Maytree Conversations

While most nonprofit organizations understand the benefit of professional legal advice, many simply cannot afford it. Enter the internationally recognized legal team at McMillan. Now in its second year, McMillan is offering a unique pro bono certificate program tailored to the individual legal needs of nonprofit organizations in the Maytree Network.

McMillan generously offers top legal advice to selected organizations working on issues such as poverty, culture, immigrant settlement and urban prosperity. Organizations which received legal advice through last year’s pilot program include Diaspora Dialogues, Jane’s Walk, Dixon Hall, Manifesto, and Working Women Community Centre.

After a tremendously successful first year, McMillan has renewed its commitment to existing organizations and will extend support to five new ones – Working Skills Centre, Social Services Network, Canadian Arab Institute, Scarborough Women’s Centre, and Scadding Court Community Centre.

In addition to the pro bono certificate program, McMillan has also generously offered training opportunities on topics ranging from Directors’ Duties to Employment and Labour Law through the DiverseCity onBoard initiative and Maytree’s Five Good Ideas lunch and learn series. You can find some of the training sessions online, including Obtaining and Maintaining Charitable Status, Strategies for Privacy Compliance, and Copyright and Intellectual Property Law.

A few McMillan lawyers have also contributed to the recently published Five Good Ideas book.

The Maytree leadership team is on a new journey that has taken us to a crowded community centre and library in Malton, bursting with young people. We’ve visited strip malls to find where the action takes place, whether it’s in York Region or in a high rise neighbourhood in Toronto. We’ve dropped in at meal times to witness hundreds breaking bread together. We’ve met in community health centres and in Toronto Community Housing.

We are finding community-serving organizations that have gone further and become community animating organizations. They hire spirited organizers who identify talented people within their communities and nurture their leadership. They play well with others, welcoming community groups organized along gender, faith or affinity. They recognize that there is real possibility for community development working with the rich networks that exist across our region. They practice collaboration, not as an end in itself, but as a vehicle to reach new hilltops.

Ultimately, what we have found is an exciting web of social entrepreneurs – people with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems.

Building civic literacy

Imagining what’s possible requires an understanding of how change happens.

Without that knowledge, residents are unable to propose improvements for their neighbourhoods. Many projects and programs have attempted to fill this gap, but more can be done by connecting civic participation with the goal of reducing inequality. Civic literacy is one answer.

That is why we are developing Building Blocks, a program that calls on neighbours to ‘create possibility where you live.’ Building Blocks will offer a civic literacy primer in communities across the Greater Toronto Area. We will actively demystify how governments make decisions. We’ll work with residents to develop their community’s voice and identify opportunities to work towards local change, progress and inclusion.

Coming soon to your community

We are currently identifying organizations that stretch beyond serving needs to involving residents in finding solutions to the challenges they face, where they live. Building on more than a decade of Maytree’s leadership development, Building Blocks will get off the ground in the coming months by training community leaders. They will, in turn, train hundreds of others. Together, they will use our civic literacy curriculum to build community voice and identify opportunities for residents to make that voice count.

Stay tuned for the program launch, to learn about the organizers, to meet the leaders, and ultimately, to participate as an individual or as an active member of a group interested in strengthening the civic fabric of our region.

Further Reading:

• Maytree Leadership Network
• Maytree Annual Leadership Conference
• Redefining apathy: Dave Meslin’s TED talk

This project has been made possible in part by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Advocacy is typically a word that the non-profit and, more so, charitable sector has come to fear and loathe. We all need to do it. We all want to do it better.

But, we don’t dare talk about it.

“We take a very broad view of advocacy. The Free Dictionary defines it as ‘The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy.’ In our approach , we include not only ‘public-policy advocacy,’ i.e. organized, legitimate attempts to influence decisions of government and other public authorities at local, national and international levels, but several other dimensions as well. These include efforts to influence decisions and behavior of the media, institutions, corporations and other commercial interests, collective and individual behavior and public opinion.” Advocacy School

But what does it mean to be part of advocacy? To truly become effective advocates? How and where can we learn to do it?

Enter Advocacy School

Veteran lobbyist Sean Moore has started a school for the novice as well as the veteran, for board members and senior management as well as front-line workers and volunteers. It’s called Advocacy School.

If you want to improve your capacity and ability to influence public opinion and the decisions of government and others, Advocacy School is worth a look.

The mission of Advocacy School is to develop and deliver training and other supports on the means by which individuals and organizations can learn to effectively engage the public at large and governments in particular on issues of public policy and social change. Effective engagement would subsequently advance their beliefs, goals, visions and interests.

