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Recent Research

 

Imagine Canada’s Research Program's recent work includes the following projects:

Philanthropic Success Stories in Canada

This research study undertook a scan of major issues, news events, and headlines that captured the attention of the Canadian public over the years to determine whether philanthropy had played a role in any of those issues and events. Thirty one key informant interviews with philanthropy experts from across the country revealed that philanthropy is not an exclusive arena; both the wealthy and regular, everyday Canadians can and have made a difference in their communities. This first-ever study of Canada's philanthropic successes by Imagine Canada was commissioned by Philanthropic Services at BMO Harris Private Banking. Read Philanthropic Success Stories in Canada (PDF).

Business Support for Employee Volunteers in Canada

Researchers from Imagine Canada and the University of Lethbridge conducted a national survey in the fall of 2005 to understand the extent and nature of business support for employee volunteering. The research findings were presented at workshops in Ontario and Alberta in the fall of 2006 and a research report and three fact sheets were published by the Knowledge Development Centre at Imagine Canada. Here is the main report:

Business support for employee volunteers in canada : results of a national survey / M. Easwaramoorthy ... et al. Toronto : Imagine Canada, 2006

For more information, see our Employee Volunteering Toolkit

Synthesizing the Results of the NSNVO and NSGVP

Imagine Canada has released reports on three major sub-sectors within the nonprofit sector: Sports and Recreation, Social Services, and Religion - all based on an analysis of data from both the National Survey of Nonprofit and Voluntary Organizations (NSNVO) and the National Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (NSGVP). These reports explore the financial and human resources of these organizations, and the challenges they face as they attempt to fulfill their missions. Funding for this project was provided by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

An additional report profiling the synthesis data on Sports and Recreation in Ontario was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and published in 2007.

 

Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project

The Canadian findings from the Johns Hopkins Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project have been released in Imagine Canada's newest report titled The Canadian Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector in Comparative Perspective.

The Comparative Nonprofit (CNP) Sector Project was undertaken by Imagine Canada in consultation with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies. For further information about the JHU Comparative Nonprofit Sector Project (CNP), visit www.jhu.edu/~cnp.

The CNP project had three major objectives:

  • To describe the size, scope, internal structure, finances, and legal position of the nonprofit and voluntary sector in a variety of countries, and explain any variations;
  • To identify the legal, cultural, historical, social, or political factors that encourage or discourage the development of these organizations; and,
  • To gain a clearer understanding of the evolving role and distinct qualities of nonprofit and voluntary institutions in different cultures.

 

Portrait of the Rural Charitable Sector in Ontario

Imagine Canada in partnership with The Foundation for Rural Living has recently published the Phase Two report of the Rural Charitable Sector Research Initiative, titled The capacity challenges of nonprofit and voluntary organizations in rural Ontario.

The earlier report (Phase One) is titled, The Rural Charitable Sector Research Initiative: A Portrait Of The Nonprofit And Voluntary Sector In Ontario.

The objectives of the Rural Charitable Sector Research Initiative are to:

  • identify the needs, issues, and trends within rural Ontario as they relate to the nonprofit and voluntary sector;
  • determine the current capacity of the nonprofit and voluntary sector to meet the needs, challenges, and opportunities in rural Ontario;
  • recommend initiatives that would assist the development of the nonprofit and voluntary sector in rural Ontario; and
  • recommend ways to evaluate the outcome of such initiatives.

 

Voluntary Sector Evaluation Research Project (2000-2005)

The Voluntary Sector Evaluation Research Project (VSERP) was a five-year project designed to help improve the capacity of voluntary organizations to evaluate their work, assess their performance, and communicate their effectiveness to their stakeholders and the public. A joint project of the former Canadian Centre for Philanthropy and the Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development at Carleton University, VSERP brought together voluntary organizations and university-based researchers to develop solutions to the evaluation challenges faced by nonprofit and voluntary organizations and to transfer this knowledge to the voluntary sector and its funders.

The project combined consultations in communities across Canada with a national survey that was completed by almost 2000 organizations and more than 300 funders. The survey explored the current evaluation activities of nonprofit and voluntary organizations, their perceived strengths and perceived needs for assistance with evaluation, and their ability to provide performance-related information. It also examined funders’ evaluation expectations and their views about the strengths and needs of voluntary organizations with respect to evaluation. Finally, it explored potential improvements to the evaluation process, from the perspective of both voluntary organizations and funders. The results of the survey are reported in Assessing performance : evaluation practices & perspectives in Canada's voluntary sector. A fact sheet, titled Evaluation Practices in Canadian Voluntary Organizations, also sheds light on the capacity of charitable and nonprofit organizations to evaluate their work, and how the expectations of funders have changed.

The project has also enabled the creation of the first graduate level courses in Evaluation Issues and Management in the Voluntary Sector, at both Carleton and Dalhousie Universities.

Funding for the VSERP was provided by a five-year grant (2000-2005) from the Community University Research Alliance (CURA) of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and by the Max Bell Foundation. Additional support for the survey was provided by Human Resources Development Canada.