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In This Edition

Lessons In Non-Profit Rebranding

Executive Director Cathy Turner enlightens BIG IDEAS readers on her organization’s rebranding initiative.

The Quest for Better: Quality Improvement Plans

Community Living Algoma uses key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive quality improvement. This article explains their approach.

Boards & CEO/ED Compensation

How boards deal with CEO/ED compensation matters. Learn from one organization’s problems.

Reflections of a Non-Profit Board Member

In this Blast From The Past, a committed and experienced board member shares some observations about the non-profit realm.

LESSONS IN NON-PROFIT REBRANDING

In our last edition, we included two articles on branding of non-profit organizations. In this edition, we share the experience of one Ontario non-profit with rebranding, thanks to Executive Director Cathy Turner. Here is her story of rebranding Community Living Grimsby, Lincoln & West Lincoln as Inclusion West Niagara.

Why We Rebranded

Our rebranding reflects who we are: collaborative, future‑focused, and deeply connected to our community.

As our region evolved and our organization prepared for its next chapter, it became clear our name needed to grow with us. Our former name, Community Living Grimsby, Lincoln & West Lincoln, referenced all three townships, but it was long, hard to use, and often shortened in ways that left some areas unrepresented. As our region began identifying collectively as West Niagara, it was the right moment to realign our identity. We also faced frequent confusion with similarly named organizations. With sector reform ahead, clarity matters—for the people we support and for our partners. In 2025, while celebrating our 60th anniversary and creating a new strategic plan, we saw the perfect opportunity to refresh and position ourselves for the future.

How We Did It
We rebranded with our community through surveys, focus groups, a tagline contest and a co‑design session with staff and people we support. We researched, explored options and carefully evaluated every idea. The result: a name, logo, and colours grounded in our values, with a heart at the core that represents all we do.

What This Means Going Forward
Our new brand launched in early 2026. While our name is new, our work and commitment remain the same. We continue to support the same people with the same dedication to inclusion and belonging, and we remain proud members of Community Living. With renewed energy, we’re imagining new ways to serve our community, reduce wait lists, and open doors for more people.

After 60 years, We’re still us—re‑energized and ready for what’s next.

THE QUEST FOR BETTER: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLANS

The Story

One of the tools you can call on, if you want a better non-profit, is a quality assurance plan. We have referenced such a plan a few times, usually with input from executive director Peter Sproul, who is always willing to share his knowledge.

Recently we came across another quality plan that is in the public domain, prepared by Community Living Algoma, under the guidance of acting Executive Director Jennifer Wiwchar. CLA is centred in Sault Ste. Marie while covering a large geographic area to the east, north and west of that city. Other communities served include Elliot Lake, Blind River and Wawa.

With a budget of $28 million, CLA is one of the larger community living organizations in Ontario. It offers a range of services for children, youth, and adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities or autism. Over the past few years, Jennifer Wiwchar and the Quality Assurance Department have spearheaded an initiative to enhance the operation of CLA based on a Quality Assurance Strategy (QAS).

The Skinny

Here is a sampling of information, in the form of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), that CLA focuses on when it prepares and executes its quality improvement plan, in this case for the year 2024-25:

Impact of Services

CLA measures the impact of its services on the people it supports through what it calls a Social Capital Index, which is calculated through 8 personal outcomes:

People Perform Social Roles
People Live in Integrated Environments
People Have Friends
People Participate in Community
People Are Respected
People Are Connected to Natural Supports
People Interact with the Community
People Have Intimate Relationships

In 2024–25, CLA achieved a Social Capital Index score of 41.5%, representing a 9.5% improvement over the previous year. CLA observes that:

· This year-over-year gain demonstrates meaningful progress in areas such as community participation, social relationships, and connection to natural supports, while also highlighting opportunities for continued growth.

· It is important to note that this is a small sample from each area of service that CLA provides.

Number of People Served

CLA’s service utilization target for 2024–25 was 95% of funded capacity. By year-end, utilization reached 82%. CLA advises that:

· This result reflects ongoing system-wide challenges including workforce availability, housing access, and the increasing complexity of support needs.

· While CLA, at the time the data was published, was supporting over 800 individuals, overall service capacity was influenced by multiple external factors beyond organizational control, underscoring the importance of integrated planning across funding, staffing, and community resources.

Staff Retention and Resignation

During the 2024-25 reporting period, the organization maintained an average monthly staff retention rate of 98.5%, with a corresponding turnover rate of 1.5%. CLA observes that this equates to approximately five staff departures per month—an improvement over the previous fiscal year, which saw an average of six staff leaving monthly.

Overtime (OT) and Sick Time

CLA noted that overtime and sick time trends reflected the broader workforce pressures facing the developmental services sector during the latter part of the fiscal year. While overtime increased toward year-end, CLA achieved a significant 94% reduction in forced overtime, demonstrating progress in workforce planning and staff well-being initiatives. These trends were being closely analyzed to inform targeted strategies that balance service continuity, employee wellness, and fiscal responsibility.

