in-service leadership mentality and organizational assessment. He also talks about the complexities that come with being a leader and how the organization is raising consciousness on mental and public health issues.

Not so many people understand the value of foundations and community trusts. In this episode, Jason Baxendale, the Chief Development Officer of the Chicago Community Trust and the Co-Director of the We Are Chicago campaign, enlightens us about the wonders that the organization can do to everyone in the community. Jason shares his approaches to issues concerning their trust, his thoughts on their creative economy, and the importance of entrepreneurship to under-resourced communities. Learn more from Jason as he shares their campaigns and the massive goal they have reached.

The awareness of philanthropy has changed over the past couple of years. There is a much greater general awareness and a higher level of sophistication now in the wealth environment with the available resources and the understanding that people have about being philanthropic. Philanthropic advisor Malcolm Burrows from Scotia Wealth Management says more and more people are showing up and saying, “I want to do that.” Malcolm is also the Founder of Aqueduct Foundation In today’s show, he takes a deep dive into donor-advised funds and the changes in philanthropy. He also talks about the fundamental shifts in the way people could support charities, and sheds light on the conversations that people on the charity side are wanting to have with donors over their lifetime.

Fundraising has been a vital part of the social profit sector. That is why it is important to do it right, especially when you are the one leading it. President Emerita of the University of Calgary and officer of the Order of Canada, Elizabeth Cannon shares her wisdom about fundraisers. Having raised $1.3 billion in the Energize campaign, Elizabeth shows the important role of leaders in ensuring the development of a clear institutional strategy. She breaks down her journey towards becoming a president, outlining what she learned about fundraising as an academic and a dean. Moreover, Elizabeth also talks about building a strong team to help execute the institution’s activities and keeping a close relationship with the donors.

Mental health is health, and it is a fact that many families have been touched by difficulties in this area in varying levels of severity. Thanks to mental health advocates like Deborah Gillis, the CEO of CAMH (Center for Addiction and Mental Health), more people have found a powerful meaning in their lives. In this episode, she shares what influenced her to be part of the organization and how advocating for change has led her from working in the public sector to the private sector. Through her experiences, mentorship is something that Deborah is proud of as she talks about her work and responsibility in mentoring others. Being an incoming CEO for a huge organization can bring in a lot of anxiety, which is why Deborah points out that CEOs have to make sure they have proper communication with the board.

When people think about hospice, they think about the end of life. However, for Margaret McNeil, the CEO of Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, they go beyond that and give as much opportunity for life to the children and their family as they possibly can. Margaret highlights the difference of Canuck Place from others – from the intimacy of their connection to the people there to the quality of care they provide. Margaret reflects on her leadership position – how she has grown from her other past roles, how she puts that sense of the big picture to her management team, and how she works and supports the board and donors. This episode will touch on a lot of points that are valuable to you. Don’t miss out on learning about being a mission and values-based organization, and more.

Many discovery-orientated types of research across the country make the headlines. However, most of these were breakthroughs from a scientific perspective and not from a clinical perspective. This means that the patients don’t benefit from it, and sometimes the discovery doesn’t get translated for quite a long time. This is what the Terry Fox Research Institute or TFRI is trying to solve with their translational cancer research. Dr. Victor Ling takes a deep dive into translational research and how TFRI is figuring out how to translate discoveries so people and patients may benefit from these.

As the world offers more means for people to help, the social profit sector has come to adapt to it. Paul Nazareth, the Vice President of Education and Development for the Canadian Association of Gift Planners, opens up the doors to take us into the perspectives on change and innovation in social profit. With the rise of crowdfunding, the sector has undeniably been feeling the weight of competition. Instead of complaining about it, Paul took this as an opportunity to understand and learn from. He talks a little bit about what he is seeing in the marketplace, how important it is for organizations to have that sense of the big picture, and how donors could make gifts of a lifetime. On the leadership side, Paul shares where leaders can find new ideas or inspiration.

