Blog

Give to Grow: Investing in Early Childhood Literacy Today to Build Tomorrow's Workforce

 This week Place2Give launched the Give to Grow fund in partnership with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, Calgary Economic Development and the Calgary Public Library Foundation. We took a collective impact approach to this fund focusing on building a strong, literate workforce for the next generation.  Our goal is to improve the literacy rate of our youth by 1% by layering four charities addressing literacy in different ways.  We have chosen this issue for a number of reasons - Alberta has one of the lowest literacy rates in Canada, the government has under-resourced our education system by $3 to $4Billion compared to similar economies and if we can improve literacy by 1% of the population nationally it could have upwards of an $80Billion economic payoff.

What does it take to make a difference?

Guest Blogger: Cortney Steinwand is the Community Engagement Coordinator and Place2Give Foundation administrator.  A community development enthusiast, environmental /social justice seeker, wholehearted feminist + lifelong learner. She studied international and community development and is based in Calgary, AB.

What does it take to make a difference? From my experience, the charitable sector is filled with those of us who authentically desire to catalyze positive change in our communities and cities. But despite the purity of our intentions, do we truly know what actions and perspectives need to be fostered in order to evoke the lasting social change that we crave?

Social License to Operate

Guest Blogger: Nadine Riopel is a facilitator and community organizer.  With a professional background in both the private and social sectors, she helps organizations become more efficient, effective, and sustainable through a greater connection between their people and to their higher purpose. She is the creator of PurposeFuel: a program that helps organizations achieve greater results through connection and purpose. She is also the author of The Savvy Do Gooder: Giving That Makes a Difference: a short guide to effective giving, and co-founder of The Good 100 Experiment.  Nadine lives very happily in a heriatge (read:old!) home in Central Edmonton, Alberta with her young son and husband.  In her spare time she enjoys rescuing fruit and making rugs out of old sheets.

Note - Nadine will be joining us for an In Conversation With... event on January 13, 2016. Registration will open next month and more information will be posted at Dexterity Events.

The idea of each organization needing a ‘social license to operate’ suggests that if an organization doesn’t fill some real need, there’s no reason for society to allow it to exist. Why should we give tax deductions for business expenses, for example, to a business that does us no good, or worse - does us harm? Why should community members frequent an establishment that doesn’t support the community in every way it can, and isn’t providing anything of value?

Pay It Forward this Thanksgiving

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Quarterly Notes from the Tech Team – Q2 2015

Some major developments have happened with the technology at Dexterity Ventures Inc. (DVI)! Here is the overview of what has been going on:

GIVE_api Version 2.5

We have been busy working on updating our GIVE_api. The latest version will be release early in Q3, and will include the ability to make real-time payments.

Developers Libraries

To aid developers in implementing our GIVE_api in their projects, Dexterity Ventures Inc. has created a series of libraries for some of the more popular development languages.

Developers can download the GIVE_api development libraries for Android, iOS, ASP/.NET, JAVA and also PHP. Each of the packages contains the full library, a detailed readme file and a useable demo. If you have any questions regarding the libraries, please contact us at .

How Trust Builds an Economy

Today I attended the Toronto Vital Signs event hosted by the Canadian Club, with keynote address by the CEO of the Toronto Foundation, Rahul Bahardwaj.  There were six things that Mr. Bahrdwaj highlighted that Toronto, and in fact, other major cities should focus on when thinking about the social fabric of their communities.  Of the six things that were highlighted, there was one in particular that I want to touch on - that of TRUST.

RPM Project Finalist!

We are excited to announce that we are finalists in a contest to win up to $25,000 in marketing services from William Joseph Communications’ RPM Project. Now that we have been announced as a finalist – this is where you come in. The winner is chosen by the public through a social media vote to determine the winners.

Calgary’s business community launches a new initiative called Give to Grow​.

Redesigning the system of giving - An exploration of system design and philanthropy

I recently presented at the RSD4 summit on systemic design and philanthropy held at the Banff Centre.  Below is a copy of the presentation and what follows are the key concepts that I shared.  We are at a critical point in North American policy history where we can fundamentally shift the way that money flows between and around charities, non-profits and social businesses.  Whether you think these issues are complex or complicated, at the core there is a groundswell of people who are striving to change a system that is fundamentally flawed - the way we transact for social change.

This week I've had the honour and privledge of leading a day-long summit on philanthropy alongside Deborah Goldstein, Enlightened Philanthropy and John A. Warnick of the Purposeful Planning Institute.  This summit covered five key areas within the giving space and drew upon expertise from the likes of Bruce Deboskey, Tracy Gary and Joanie Bronfman.

The Economics of Giving

The news lately has focused on the bad economy, growing personal debt and the downward trend toward a recession.  It’s times like these that the media also focuses on the vibrancy of the charitable sector and increased demands on front-line agencies like food banks to meet the needs of newly laid-off individuals and others affected by a down market.

Here’s the thing with giving, the true philanthropy, it is non incentivized. It is a transactional response to an emotional experience.  In a down economy we still have those same emotions.  My observation is, that in some cases, these emotions are heightened under the constant reminder of financial insecurity.  So when charities cry poverty during a down economy, my guess is that they were heading this way long-before the economy took a turn.  The financial environment accelerated or exacerbated the situation.

Anyone can be a Philanthropist - Your very own micro-foundation

I walked into the Co-op liquor store the other day and the woman in front of me said - “Oh you’re that woman who works with philanthropists.”  I smiled, laughed, and confirmed her statement. I then asked how she knew who I was and she mentioned she heard me speak at an AFP conference a couple of years ago.  When she left the cashier, a man in his late 50’s, turned to me and said, “I don’t think I have ever met a philanthropist before.”  That made me laugh. I have previously written about who is a philanthropist and the mindset hasn’t shifted much.  

It is for this reason that I created myPlace2Give.  A site dedicated to creating your own personalized micro-foundation. You get to pick the charities, set the disbursement amounts and the timelines, share with your friends and we take care of all the reporting.  Why did we do this?  Because anyone can have their own foundation, you don’t need to have millions of dollars to create meaningful impact in the world.