From Our Vantage Point

The Community Engagement office at UBC supports university and community partners to work together, bringing the full force of combined experiences, expertise, and knowledge to advance a more just and sustainable society. This episode features Kat Cureton, Advisor at Community Engagement, and Katie McCallum, who is the Manager of the Community Engagement office. It was great to talk to them both a...

Timestamps 00:00 | Intro  01:37 | Financial Wellbeing: Stage 1 04:07 | Warning Signs of Stage 1 04:35 | Financial Wellbeing: Stage 2 07:47 | Financial Wellbeing: Stage 3 08:48 | Financial Wellbeing: Stage 4 11:54 | Financial Wellbeing: Stage 5 16:30 | Most Common Barriers to Financial Liberation 19:20 | Outro Resources https://humanityfinancial.ca/ https://www.charitydata.ca/ 🎙️ From Our Vantage P...

Timestamps 00:00 | Intro 01:52 | How it all began 04:28 | How boards can make a difference 06:39 | Who is Our Kids Climate for? 07:43 | What action looks like 11:37 | Does keeping up mean “going green”? 12:30 | Mitigation and Adaptation 16:06 | Ad 17:01 | Exploring Our Kids Climate Sessions 20:06 | Strategic planning for climate justice 21:23 | Scoping sector interest in climate action 26:26 | Get...

Leah Coss of Build a Biz Kids joins the podcast this month to talk about the benefits of engaging skilled volunteers. Rowan and Leah discuss what it can look like to take the leap and re-envision volunteerism in your organization, and how organizational leaders can get creative with volunteer engagement. Resources Build a Biz Kids bit.ly/3vfkN8Y Episode 55: “A For-Profit Lens in Not-for-Profit Org...

Jennifer Walowic of SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue returns to From Our Vantage Point to expand on democratic engagement and introduce her new workbook, Where to Start? A Workbook for Evaluating Democratic Engagement Impacts. This is a sequel to our February 2020 podcast, The 5 Principles of Democratic Engagement. Resources: Podcast – The 5 Principles of Democratic Engagement https://bit....

Celebrate the end of 2021 with us Vantage Point staff members as Rowan interviews fellow colleagues Cherie Payne, Maria Turnbull, and Shagun Bhanot. After what was a turbulent year for many of us in BC and the not-for-profit sector, we thought it would be nice to come together, enjoy each other’s conversation, and celebrate the challenges we surpassed in 2021 as well as look ahead to the future. W...

This month’s podcast features Mark Friesen, a familiar face at Vantage Point for his work on the team as a consultant for many years. Mark was instrumental in the development of our Capacity Lab, a series of learning opportunities designed for not-for-profit leaders to apply the Lifecycles Model. It allows them to take a step back from the day-to-day to identify where their organization’s growing...

This month’s podcast shines a light on fat employees and how leaders can build safe working environments for employees of any size! Sasha Burden joins From Our Vantage Point for a great discussion on what inclusion in the not-for-profit (and for-profit) workplace looks like when it comes to employees of size: What are some things to consider when planning team building activities? How do we accoun...

In a special edition podcast, Director of Government Relations and Sector Development Cherie Payne guest hosts a conversation with Parliamentary Secretary of Community Development and Non-Profits, Niki Sharma. Niki was appointed her role as a first for BC’s provincial government in 2020 and has lots to say about her work bridging the connection between not-for-profits and government. Together, Che...

We centre food insecurity in the Lower Mainland with Zahra Esmail, Executive Director of South Van Neighbourhood House, and Upkar Singh Tatlay, Executive Director of Engaged Communities Canada Society in this very special podcast. While food insecurity is the theme, Zahra, Upkar, and podcast host Rowan discuss how racial biases impact the lives of immigrants, refugees, and street-entrenched indivi...

Anna Whelan, Executive Director of the HiVE, and Board Member Juliana Craig, join us to introduce Vancouver’s only not-for-profit coworking space. Here we discuss what the HiVE’s pandemic recovery looks like and how collaboration and community have bolstered and uplifted staff, members, and the sector in general throughout times of change. HiVE Vancouver is a not-for-profit social enterprise servi...

