The non profit sector in canada management essay

Table of Contents2Introduction3Mission statement 3Vision3Values4Caring4The non-profit sector in Canada is vast and diverse. It includes hundreds of thousands of organizations, employs almost one million people, and calls upon the enthusiasm and dedication of millions of volunteers who contribute one billion hours of time each year. The sector owns important assets, produces a vast array of goods and services, and generates significant revenues.It is active in almost every area of social, economic and community life –in healthcare, education, economic development, social services, employment, training and skills development, financial services, the environment, culture, the arts and recreation.In 2009, over 5.6 million Canadians donated approx. 7.7 billion.Organizations have started creating marketing and advertising campaigns. By 2002, one out of six organizations was spending more money on running the organization.

Introduction

Canadian Cancer Society was formed in 1929 when the Saskatchewan Medical Association formed the country’s first cancer committee. It was formed in response to growing concerns by doctors that people are not aware of the signs of cancer. Doctors believed that by the time people consulted them, their cancer was advanced and their chances of survival decreased. Cancer committees within other provincial medical associations followed and, in 1931 the Canadian Medical Association’s National Study Committee on Cancer was formed. In 1935, the Governor General of Canada invited Canadians to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the coronation of George V by donating to the King George V Silver Jubilee Cancer Fund. The campaign successfully raised almost $500,000 by the end of the year. In 1937, the National Study Committee recommended the formation of the Canadian Society for the Control of Cancer and this new organization was officially launched. During early years Canadian Cancer Society received most of the funds from an annual grant from the Canadian Medical Association based on the interest of the King George V Silver Jubilee Fund. In 1947, the National Cancer Institute of Canada which is now the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute was formed through an agreement between the Canadian Cancer Society and the Federal Department of Health and Welfare. Since then, the two organizations have worked towards a common goal while, at the same time, retaining their own identities and purposes.

Mission statement

The Canadian Cancer Society achieves its mission through research, education, supportive care and advocacy for healthy public policy. These efforts are supported by volunteers and staff and funds rise in communities across Canada and whose mission is to eradication of cancer and the enhancement of the quality of life of people living with cancer.

Vision

Creating a world where no Canadian fears cancer.

Values

These serve as guidelines for our conduct and behavior as it work towards the vision.CaringCourageIntegrityProgressive

Caring

Canadian Cancer Society is passionate, considerate, respectful and empathetic toward individuals and families who are touched by cancer and it believes that all people should be treated with consideration and dignity.

Courage

Canadian Cancer Society shows their determination and drives their volunteers and staff to take bold steps for effective positive change. As it recognizes that such spirit requires a unique strength of character—an inherent quality found in the hearts and minds of people who champion the cancer cause.

Integrity

Canadian Cancer Society is honest and ethical in all things they do, and they engage in responsible decision-making that reflects the highest standards of conduct. This ensures that their credibility, leadership and use of donor dollars are never in question.

Progressive

Canadian Cancer Society values their history of learning as they strive for continuous improvement and development at all levels of the organization. The creative approach to finding solutions that is appropriate and consistent with the strategy, character and abilities of the organization. As it value diversity and work hard to create a collaborative environment where they benefit from the cultural perspectives of others.

Five major areas where Canadian Cancer Society works

Research

The Canadian Cancer Society is the largest funder of cancer research in Canada and its strict review process which ensures that the money contributed by them is directed only to excellent cancer research across Canada. This research helps Canadians to understand, prevent and reduce their risk of cancer by transforming research knowledge into powerful information, programs and services.

Advocacy

The Canadian Cancer Society mobilizes Canadians to create social and political change to help to control cancer in Canada and to create environments to reduce people’s risk of cancer. These changes will lead to fewer cases and deaths of cancer.

Prevention

The Canadian Cancer Society encourages Canadians to choose healthy lifestyles and advocates for healthy environments to support them in their choices so that fewer Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer.

Information

The Canadian Cancer Society gives cancer information through publication, web site, community centers and social media, which offer up to date.

Support

It believes that no one should have to face cancer alone and it provides support services.

