Chair: Gloria DeSantis, University of Regina

DEI research from the ground up: How Canadian equity-focused grantees experience the implementation of DEI principles at the foundation level
Adam Saifer, PhiLab; Jean-Marc Fontan, UQAM

This paper presents preliminary insights from an ongoing project exploring how Canadian equity-focused grantees experience the implementation of DEI principles at the foundation level. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with leaders from 30 equity-focused grantee organizations, the research aims to: 1) document the challenges faced by grantees within a DEI-driven institutional framework; 2) examine how these challenges are shaped by race, gender, and class; and 3) explore how grantees navigate/respond to these challenges. We aim to generate grassroots insights that will help foundations committed to DEI better support the work of equity-focused grantees via novel approaches to policymaking, programming, and advocacy.

Leading and Lagging Indicators in Canadian Fundraising: A Case Study
Christopher Dougherty, STARS Foundation

Charity managers and boards are under ongoing pressure to reduce overhead, including fundraising, expenses at the same time that the number of donors in Canada is dropping and there are calls for more entrepreneurial approaches to fundraising that look at new funds raised for causes instead of the efficiency of how those funds are raised. Managers and boards are then faced with a challenge: how do they predict and evaluate fundraising success and choose where to spend their limited fundraising capacity?

Surveillance in the Non-Profit Sector: The Case for Information as Property in Privacy Law
Amber Matthews, Western University

Using the example of iWave Information Systems Prospect Research Online (PRO) database, this paper explores how prospect research can be seen as a contemporary form of surveillance on prospective donors. Practices are considered in the context of PIPEDA to demonstrate how legislation has failed to regulate many activities and leaves Canadians with no recourse to protect personal information from secondary-use purposes. A recent decision by Information Commissioner’s Office in the United Kingdom (2017) that found these practices were a “serious violation” of privacy will be used to argue that Canada ought to adopt a similar stance and provide greater control over personal information.