The social profit world is so big that no leadership and organization are the same. Taking us into the arts and cultural sector of social profit, Kim Gaynor, the General Director of the Vancouver Opera, sheds light to its differences against other kinds of organizations. Entailing a different type of leadership, Kim shares how she handles her team and board, and also talks about keeping organization’s connection to the community and helping the people in it along a path that is not just transaction but also transformative.

More and more unfortunate patients are spending their final weeks, days, and minutes of life hidden away from the people they love, and sometimes they are in significant amounts of pain. Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider, a physician and a palliative care activist, believes that a new day of medicine is coming where the end of life is not a medical issue to be solved, but rather something that all human beings should be reflecting on personally and talking about in their own lives. Struck by the number of older, more frail adults ending up in the ICU where the most aggressive, invasive care gets provided, Shoshana realized that her passion in life was making sure that her patients and their families’ end-of-life experience was in line with their goals and values. Today, Shoshana joins host Douglas Nelson in examining illness in the context of the whole picture of someone’s life and how physicians, nurses, and other providers of healthcare can come up with a plan of care that focuses on having them live their best day every day, no matter how many days they have left.

Many organizations are confounded with the problem of having their boards support them. Judy Savage, the CEO of Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, has successfully veered from that by building credibility through campaigns and letting the boards actively engage. The meteoric rise of Judy’s foundation over the last number of years shows this, and she lets us in on how they have nurtured the relationships from campaigns with the donors and boards. Moving us into what happens behind the scenes, Judy shares the structure of their high-level discussions and how they get the very best out of the boards.

The less we understand what philanthropy is all about, the less our ability to have the impact that we want. Guest Phil Buchanan, the President of The Center for Effective Philanthropy, greatly advocates for the importance of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector and helps foundations and individual donors to maximize their impact. Today on The Discovery Pod, Phil dives deep into the link between thoughtful leadership and effective philanthropy, giving advice to leaders who are being pulled into starting their own organization. He lays down the difference between social profit and philanthropy and shares his perspectives on the “right” indicators of performance, the importance of “getting proximate” to the people within and without the organization, and the challenge of creating an organizational culture and processes to identify and pursue the best ideas.

Running an organization against cancer for years, Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation’s Executive Director Jaime Wilson has developed a strategy on how to efficiently build a fundraising campaign and work hand in hand with others. As Jaimie capitalizes on providing hope and faith for cancer patients, she also builds a database and aims at extending the organization’s reach. Jaime shares her experience working with Patriot Love and Coast to Coast together and talks about her strategies in initiating a successful fundraising campaign mainly by working together as a team.

Working in any mental health organization in itself is technically challenging and keeps any worker emotionally invested where focusing on the mission can be more challenging. Darrell Burnham, the CEO of a community-based mental health organization called Coast Mental Health, talks about how he manages to stay connected with the mission while working with the staff and board. He shares that he’s been able to accomplish these goals by always coming back to the organization’s mission. For anyone vying to be a CEO, Darrell suggests understanding the full context of the work by taking time to do so. This includes meeting everyone involved in the organization, particularly the staff, family members, and people being served.

Providing welfare to those in need or what is called philanthropy is not as easy as it seems. Veronica Carroll, CEO of Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver, points out that philanthropy is not just about donations and rich people giving their money to poor communities; it is more than that. Veronica says that donors do not just donate but also work with them hand in hand after the organization’s benefits are articulated. She shares how, as a leader, she keeps the board up to date with the projects and on the same path as the organization by showing an investment framework. Sharing a strong advice on being a CEO, she says you have to be prepared to be flexible all the time and understand how to get people to work collaboratively in a team environment.

There are a lot of means to develop a community, but it is incomparable to build one through the power of food. David Long, the CEO of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, walks us through how he became the leader of a donor-centric organization. As he recounts the compassionate people who helped through donations and other assistance, he shares what the perception of the food bank is and how he sees it in the upcoming years. On top of that, learn how David’s leadership has changed from Terminal City Club to where he is now, and find out how he defines leadership and how to keep board members engaged.

