Five Good Ideas ®

Five Good Ideas is a lunch-and-learn program where industry and issue experts discuss powerful yet practical ideas on key management issues facing non-profit organizations. The sessions are most useful for management staff and board members at small and mid-sized non-profits.

Each expert presents five concise ideas and explores with the audience how these ideas can be translated into action.

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five-good-ideasThe Five Good Ideas Book

Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success features a collection of the best ideas from past Five Good Ideas sessions.

Upcoming Five Good Ideas sessions

image: painting of apartment buildings on cracked brick wall (photo collage by Maytree, images: iStockphoto)
March 31, 2023

Webinar: Five Good Ideas to create a sense of community and belonging at your workplace

Dr. Tanya (Toni) De Mello, Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion, Toronto Metropolitan University

Previous Five Good Ideas sessions

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Advocacy and Policy

Published on 26/01/2022

In this Five Good Ideas session, Matthew Mendelsohn provides an overview of lessons he has learned during his time in government, advocacy, consulting and policy think tanks on the best ways to influence the decisions governments make.

What are the best ways to influence governments and change public policy? In this Five Good Ideas session, Matthew Mendelsohn, a public policy entrepreneur, researcher, strategic advisor and public sector executive, provides an overview of lessons he has learned during his time in government, advocacy, consulting and policy think tanks on the best ways to […]

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Organizational Effectiveness

Published on 25/11/2021

In this Five Good Ideas session, Rosemarie Powell, Executive Director of the Toronto Community Benefits Network (TCBN), shares the lessons she has learned as the leader of a community-labour coalition charged with implementing community benefits agreements.

Local communities want the workforce building public infrastructure to reflect the demographics of their neighbourhoods and for the accrued economic benefits to be shared more equitably. Construction unions also recognize community benefits as an opportunity to increase diversity and inclusion in their workforce. If the goals and values are shared, how can the promise of […]

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Governance

Published on 25/10/2021

In this Five Good Ideas session with Owen Charters, President & CEO of BGC Canada, find out how a board can be better.

They say strategy starts with the board, but is that really true, and should it be? Whether you’re an executive director or CEO (including an aspiring one), managing a board is a skill that’s rarely taught, yet vital to any senior non-profit leader. In this Five Good Ideas session with Owen Charters, President & CEO […]

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Organizational Effectiveness

Published on 28/09/2021

Employers are looking to find ways to create a hybrid workplace where their staff can work in the office as well as from home

COVID-19 forced employers and employees to adapt to a virtual workplace. More than one and a half years into the pandemic, many employees don’t want to go back to the old ways of working, and employers are looking to find ways to create a hybrid workplace where their staff can work in the office as […]

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Organizational Effectiveness

Published on 15/06/2021

For anyone working in a for-profit, non-profit, or charitable organization, it is critically important to have a robust finance and accounting team that can help them understand and leverage the financial aspects of their organization.

For anyone working in a for-profit, non-profit, or charitable organization, it is critically important to have a robust finance and accounting team that can help them understand and leverage the financial aspects of their organization. This will help minimize risk but also support them – and their organization – in navigating and planning for the […]

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Communications

Published on 22/04/2021

In this session, Marina Glogovac, former President & CEO of CanadaHelps, shared insights on one of the hottest topics out there right now: digital transformation.

In this session, Marina Glogovac, President of the Toronto Star and former President & CEO of CanadaHelps, shares insights on one of the hottest topics out there right now: digital transformation. With a career spanning nearly three decades in technology and media (including working in the magazine industry during the shift to the internet), she […]

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Advocacy and Policy

Published on 25/03/2021

How do we best address growing colour-coded inequality – for Indigenous Peoples and peoples of colour, including Black Canadians?

How do we best address growing colour-coded inequality – for Indigenous peoples and peoples of colour, including Black Canadians? What are the institutional, structural, and systemic impacts of racism, faithism, and related inequality in education, housing, justice, health, and employment? How can individuals, groups, and organizations engage in effective trust-building, ally-ship, partnership development, and advocacy […]

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Communications

Published on 25/02/2021

In this Five Good Ideas session Royson James de-mystifies the media and talks about how journalists think so you know when, where, and how to engage them intelligently.

How do you adopt a media mind and make it yours? At some point you may have gotten burned by media or just ignored. Since disengagement isn’t an option, how do you move on and germinate, nurture, and sustain lasting relationships? In this Five Good Ideas session, Royson James, the Toronto Star’s urban affairs columnist […]

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Human Resources

Published on 26/01/2021

In this session, Kristen Pennington, Partner, Employment and Privacy Law at McMillan LLP, discusses meaningful ways an organization can prevent workplace harassment.

Workplace harassment complaints can cause significant organizational unrest, loss of reputation and damage to employee morale, in addition to considerable legal liability. In this session, Kristen Pennington, Partner, Employment and Privacy Law at McMillan LLP, discusses meaningful ways an organization can prevent workplace harassment to avoid such complaints, as well as minimize disruption in the […]

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