This week, Nav joins the podcast from the other side of the From Our Vantage Point table and discusses her work at Vantage Point, her vision for the podcast, and what’s next. Nav is the new Marketing & Communications Manager at Take a Hike Foundation, although many know her as the voice of the Vantage Point podcast. Listen in on this brief chat to mark the end of an era and join Rowan as he pi...

Our April podcast brings an in-depth conversation with Elodie Jacquet, Manager of Knowledge and Practice at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. We chat about democracy, equity, climate change, and how they come together to form many intersections within the sector. We chat about what must change, how systems can be addressed, and building the future. The SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogu...

In this in-depth conversation with Kris Archie, Chief Executive Officer of The Circle, we discuss the colonial nature of philanthropy and how it upholds white supremacy in the not-for-profit sector and affected communities. Then, we imagine how a decolonized philanthropy model could look and explore the necessary steps to reach an equitable funding system. The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal...

Dorla Tune, Organizational Consultant at Vantage Point, joins us to chat about philanthropic narratives and the impacts they can have on our communities, how funds are allocated, and who works within those narratives. We have a frank and honest discussion about what needs to change and why philanthropic narratives matter. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conve...

Hildy Gottlieb, co-founder of Creating the Future, and Omar Dominguez, Director of Government Relations and Sector Development at Vantage Point, join us to chat about catalytic thinking and how it can be used to create the future through uncertainty. We will use our upcoming revamped BOSS conference as a case study as we dive into an innovative new way of thinking. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a p...

This month we are joined by Sam Bradd, Principle of Drawing Change, to chat about Graphic Recording. We go into depth about what Graphic Recording is, how to utilize it within an organization, and how it acts as a tool for inclusion in meetings and convening sessions. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conversations and practical insights from BC’s non-profit se...

This month we are joined by Jennifer Wolowic from SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue and Alisha Masongsong from Exchange Inner City. Together, we dive into SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue’s “Five Principles of Democratic Engagement” and chat about how these principles can function well within an organization. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real con...

Mark Friesen, Executive Director of the Columbia College Society, joins us to chat about public policy and how an organization can begin this work and what it means to get into advocacy work. We also chat about how Vantage Point is taking on public policy and what we hope will come from it. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conversations and practical insights...

Margaret Mason, a Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright joins us this month to chat about why you shouldn’t start that charity you’ve been mulling over. We talk about partnership opportunities, how to cultivate collaboration for your mission, and much more. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conversations and practical insights from BC’s non-profit sector. Vantage Po...

This month we are joined by Bob Wang, senior advisor at Deloitte, to find out how using a corporate lens can help further the impact of your organization. We chat about programs, services, and financials - and how assessing them differently can elevate the way we do our work. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conversations and practical insights from BC’s non-p...

Ruby Ng, Executive Director for the Disability Foundation and Vantage Point board member, joins us this month to discuss the impact a branding strategy can have on an organization. We explore how to approach branding, what to do when getting started, and how often organizations should reassess their strategies. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing real conversations an...

Gordon Holley, Vantage Point board member and Humanity Financial’s CEO joins us this month to explore how to leverage financial systems to maximize organizational impact. We discuss how efficient and effective financial systems can make all the difference when considering the impact of an organization both internally and externally. 🎙️ From Our Vantage Point is a podcast by Vantage Point , sharing...

This month we sit down with Vantage Point’s Consulting Manager, Lisa Torreggiani to chat about why client relations matters and what can happen when organizations take on client relations management thoughtfully and what can happen when they don’t. Lisa takes from her experience not only at Vantage Point and other not-for-profit organizations but also from her work in private sector sales and mana...

This month we sit down with Sherry Small to discuss what we mean when we speak about Truth in Truth and Reconciliation. Through her work with MVAEC, as an educator, and as an advocate Sherry empowers individuals and communities by strengthening the spirit first. In this podcast, Sherry speaks about Truth and how we as people living in the Coast Salish Territories interpret this Truth and what we c...