As Sean has stated previously: “Discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of Canadian democracy traditionally focus on the mechanics of elections and the machinations of parliament, an independent judiciary, rule of law and a free press – all important elements, to be sure. But isn’t the nature of our democratic practice between elections, the exercise of our right to petition government and to participate in policy and decision-making, the human effort and creativity to forge consensus on important questions – aren’t these all also important features of our civic life?”

Creating both a repository of useful information, expertise and practices, Advocacy School seeks to foster a community and dialogue about effective advocacy across the country. It’s a new project, a work-in-progress, and you are invited to join and help shape what the site will become. They’re planning to roll out a range of advocacy training workshops across Canada and on-line webinars starting early 2011. Take some time to review what they’re planning, and let them know what you’re interested in.

See Sean in action, from the 2009 Maytree Leadership Conference – Influencing Decision-Makers: The Narrative of Persuasion. Sean teaches participants how to sharpen their organization’s messages and be more effective in public policy advocacy.

We love the idea of Advocacy School. We hope you’ll join, play, learn, teach and share Advocacy School with your networks.

Related links:

• Can Public-Policy Advocacy Be Taught? Or Learned? (PDF)
• Advocacy School
• Five Good Ideas – Training for non-profits
• Five Good Ideas on Advocacy
• Five Good Ideas on Government Relations: Cornerstone of Effective Advocacy
• Maytree Leadership Network
• From Cities of Migration: MIRA: Media Advocacy With A Human Face (Boston, Massachusetts)
• From Cities of Migration: The London Living Wage Campaign (London, United Kingdom)

In Maytree’s latest Five Good Ideas session, Nick Saul, Executive Director, The Stop Community Food Centre, explained how you can go about transforming your organization. In particular, he talked about his own experience transforming a small, local food bank into a thriving community food centre. The Stop’s story has lessons and inspirational ideas for everyone interested in building healthy community organizations, inclusive public space and creating social change.

Nick’s five good ideas are:

1. Listen
2. Make a plan (but don’t always stick to it)
3. Embrace your inner entrepreneur
4. Remember it’s competitive out there
5. Contribute to the public policy conversation (a.k.a. don’t get swallowed up by service delivery)

Watch Nick’s presentation on YouTube:

For more information on the Five Good Ideas lunch-and-learn program, visit Maytree’s website.

What is the difference between a trade-mark, copyright, patent and industrial design? How can I protect my company’s intellectual property? What do I do if someone sends me a cease and desist letter? When can I use ™ or ®? What do I do if someone is using my name/trade-mark on their website?

In the April 22 Five Good Ideas session, Sharon Groom, a Partner at McMillan LLB, answered these and other important questions about copyright and intellectual property law.

In particular, Sharon offered the following five ideas:

1. Familiarize yourself with the different types of intellectual property (“IP”) protection available to you.
2. Before choosing a trade-mark for your business, do some searches to see if it, or one similar, is already in use for similar services/wares.
3. Once you have chosen a mark, register it with the Canadian Intellectual Property office, either yourself or through an IP professional.
4. Use proper markings for your copyright and trade-marks to put others on notice of your rights.
5. Have an internal process in place to periodically review new IP that is being used in your business, whether it is protected, and properly marked.

Download the handout of Sharon’s presentation.

A cautionary note

The foregoing text and video is provided for general information purposes only. It is neither intended as, nor should be considered, legal advice and readers and viewers are cautioned against making any decisions based on this material alone. Rather, a qualified lawyer should be consulted. © McMillan LLP 2010.

Some of the most creative problem-solving in Canada is going on in non-profit organizations. Why is it that the public seldom hears about these efforts?

In Maytree’s latest Five Good Ideas session, Toronto Star journalist Carol Goar attempts to explain why some of the best initiatives don’t show up on the radar screens of reporters, editors, broadcasters and producers. While she admits that the media are partly to blame, she also points out that so many non-profit leaders don’t understand why their efforts are not considered newsworthy or how journalists choose among the many stories competing for space and airtime.

Carol’s offers five good ideas to bridge across this communication gap.

1. Why is your message important to the public?
2. Journalists aren’t publicity agents.
3. Get to know who covers your sector.
4. Talk about the lives you’re changing and the difference you’re making.
5. Remember that reporters ask questions.

You can read Carol’s full speech here.

Or watch her presentation on YouTube.

For more information on the Five Good Ideas lunch-and-learn program, visit Maytree’s website.