“Violence destroys families and destroys lives,” said CDCSS Board Chair Roberta Hamilton. “Community support helps us go beyond government funded services into the area of prevention.”   Dealing with violence is often after the fact, one-on-one, between a counsellor and a victim or perpetrator, to help them understand and control the causes of conflict. Unfortunately, violence may also involve the police, courts and penal system.

Effective prevention is a much cheaper option that must be applied globally and continuously rather than individually.  Prevention includes drawing attention to the issue, even persuading people that it is an issue, and education.

To draw attention to the problem, CDCSS supports such actions as the annual Take Back the Night march, and the Clothesline Project, the latter displaying t-shirts decorated by children in the community.

Educational and supportive programs include the Parenting Groups, financed by contributions from the community. These help to develop improved parenting skills, which reduce the risk of family violence.

In addition, CDCSS assumed a leadership role in furthering the RCMP’s Community Prevention Education Continuum, and in addressing the issue of sexual exploitation of young girls.

Last year’s fundraising drive netted $7000, which went towards the Parenting Groups, resources for families, and Camp Esq. for boys presenting behavioural risks. Fourteen boys have joined community based activities and linked up with male mentors.

Letters and contribution forms will be going to every household in Castlegar and Robson, and recipients are asked to donate what they can during this season when they are bombarded with requests for money.

In addition, the community is invited to an Open House on Thursday, November 24, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the CDCSS office at 1007-2^nd Street.   “Come and see who we are,” said Hamilton. “Check out our building, meet staff and volunteers, learn more about our services, and enjoy some family-friendly refreshments.”

More information:        Roberta Hamilton, Board Chair           250-365-1197 or Ron Little, Executive Director               250-365-2104

Paul Alofs, Special to Globe and Mail Update

Oct. 31, 2011 3:02PM EDT

It might surprise you that the not-for-profit sector is larger and more important to Canada than the oil and gas sector. It might also surprise you that the not-for-profit sector is in the midst of a major identity crisis. This crisis starts with the sector’s name. After all, what other sector of the economy refers to itself by what it’s not? Grocery stores don’t call themselves “not furniture stores.” It creates an expectation that we should not be profitable. This negative naming has created a severe disadvantage for us compared with the other sectors in how money is raised, how it gets spent and who gets to “profit” from success. A better name is the “social profit sector.”

If profit is a measure of value created, then the reality is that most charities are immensely “profitable” from both a net revenue and impact perspective. We need to raise more money than we spend in order to fund our missions and our causes. We deliver profit – value – to society through an extraordinary array of institutions, programs and services. So our net profit – analogous to the profit of a private company – is in delivering social value.

But current guidelines from the Canada Revenue Agency suggest a 20-per-cent to 35-per-cent target fundraising cost ratio. Imagine the government telling a bank or software company what its expense targets should be annually. But this is what happens in our “not-for-profit” sector. At best, this stifles a charity’s current operations and its potential for greater impact in the future. At risk is fundraising innovation, prudent risk taking, launching social enterprises, creating new initiatives, enhancing service, creating brand equity – the very things lauded in the other sectors. At worst, it focuses public and policy attention on a difficult performance metric and creates a very short-term view of “investment” and “return.”

The real value of a charity is in the value we create for society on a daily basis: feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and, in the case of the Princess Margaret Hospital, searching for better treatments and conquering cancer in our lifetime. In order to deliver our social profit, we need to invest in our people, programs, places and, yes, even fundraising.

Our lotteries are the largest private source of funding for cancer research in Canada. Since their launch in 1996, more than $225-million has been raised, and 100 per cent is devoted to cancer research. This investment has propelled the Princess Margaret to be ranked third in the world in research performance as measured by citations in high-impact journals. This is our impact, and society is the beneficiary. This is our social profit.

So it’s time to rename the “not-for-profit” sector to what it really is: the social profit sector. Rethinking charities as social profit organizations will recognize our impact and the beneficiaries of our collective good work. It will allow for new ways of thinking about profit – financial and social – that combine the best of the other sectors for the benefit of all Canadians.

Rather than focusing on fundraising or overhead costs as the metric of choice, social profit organizations will need to develop a new set of high-performance measures that incorporates fiscal balance and social impact. After all, shouldn’t demonstrating impact and social value be the name of the game? A renaming will finally unleash a new way of thinking and working in the world of philanthropy that is so crucial to our long-term success.

The social profit sector is charity for the 21st century and a name that can make everyone involved proud.

Paul Alofs is president and CEO of the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in Toronto.

Not able to travel but still want to participate in the National Summit for the Charitable and Nonprofit Sector? We want to have as many perspectives as possible informing the priorities for action, so we are making it easier for you, your colleagues, board members, other volunteers, and people in your community to participate in the Summit online.  Click here for full details and to register online.