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| Path: Main Street : NewsWeek : Archive : Leadership in Focus : Article |
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Leadership in Focus: Tim Draimin
By Elisa Birnbaum
November 5, 2007
This month in our Leadership in Focus series, we feature Tim Draimin, founding executive director of the Tides Canada Foundation and Sage Centre. During his 35 energetic years enveloped in the charitable and nonprofit sector, Tim has left an indelible mark on a variety of organizations, including the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, CUSO, and the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice. These days, Tim is promoting environmental and social justice issues, with a particular focus on finding them new forms of capital through social finance initiatives.
Charity Village: After 35 years in the nonprofit and charitable sector, what would you say are the biggest challenges facing the sector today? Have they evolved over the years?
Tim Draimin: I think the challenges have evolved enormously over the years because the charitable sector evolved enormously itself. For one thing, 35 years ago the sector didn’t have any broad vision of its role; most nonprofits had a limited focus on achieving their own mission or working within a sub-sector like the Ys or a specific social service arena. Today we recognize that there is a nonprofit, voluntary or third sector, which is the essential component of building a caring, sustainable and successful society in full partnership with government and business. So our role has evolved.
Some of the challenges facing the sector today include: promoting systemic change to public policy initiatives based on frontline experience; leveraging the economy by engaging the business sector to become mission partners by developing double or triple bottom lines addressing social and environmental needs more head on; tapping into our vast R & D and innovation track record to take successful program approaches to a scale that can make a great impact; and growing our organizational resilience and independence by creating a more diversified funding base, expanding our individual donor base and, where possible and appropriate, exploring earned income models such as social enterprises.
CV: What are the specific challenges you face as a leader looking to improve the philanthropic infrastructure in Canada?
TD: Tides Canada, as a public foundation, is challenged to create an effective outreach to [establish an] emerging, strategic philanthropists that informs, inspires and supports their ability to invest in the changemakers, tackling those challenges I just spoke about. And, as a grantmaker, enjoying a wide view of how nonprofits are working on their respective change strategies, we are challenged to ask ourselves what other resources, besides funding, we can bring to the table to enhance the impact of the sector and advance some of its key social change goals.
More broadly, I think we are concerned that Canada’s charity regulatory regime is falling further and further behind the best practices of other jurisdictions like England and the USA. And the application of our charity rules should be updated to provide incentives to support and enable sector innovation and emerging ideas, such as social finance.
CV: Do these challenges, in your opinion, differ greatly from the types of challenges facing leaders in the private sector?
TD: Yes, and especially with regard to rules and regulations. All levels of Canada’s governments are very in tune to how they enable business. Our challenge is to instill a similar level of awareness of governments’ roles in creating an enabling environment for nonprofits.
CV: With the media so focused on environmental issues and with the popularity of Gore's documentary (and Nobel prize), have you witnessed a rise in philanthropic efforts toward environmental charities?
TD: Most environmentalists would agree that public interest has moved much faster than they anticipated several years ago. But most environmental organizations are still grappling with how to take advantage of that interest with ambitious public engagement, fundraising and donor stewardship.
There’s one way to address that. Here at Tides we support Green Legacies, which is a capacity-building initiative to assist environmental organizations in growing their individual donor bases, especially the component of planned giving. Interest is growing and opportunities are there for the environmental organizations to really grow into that enhanced interest on the part of the public in order to close that gap.
CV: How can the charitable sector ensure it encourages and develops young leaders for the future? Is it doing that now?
TD: Obviously we need to create more job opportunities for them and recognize that emerging leaders come with different expectations than we had regarding things like staff rules and organizational culture. Even accepting our sector’s financial constraints, there are opportunities to build internship openings. And I think it’s also important to support the expansion of mentorship programs like those that are operated by Canada 25, the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation and others. We can also learn a lot from the remarkable success of globally-oriented youth-led initiatives like Engineers Without Borders, Free the Children, Taking IT Global, and Schools Without Borders. These young leaders have created their own organizations that engage young people. They are really gifted leaders in their own right and there was a gap in terms of institutions serving young people in ways they thought were important. I think it’s great that they took the initiative.
CV: What traits do you feel make a leader effective in his/her role in the sector?
TD: Clarity about your values and your mission, deeply felt passion about your cause, dogged perseverance, an openness to share leadership, an ability to communicate your vision, and collaboration skills to undertake partnerships. And since most organizational leaders spend more time than they care to admit growing their resource space, there is the ability to marry your evangelical skills with fundraising and donor stewardship or awesome entrepreneurial abilities. Or, better still, both.
CV: Did you have any mentors over the years? If so, what is it about them that you found to be inspiring?
TD: I’ve been really fortunate that I’ve had quite a number of mentors, but two earlier ones I would mention are Father Michael Czerny, SJ for the strength and depth of his commitment to social justice, and Geoffrey Pearson for teaching me the vital role that citizen groups can play bridging seemingly irreconcilable differences between conflicted parties.
CV: What practical advice on leadership would you offer others?
TD: Building a better world can be really exciting, invigorating and rewarding. What else gives meaning to life? But, it’s not for the instant gratification crowd. You must realize that this is how you’ve chosen to live your life, the fun is in the doing and not just the wins and victories. Stephen Lewis once said something to the effect of, never let up, always keep the pressure up. He was much more eloquent, but you get the idea.Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She can be reached at: esbirnbaum@gmail.com.
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