SVP Vancouver’s 2024 Summer Reading List

With many of our SVP Partners away throughout the month of August (and staff, too!), we’re holding off on knowledge events until September. For those of you who are looking to keep learning over the summer whether you’re at home, in the office, on a camping trip or travelling through Europe – we’ve got you covered with SVP’s Summer Reading List! We’ve collected an assortment of articles, essays, reports, podcasts, webinars, and books that explore issues and ideas within the nonprofit sector.

SVP Vancouver recommendations

• State of the Sector Reports – Vantage Point In this year’s state of the sector survey, Vantage Point and partner organizations surveyed 558 non-profit organizations across BC about various trends while also probing deeper into the underlying challenges highlighted in the last report.
• A Failure to Protect: The Denial of Children’s Right to Housing in BC A new report released by the First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society, which highlights the difficulties faced by families with children in accessing safe and adequate housing in British Columbia
• First Call Child Poverty Report Card  In February 2024, First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society released the 27th annual BC Child Poverty Report Card, finding that BC’s child poverty rate increased significantly from the previous year, reflecting the partial withdrawal of the government pandemic income supports for families.
• The “Don’t Look Away Report” highlights significant failings within BC’s child welfare system in protecting children from abuse, emerging from a systemic review following the tragic death and horrific abuse of a young boy under the care of the Ministry of Children and Family Development. While the report itself is distressing, it identifies Child and Youth Advocacy Centres (CYACs), like The Treehouse, as a promising model for the province.
  • Don’t Look Away Summary Report
  • Don’t Look Away News Release
  • Don’t Look Away Full Report

Staff recommendations

Helen

• Johnson Center for Philanthropy – In Abundance: Giving More by Giving Together (co-authored by SVPi Board Chair Adriana Loson-Ceballos) explores the transformative impact of collective giving on philanthropy. 
• Poverty, Childhood Experiences & Well-Being in BC Webinar: First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society and UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership (HELP)’s online presentation and discussion about the 2023 BC Child Poverty Report Card and the relationship between income inequality and children’s daily experiences, development, and well-being.
• Non-profits among the worst offenders for unliveable wages in Canada, say employees, experts | Future of Good.

Selma

• Trust, Rest, and Joy by Carrie Avery, Stella Chung, and Sarah Walczyk, from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, about how rest and joy are essential to leaders, their teams, their organizations, and the communities they serve.
• A call to move beyond trust-based to care-based philanthropy by Shawnda Chapman, from the Philanthropy News Digest. An editorial that explores the notions of trust and a transformative vision of care.

Janelle

• The false dichotomy between trust and results – Alliance magazine by Varja Lipovsek. A discussion of trust-based philanthropy and different approaches to measuring impact.
• Empowering Communities: The Transformative Power of Relationships – Untapped Philanthropy. Untapped Philanthropy episode with Dr. Booker-Drew exploring her dynamic blend of passion and expertise that champions the transformative power of relationships.
• The Science of Generosity : Why It makes You Happier and How to Do It Effectively (It Doesn’t Need To Involve Money) with Chris Anderson – Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris. In this podcast episode, Chris Anderson explores how to cultivate a generosity mindset.

Candice

• Research proposal written entirely in Cree language receives federal funding by University of Calgary. A discussion of the value of submitting funding proposals in Indigenous languages – in this case, in nêhiyawewin – as a way to promote reconciliation in the social work sector.
• ‘Alarming’ lack of progress on phasing out solitary confinement of youth: B.C. ombudsperson | CBC News by Darryl Greer. The B.C. ombudsperson comments about the Ministry of Children and Family Development’s neglect toward its commitment to reduce the practice of isolating youth in custody.

Sohee

• The Complex Systems Frameworks Collection by Enkel, Charity Village. A look at trends in the nonprofit sector and ways to address them.
• What nonprofits can expect in 2024 and how to be better prepared | CharityVillage: The first in a two-part series exploring the four big sector trends for 2024.

Partner and community recommendations

Wayman Crosby

• Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson. A guide and a blueprint from the head of TED of Infectious Generosity’s potential to become a global movement.

Suggestion from our Community Partners at HELP UBC

• “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathon Haidt. The work of HELP’s director, Dr. Mariana Brussoni, on outdoor and risky play, is included in Chapter 3.

Other recommendations

Articles and Books

• 2023 Most-Read Bridgespan Articles
  • How Nonprofit Leadership Development Sustains Organizations and Their Teams
  • How Nonprofits and NGOs Can Get Real Value from Strategic Planning
  • Equitable Systems Change: Funding Field Catalysts from Origins to Revolutionizing the World
  • Philanthropy’s Role in Reparations and Building a Culture of Racial Repair
  • Winning on Climate Change: How Philanthropy Can Spur Major Progress over the Next Decade
• Philanthropy and Power
• One Thing Philanthropy Must Leave Behind—The Values of Extractive Capitalism
• In 2020, Black People were asked to lead. A few years later, we are now being fired for it.
• Unfunded: Black communities overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy
• How philanthropy went wrong and how to fix it – The Philanthropist Journal
• Why small charities need philanthropists to realise their big ambitions – Alliance magazine
• Report by Imagine Canada: Improving working conditions in Canadian nonprofits
• Artificial Intelligence & Nonprofits List of Resources
• The Price of Humanity: How Philanthropy Went Wrong―And How to Fix It (Amy Schiller)
• Future of Good Article: Foundations struggling to meet higher disbursement quota: Philanthropic Foundations Canada
• Salaries of top executives at some Canadian charities in $200K-250K range: analysis – National | Globalnews.ca

Webinars

• We Give Summit 2024 Replay – We Give Summit

If you read, listen to, or watch anything from this list we would love to hear your thoughts!