Face2Face with David Peck

Peter recently spent some time in Nepal, climbing, hiking and camping around Mount Everest. He’ll tell us more about his experience and in this interview talk about stewardship, money and donor loyalty. He’ll challenge your ideas about generous Canadians and talk about why people give to people, why he thinks we have many acquaintances, but only very few friends.

Biography

Peter is the Founder of Blakely & Associates and until his recent sale of the company and retirement, he grew the company to be one of Canada’s leading fundraising and direct marketing consultancy agencies.

Starting his career in the for profit sector, Peter gained extensive knowledge and experience in the use of a wide range of analytical tools and direct marketing. As a Canadian national team athlete, Peter was required to raise money so that he could compete and then went on to help the team and his sport raise annual funds. It was the combination of these two activities, fundraising and direct marketing, which lead to the creation of Blakely & Associates.

Focusing on the development of Blakely & Associates’ vision as an innovative and fully integrated direct marketing agency for the long-term benefit of client programs, Peter’s entrepreneurial background, expertise in the use of data analytics and application of research ensured that clients benefited from the use of every possible fundraising channel and market opportunity.

As an active community volunteer, Peter is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy and the Canadian Association of Gift Planners.

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Kelly has plenty to say about Basic Income in Canada and why we can afford it, Viktor Frankl and Mans Search for Meaning, and why education is so important. Read a recent article by him and Rob Rainer (next weeks guest) here in the Star.

Biography

Kelly Ernst, Ph.D., is Principal Consultant and President of The Strategic Intelligence Alliance, Inc. (SIA) and acting as the Secretary General of Basic Income Canada Network. He has 30 years experience in the non-profit/NGO sector and founded SIA in 2007. Kelly has led a wide variety of research and evaluation studies, conducted various strategic development initiatives, and created stakeholder alliances for many organizations. He has published on a wide range of public policy issues.

Kelly’s background includes studies in, and has considerable experience with, program evaluation and strategic & organizational development. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary in Educational Psychology, plus additional executive education from Harvard Business School. Kelly’s previous positions include Senior Program Director at the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and President & CEO of the Canadian Outcome Research Institute. He has held research director positions for other initiatives.

He has extensive board of director experience and is currently the President of the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association. He sits on a variety of policy and advisory committees.

He is currently the Secretary General of Basic Income Canada and President of The Strategic Intelligence Alliance Inc.  Kelly received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at the University of Calgary and has additional academic training from the Harvard Business School. Previously, he was Senior Program Director for the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership and before this was President and CEO of the Canadian Outcomes Research Institute. He has authored numerous publications, lectured at various national and international conferences, and has held several positions on various NGO boards. He is also the President of the Rocky Mountain Civil Liberties Association.

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Zehra is a passionate about what she does. Listen in as she talks about how she didn’t go to school to learn about her take on local and global change, how she launched her entrepreneurial and socially innovativeStudio 89, and what she’s doing to bring together the for profit and not for profit business models.

Biography

Zehra Abbas is the Founder and Executive Director of YTGA (Youth Troopers for Global Awareness), a youth led non-profit organization mobilizing and empowering young people for domestic and international social justice through campaigns, workshops and the arts.

Zehra and the YTGA team have recently launched a social enterprise in Mississauga called Studio.89, part fair-trade cafe and part artademic resource centre. The cafe encourages ethical and healthy consumerism while hosting numerous community events and initiatives. The artademic centre offers arts, academic and lifestyle workshops as well as free resources and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Zehra and her team have combined their multi-faceted talents to create the unique and dynamic Studio.89 model which facilitates both local and global action. As an experienced member of the non- profit sector, Zehra has campaigned to Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Canada, volunteered for the War Against Rape in Pakistan, and worked with the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture.

For more information about Studio 89.

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Rob has temporarily moved on as ED of Basic Income Canada Network to work as interim ED with the Green Party. Listen in today as he gets a little more political, talks about social justice, why people on welfare are so not lazy and why dealing with poverty matters.

Read more by Rob here.

Biography

Rob has 20 years of experience in not-for-profit leadership, primarily in environmental conservation and sustainable development and more recently concerning poverty in Canada. He has been described as a mentor who is “light on my feet” with respect to his capacity to initiate and make decisions.

Through his new consultancy, CauseWorth Mission Impact, he is applying his experience, knowledge, skills and contacts in support of organizations involved in social justice, social service, personal development, conservation and environmental protection.

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Ryan is a passionate guy who has a PhD in geography and eco-tourism. Listen in as he talks a great deal about poverty and selfless and altruistic people and why the fact that there were over a billion people travelling the globe last year is important. He tells us why he thinks that sustainability is a three-legged stool, about creative ways to change the world and about how his successful social enterprise is changing the way people think.

Biography

Ryan was raised in Nairobi, Kenya where his parents were teachers at an international school. After returning to Canada for university, Ryan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography and his Master of Arts degree in International Development. After graduation, Ryan worked in various relief and development projects throughout Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Mozambique, and it was here that Ryan gained an appreciation for the local culture, language, and challenges that are currently facing sub-Saharan Africa.

Through the combination of a semi-traumatic event in the Sudan, and the wise counsel of his Manager, Ryan ended up at the University of Waterloo in pursuit of his Ph.D. in Geography and Ecotourism. Upon completion, Ryan started lecturing at Humber College (Toronto), and guides groups of Canadians on ‘socially responsible safaris’ to East Africa a few times per year. Ryan continues to conduct participatory research amongst the indigenous Maasai communities of Kenya, focusing on the role of sustainable tourism as a tool for development.

For more information about Socially Responsible Safaris clink on the link.