Deep engagement in an organization can only be made possible through radical listening. President and CEO of Central City Foundation, Jennifer Johnstone, defines what radical listening is and how it has created an authentic and healthy relationship within a community. Starting off her career in the non-profit sector as the founding program coordinator with the Whistler Centre for Business and the Arts in the late 1980s, she shares the core values and functions of the Central City Foundation and how she maintained the long-term focus with her management team and board members. Moreover, learn from Jennifer the importance of putting truth and reconciliation at the core of what you do. On the side, discover the way to get people to move past that feeling of competition and scarcity in non-profit organizations.

There is so much hope in young entrepreneurs and promising future to every startup that we tend to forego. Conversely, Karen Greve Young never misses out on these business ideas that may actually change the world. CEO of the Futurpreneur Canada, a non-profit organization that has been fueling the entrepreneurial passions of Canada’s young enterprise for two decades, Karen touches on how they help manage young entrepreneurs launch and grow their business. A master consultant and fundraiser, she reveals the way to keep everyone moving in the same direction given that they are the only national non-profit organization that provides financing, mentoring, and support tools to aspiring business owners aged 18-39. As she goes through the surprises in her CEO journey to date, discover the challenge that national organizations face these days and how it gets sorted.

Generative leadership means getting the board at the appropriate level, and keeping them there in a very successful and strategically beneficial way. Kevin McCort, CEO of the Vancouver Foundation, dives deep into generative leadership when working with your board. Kevin shares his journey towards taking the shift from being in the international realm for 25 years working with two leading Canadian international development organizations, to the domestic with Vancouver Foundation. Not one to stand still, he takes us to the restructuring he implemented in the organization when he was appointed as leader and discusses how he managed the organization across the people behind it, highlighting the importance of bringing everyone in the know about the operations

Not everyone can be a leader. Leadership is a privilege and it is about getting people together to achieve a specific purpose. Having the opportunity to be a leader is Pascal Spothelfer, CEO of Genome BC, who has taken on leadership roles in both the business and social sector. Shifting from profit to non-profit organizations and vice versa, Pascal describes that leading both sectors is not entirely different as the purpose to achieve a specific strategic mandate is basically the same. As Pascal dives into social profit leadership, he outlines the critical roles of the CEO and the importance of finding your purpose as a leader and understanding what the organization exists to do.

All of us are capable of doing extraordinary things that help and uplift other people. Bringing this to healthcare and philanthropy, Karen Jeu – President of California Pacific Medical Center Foundation – takes us into the final stages of a really important campaign which aims to open two brand new hospitals within the whole Bay Area. Karen talks about the importance of the conversation on philanthropy and bringing that to the community. Going deeper within herself as well, Karen shares how the mission of the organization she has worked with has helped her develop as a fundraiser and a leader. Karen touches on the role of the rest of her team, sharing how she is doing well at building teams and mentoring them from the start to the last phase of the campaign.

Losing a loved one can be tragic and traumatic. It takes a lot of courage and determination to bounce back from the grief that it takes along. Patrick Sullivan, Founder and President of Team Finn Foundation, shares how losing his son to cancer changed his life. A lawyer by profession, Patrick walks us through his transition from leading a journey to conquer cancer and making scientists more aware and motivated to improve their expertise in Oncology to playing significant roles in numerous boards of organizations with the same purpose. Learn the number one mistake he sees CEOs and executive directors are making and the problem with starting a new organization.

Social profit organizations have their respective mission that sets their team into motion. As much as it is essential to have a clear vision of where an organization is positioned, to keep it engaged to the purpose is also crucial. Diana Gibson, a serial founder of social profit organizations, gives insights on the relevance of bottom-up leadership and flex time in an organization. Even with her track record as a serial leader with countless expertise, Diana still encounters some bumps in the road, revealing the most prominent challenge sectors face nowadays. Learn more about organizational alignment as Diane goes in-depth on how we can improve the structure of mission-driven organizations.