Organization structure of Canadian Cancer Society

It has national offices in Toronto and Ottawa10 provincial and territorial divisionApproximately 170,000 volunteersApproximately 1,200 fulltime staff

Nationwide strategic plan

Strategic plan was to reduction of cancer incidence, cancer mortality rates and enhancement of quality of life for CanadiansDeter – Reduce cancer incidence rates for CanadiansDefeat- Reduce cancer mortality ratesDefy – Enhance quality of life for Canadians living with and beyond cancer

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Strong Brand Name

According to Revenue Canada, today there are more than 80,000 registered non-profit organizations which are working for different categories and communities. Out of these non-profit organizations, there are over 250 charities in Canada working for Cancer diagnoses and many other charities that deal with one and another way of cancer. But the Canadian Cancer Society has a strong name in non-profit organizations. Canadian cancer society is largest charitable funder in Canada; they spent more than $48 million in the Cancer program in 2011. Due to their goodwill and efficiency of work towards realizing their mission, they are able to raise their funds through charity.

High Volunteer Support

Canadian Cancer society is a national community based organization of volunteers. Canadian Cancer Society has more than 170,000 volunteers and 1200 full time employees. CCS gives the opportunity to their volunteers to apply current skills and gain some new ones. They give opportunity to fight back against cancer in different communities. With the high volunteer support CCS organize different awareness and fundraising events across the county. They also participate in different collection programs, supporting advocacy campaigns and providing information and support to cancer patients, their families and caregivers who are suffering with cancer.

Involvement of Stakeholders

Canadian Cancer society is having high support from its stakeholders. In every project or event, stakeholders provide sufficient help to CCS. All the stakeholders of Canadian cancer society like employees, volunteers, professionals of organization, government, donor’s etc. support of CCS organize various events. CCS made teams of different stakeholders who are working in different provinces to organize events.

High Donation Volume

Canadian Cancer Society is raising its funds from different donors who are individuals as well as corporate donors. They are getting donations from Government funding, lotteries, individual donations and from special events organized by the society. In year 2012, Canadian Cancer Society has over $211 million as total revenue from donations, which shows the people’s faith in Canadian Cancer society. The volume of donations given by people is increasing every year.

Strategic plan

Canadian Cancer society made a five year strategic plan 2010-2015. In this plan, they engage Canadians, donors, staff and volunteers to reduce the effect of cancer in society. This plan includes transparent working of the cancer society. CCS has high support of Canadians to deter, defeat and defy cancer.

Weaknesses

Spending Time on Fundraising

Canadian Cancer Society researchers are using most of their time in thinking how to increase their funds than actual research of cancer diagnoses. Today most of the non-profit organizations are using the same techniques to raise funds and make charity market more competitive. To get the funds in this competition, CCS is using most of the time to figure out how to get more money for their research rather than doing research in laboratories.

Surveillance System

Canadian Cancer Society is one of the large non-profit organizations in Canada. It has two national offices and 10 provincial and territorial divisions. They are using enhanced surveillance system to integrate their data and technological infrastructure. But this surveillance system requires some improvements to ensure data collected about cancer can contribute to effective planning, implementation and monitoring. All provinces are using different systems, so variability in the surveillance system makes it inadequate to collect data in country under the one system. So Canadian Cancer Society needs to make some changes to this system to make their work faster.

Poor Fund Management

Canadian Cancer society is getting high revenue every year and they are using that amount of money in different cancer control working areas. They are mainly using the donations in cancer Research, advocacy, prevention, information and support. These funds are allocated by Canadian Cancer society research Institute to different areas by review process. But from last few years, Canadian cancer society is using large amounts of money on fundraising events rather than its major working areas. They are using more than 42% of revenue in fundraising in 2012 and less than 22% in cancer research programs. This shows the poor financials of Canadian cancer society.

Opportunities

Growth and Expansion

Canadian Cancer Society currently has its presence in 10 provincial and territorial divisions with 2 national offices. CCS has 170,000 volunteers supporting 1200 staff members across Canada. The goodwill and work being done by the Society has already bought a remarkable difference in lives of people living with cancer and also their families. There is lot of scope for scaling up their organized operations to share best practices across the world.

Support from communities

In spite of all the controversies surrounding CCS, there is lot of support being offered by the community. Support not just in terms of financial contributions but also in terms of time and effort by volunteers is offered. This has to be properly channelized to make best use of the resources being made available to CCS for reaching out to lot of people.

Threats

Current Economic Recession

Canadian Cancer Society is charity based organization. They are receiving donations from both individuals as well as from corporations. Due to the current economic conditions, corporations may decrease their donation amount or may cancel the yearly donations to use that amount to operate their businesses. Due to economic recession, the household income of individual is also decreasing. So, due to this crisis, the donations can decline for the next few years.