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Patrick is a theologian, author and professor who has plenty to say about religion-less Christianity, truth and the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If the idea of religion-less Christianity or ethics or pacifism interests you then there is plenty here for further reflection.

Biography:

Patrick Franklin (BA, MDiv, ThM, PhD) is Assistant Professor of Theology and Ethics at Providence Theological Seminary in Manitoba, Canada. He is the author of Being Human, Being Church: The Significance of Theological Anthropology for Ecclesiology (Paternoster, forthcoming) and several peer-reviewed articles, including two on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dr. Franklin’s theological interests include ecclesiology (the church; both historic and contemporary expressions), theological anthropology (the human person), trinitarian theology, Christian ethics, and the life and thought of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He is also interested in the relationship between the sciences and Christian theology and serves as the coordinating book review editor for Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation and Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation. Dr. Franklin is a frequent speaker at churches, conferences, public lectures, and other events.

Check out Patrick’s blog here.

And his faculty page here.

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This week’s podcast was a fun one to record. Taped in front of a live enthusiastic and thoughtful audience this past December in downtown Toronto. I chatted with two magicians, on stage and post show, James Alan and Mike Close. The food was good, the magic terrific and the conversation engaging. Listen is as we talk about magic, wonder and reason in the 21st century.

Biography

James Alan is a magician based in Toronto. He is the producer of James Alan’s Magic Tonight, a live dinner-theatre-style magic show performed in Downtown Toronto, Mississauga, and Pickering. He has produced two acclaimed one-man shows;The Uncertainty Project and Lies, Damn Lies & Magic/Tricks. Check out some of thereviews from Magic Tonight.

Michael Close is a magician, musician. He is a world-renowned magic inventor and consultant. He is the author of numerous magic publications including Closely Guarded Secrets, the Workers series and a joke collection, That Reminds Me. He is currently the editor of MUM, the journal of the Society of American Magicians.

The podcast was taped in front of a live audience at the Winter Solstice Celebration for the Centre for Inquiry Canada, a think tank and community outreach organization advancing reason, science, free expression and secular values.

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Listen in to this weeks interview with Peter Singer about this new book The Most Good You Can Do and see what he has to say about giving, philanthropy and utilitarian ethics.

Biography

Dr. Singer may be, as The New Yorker calls him, the planet’s “most influential living philosopher.” He specializes in applied ethics, to which he takes a secular, utilitarian approach — minimize suffering, maximize well-being. He gained recognition in the 1970s with his groundbreaking book Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals, which questions society’s tendency to put human needs above those of members of other species.

Singer’s collective body of work is more acclaimed than controversial. He has written the classic text Practical Ethics and many other books and articles, including Unsanctifying Human Life: Essays on Ethics, One World: Ethics and Globalization, The Moral of the Story: An Anthology of Ethics Through Literature, In Defense of Animals. The Second Wave, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter/The Ethics of What We Eat, The Life You Can Save: Acting now to end world poverty.

He lectures at Princeton, where he is professor of bioethics, and the University of Melbourne, where he is a laureate professor.

For more info check him out here.

And read his article in the NYT on Good Charity and Bad Charity.

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Today’s conversation is about thinking local, acting municipally and global change. Robert talks about a “space for alternatives”, his own approach to the environment and a “transportation solution” and why altering the chemistry of our planet is essential to our future.

Biography

Rob Shirkey is a recognized global authority on the subject of climate change warnings on gas pump nozzles. He has given lectures on the topic across Canada and has been featured in media all over the world.

Rob is a lawyer from Toronto, Canada. Prior to founding Our Horizon and launching its globally unprecedented campaign, Rob operated a private practice in downtown Toronto. He also has experience as an Assistant City Solicitor and Prosecutor. Before completing his law degree, Rob studied business, economics, and psychology at the undergraduate level. He graduated with distinction and was the university valedictorian.

Rob’s talks draw on the latest in climate change research. He gathers insights from psychology, sociology, economic theory, behavioural economics, business, law and municipal politics to build the case for demand-side, local action on climate change. His trial experience as a lawyer and his playful sense of humour makes him a compelling and entertaining speaker.

Check out his TedX talk here.

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Join Kalyanee and I today as she talks about her love for Cambodia and the environment, about “us” as the centre of the ripple, the universal nature to stories and why as a film director she feels that we need to “touch and feel” to get a better understanding of the world we live in.

Biography

KALYANEE MAM (DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, & CINEMATOGRAPHER) Award-winning filmmaker, lawyer, and born storyteller, Kalyanee Mam, is committed to combining her passion for art and advocacy to tell compelling and universal stories. Born in Battambang, Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge Regime, she and her family fled to the refugee camps at the Thai-Cambodian border and eventually immigrated to the United States in 1981. Even to this day her mother recounts stories of their flight through jungles laden with land mines. These stories and many others inspired Kalyanee to return to her native homeland and to make films about atrocities occurring in Cambodia even today.

Most recently, Kalyanee directed, produced and shot A River Changes Course, winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award for Best Feature Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival, and which charts the radical changes in Cambodia today that are transforming not only the country’s landscape – but also the dreams of its people. Kalyanee has also worked on 2011 Oscar-winning documentary, Inside Job (Cinematographer, Associate Producer, and Researcher) about the global financial crisis and documentary short Between Earth & Sky (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) about three young Iraqi refugee artists living in Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. A graduate of Yale University and UCLA Law School, Kalyanee has also worked as a legal consultant in Mozambique and Iraq.

Read more about her work here at: The Pulitzer Center, The New York Times, ariverchangescourse.com and her new Facebook site, Fight for Areng Valley.

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