No one is insignificant in driving forward that sense of mission and purpose when you are part of a social profit organization. Barbara Grantham, CEO of VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation, dives into the power of healthcare philanthropy as she instills the vision and mission of their organization. Accentuating their purpose to allow people to show a different side of them, Barbara shares how they built their hospital foundation organically and identified the points of leverage which contributed to their expansion. In this interview, explore the myth around healthcare philanthropy and how it is changing over time, and discover how ruthless execution with some room for opportunism can create a significant impact as an organization.

Not all social profit organizations have massive attention. Some are focused on the youth while others are dedicated to environmental issues. United Way of the Lower Mainland is an organization who is not only focused on one but three areas – the youth, the unfortunate, and the senior citizens. Michael McKnight, CEO of United Way of the Lower Mainland, shares how he faced the biggest challenge of changing the value proposition that people have with their organization from a workplace fundraiser to one that creates value in their community. Discover how they managed to remake the business model of the United Way and the feedback they got on their brand new marketing campaign.

Empowering young people is the key to a promising future in the world. That is why encouraging them to take charge of their lives should be everyone’s focus. CEO of Asante Africa Foundation, Erna Grasz built a non-profit organization that is intimately-focused on the academic education of young people in East Africa with the purpose to help them develop the skills that will launch them into a career they love and enjoy. In fulfilling this mission, Erna shares her remarkable transition from being a high-powered corporate executive to becoming the CEO of a non-profit organization. Learn how she managed the complexity in managing boards in three countries and how she built that commitment in the communities that they are working on.

Entering an organization where you don’t have a solid background on one of its core businesses can be challenging. Ian Rye of Pacific Opera Victoria can attest to this. With his expertise in arts administration, he admits that he was not fully-trained in fundraising before becoming the CEO of one of Canada’s leading opera companies. Regardless of that, Ian put in the extra effort to strengthen his skill set and be an effective leader up to this day. Stewarding the creation of over 50 new opera productions, Ian delves into the importance of having a strategic plan and reaching out to the communities at large to reach goals. He shares the key to the creation of the Baumann Centre – a community hub for artists – and reveals the two biggest challenges in governing any social profit organization.

Money can be a great blessing to the one who gives and receives when it comes out of genuine support. Raising money for a cause is not everyone’s cup of tea. Mike House, however, is an exception. Mike’s fervor rooted from what he went through as a child with some pretty severe health issues. Bringing children’s healthcare forward, Mike became the CEO and President of Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation. He lets us in on his big role with the foundation as he reveals the three things where leadership should be based, sharing as well his success and growth strategy. A values-based leader, he tackles the best way to work with your board and how to be most effective in conversations.

Founders are those people who saw a need and filled it. Someone who has done that in the area of brain health is the Founder of Watson Centre for Brain Health, Mark Watson. Many of us may have been planning to create and start something – be that a business, a cause, a company, or others. Giving us a look of that, Mark talks about what it means to form an organization and everything that’s involved in it. Mark shares his own journey from being introduced to people with brain injury to taking that first big step of starting his own brain center, outlining the transition from being the day-to-day leader of the organization to having an active management role on the board.

It may seem like a huge move when we think of business people transitioning to the non-profit sector, but Janet Yale has taken that transition in easy strides. As someone who already has a passion for philanthropy, Janet has smoothly moved her way to becoming the CEO of the Arthritis Society (Canada). Janet shares with us the differences she encountered along the way, particularly that of dealing with resources which were undeniably more abundant in the profit sector. Taking us deeper into these changes, Janet talks about being a leader of an organization and how she keeps the focus on the needs of the individuals who are dealing with arthritis daily.