What CLA Learned

Through its Quality Assurance Strategy and KPI analysis, CLA notes that it has strengthened its capacity to make informed, data-driven decisions. The organization is using these insights to guide strategic priorities, workforce initiatives, and service design, thereby reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and transparency.

The BIG IDEA

Developing a yearly work plan built on Key Performance Indicators is the pathway to high quality services. If you are interested in Community Living Algoma’s approach to quality, you can find its reports on its website. They are downloadable.

BOARDS & CEO/ED COmpensation

The Story

Recent media headlines suggest a board of directors can get in trouble if its approves a $1.6 million payout to its CEO in lieu of taking vacation time.

Such is the case for Ontario’s Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT) Pension Plan board of trustees. According to media reports, the CAAT board has found itself in the news after the subsequent resignation of several senior executives, the removal of the chair, the departure of the vice-chair and the placing of the CEO on administrative leave.

The Skinny

BIG IDEAS readers who spend their time in the non-profit space may have difficulty relating to $1.6 million payouts for anything, let alone vacation time to an ED/CEO, but we can still extract some lessons from CAAT’s experience.

First, every board is responsible for setting compensation terms for its CEO or ED. In doing so, it needs to ensure it has policies specific to the ED/CEO and that its policies are followed. Media reports have suggested the payout fell outside CAAT’s policies and thus was problematic. Whether this is true should be determined by a third-party governance review now underway.

Second, the optics are bad. $1.6 million is a lot of money. Regardless of whether it is in compliance with policy and/or an employment contract, it just doesn’t look good, even in the high-paying realm of investment management.

Third, and perhaps most important, vacation time is there to be used, not banked and paid out. Even pension plan CEOs should take the allotted time off.

It would be wrong to suggest that problems related to ED/CEO compensation are limited to the for-profit world. A few years ago a federal member of parliament got a bee in her bonnet about the pay of charity executives and put forward a bill to cap it. The bill failed to pass, but confirmed that compensation of non-profit employees can be a sensitive topic.

The BIG IDEA

Most non-profit boards consider their executive director to be their one employee. This means they must have a full set of policies specific to that position. Those policies need to be complete, reasonable, in writing and followed. This would be a good time for Ontario non-profit boards to scrutinize both their ED/CEO policies and the application of those policies.

REFLECTIONS OF A NON-PROFIT BOARD MEMBER

The Story

You can learn a lot from someone who has been a non-profit Board member. Here are some observations for CEOs/Executive Directors and for Boards of Directors, from someone who has volunteered as a Board member of several Ontario charities, while also enjoying a successful career in business.

The Skinny

Planning

When it comes to planning, execution is everything. Don’t plan if you can’t execute. Make the plan simpler if necessary to ensure you will be able to carry it to successful completion. And stick to it, even if circumstances change and impact on some of its contents. Continuously rewriting plans is not the answer.

Execution

You need to keep the plan in front of you at all times and be in continuous conversation with your direct reports about it. Schedule regular dates to review and update and make those dates inviolable.

Bear in mind that how you execute is as important as reaching the plan’s milestones. There are managers who achieve the plan but do so by alienating their workforce or their clients / customers. They will not be successful in the longer term, meaning your organization won’t be successful either. You need to be able to get a good sense of the “how” as much as the “what” when it comes to the work of your direct reports. This means utilizing some variation on the 360 approach to get input from those who come in contact with these individuals.

The “how” is important for Boards too, meaning they must know not just whether their senior executive is achieving results, but also, how those results are being achieved. Being aware of the “how” and whether it conforms to the values of the organization can be challenging and requires soliciting input from those surrounding the CEO/ED.

Management

The only way to manage is by “walking around”, an old-fashioned idea, but one with lots of continuing street cred. Being cloistered in your office will not make you a successful manager. You need to know what’s happening, not just with your direct reports but with their direct reports. And everyone working under you needs to know you are interested in them, in their work situation and in their point of view.

(Tom’s note here: A family friend was a very successful president of a Canadian manufacturing company. He started his day by heading for the local coffee shop early in the morning, before the day shift started, drinking coffee with the people who ran the machines that built the company’s products. He always knew his workforce, and he always knew what was going on.)

Honesty and Integrity

Not all managers are honest, nor do they conduct themselves with integrity. When they don’t, they undermine the work of the organization. Watch for the telltale signs, especially of people leaving the organization when there doesn’t seem to be a good reason. This kind of manager has to be moved out as quickly as possible, otherwise that person can significantly damage an organization.

The BIG Idea

Take advantage of the wisdom of a non-profit Board member, especially related to the importance of how management conducts its affairs, in addition to what it achieves.