Constantly Monitored by Media

Today, every organization and its activities are constantly monitored by media worldwide. Like the CBC news which shows the report of Canadian Cancer Society spending and shares it views. With the help of media services, everybody gets information very easily. So, media is seen as one of the threat in today’s market.

Amount of money used on Research

CCS uses their funds in different areas. But most important area is research. Nowadays, research and diagnoses expenses of cancer are increasing. The medical equipment’s which are used in the laboratories are very expensive and medicines are priced very high. These rising costs have become a threat for CCS, as to fulfill that amount of funds; CCS needs to focus more on fundraising.

Fundraising Costs are high

Canadian Cancer Society is creating large marketing and advertising campaigns in order to increase their reach. They are also using mainstream medium like television, radio and magazines in their fundraising activities. The techniques used for fundraising are very high.

Recommendations

Appropriate use of funds

There are more than 250 cancer charity organizations but Canadian Cancer Society is receiving very high amount to donations because people believe that CCS is using their money in organization’s mission to eradication of cancer and enhancement of quality of life of people living with cancer. For the last few years, Canadian Cancer Society is using more funds on fundraising than research areas. Due to their inappropriate use of funds, there are high chances for the donors to lose confidence. Hence more funds have to be used in the areas of research and minimize their operation cost.

Transparency

Canadian Cancer Society needs to be more transparent in statements. They need to furnish information to their donors about the work they are doing and the money allocation and spent under various heads. Like in the CBC news report, CBC mentions only research not other areas. CCS needs to clarify that they spend money to get funds allocated to research but not get any credit in financial statements. So they need to be more transparent such that everyone gets to know where they are using their money and why they are using.

Hire Communication Team

CCS needs to become more responsible towards donors. They need to hire a new communication team, who are able to give response to every question which arises from donors. They need to use social media to educate people about Canadian Cancer Society. Communication team needs to organize events in which they give the information about what they are doing. They are not doing only research they are also participating in advocacy and support programs. They also need to convey that they are using costly fundraising techniques to generate more money for research as well as other strategies.

Spend more Money on Research

Since last decade, the amount of money used on cancer research is going up but percentage of total amount of budget spent on research has declined. But at the same time, amount of fundraising is increased and CBC used this fundraising news on its website, this news gave the negative impression on donors. So, CCS needs to give more focus on its mission and needs to increase amount of money in cancer research programs.

Response to CBC

After broadcasting CBC report about financial management of Canadian Cancer Society on both television and online media. CCS needs to have communication strategy for dealing with this controversy.After reading CBC report and Canadian Cancer Society information on its website, we can say that CBC misuses financials of Canadian Cancer society by hiding many of the information factors. CBC shows only Research expenses of CCS that are $48 million. But CCS also uses its funds for supporting for people living with cancer ($36 million), Prevention ($21 million), information ($14 million) and advocacy ($6 million) which is the total of $127 million used for CCS’s mission. They shows amount of money used for research decreasing from 44% in 2000 to less than 22% in 2011. But when we see the exact figures they are telling some different story. In 2009, Canadian Cancer Society spent $41 million on research but in 2011, this amount increased and reaches at $48 million. CCS shows its mission on website that shows they need to balance many strategies but research is one out of them. But in CBC report they showed only research as a main issue and ignore others.According to the CCS, they are doing fundraising activities only to raise critical funds to fulfill their mission. Ten years ago, they spent $85 million in their mission work and in 2011 they spent $127 million which was 55% more dollars which they invested to fight with cancer and CCS invest more than $450 million in last 10 years.In CBC report they reported CCS used more than 42% revenue in fundraising. They mixed up fundraising cost, lotteries and administration cost and gave wrong information to donors. If we exclude lotteries (7%) and administration costs (4.3%), we end up with total fundraising cost of 32.1%, which was 26% in 2000.Today, there are more than 80,000 non-profit organizations and more than 250 cancer charities. So, CCS unable to raise their donation money. So, to fulfill the mission of eradication cancer and sufficient funds for research, CCS needs money and for money, they need to organize more fundraising events and advertise themselves. For all that they need to invest a portion of their funds into fundraising.According to our point of view, when CBC released news about controversial fundraising of Canadian Cancer Society, at that time CCS needed a communication team. As a team which could talk to CBC and show them that they did not use data in correct way. They misused CCS’s financials. They needed to communicate with their donors, volunteers and all stakeholders by using different social media and organizing communication events. So, we can say Canadian Cancer Society needs a communication team which can give reply to those controversial issues.