The amazing thing about the report (by Azimuth Consulting) is that it pulls no punches. The authors admit that there are poeple pushing so hard on each side of the issue, that it will be an uphill battle. This is one of the conclusions:
In essence, the emergence of a single organizational service demonstrates that the FCC and FCA has put the interests of the community above their own separate organizational interests.
Personally, I find it hard to imagine, if only because the politics involved are dense and firmly rooted, though I do agree with the authors of the report, that the community would benefit from a joint structure.
3 comments:
I wonder how Azimuth got that contract -- they're usually involved in biohazards/waste management/enviornmental impact studies, are they not? I remember seeing their name at least once when I was working at the EAB.
Anyhow, the report looks pretty honest, as you wrote. Knowing what I do about the structure of non-profits, there is a certain hysteria that goes along with that particular class of power struggle -- mainly due to the lack of ownership (in the proprietary sense) of that power. In non-profits, it's all about personality, because nobody's going to lose their investment (although they may lose their job). I have to admit that this particular controversy looks entirely trivial to me -- kind of like the David Hasselhoff Fan Club merging with the Fans Of David Hasselhoff. Clearly Fernwood doesn't need two community organizations, although parts of it could use a bath.
Hi!
I stumbled upon this discussion, and it's pretty interesting stuff. As the Executive Director of the Fernwood Community Centre Society, (the one that offered to dissolve ~ aka commit organizational suicide~ under a potential amalgamation) it's great to hear your comments. Yes. Non-profit can be driven by personalities and egos. And yes, there are often power struggles ~most especially when there's no power over which to struggle ~ oddly enough. Azimuth consulting got the contract when the Transition Team, comprised of 4 members of each of the boards ~ FCC and FCA, co-created a request for proposals (RFP) and then advertised, interviewed and co-chose Azimuth. The report is good, and the work done was solid. Unfortunately, the David Hasselhoff Community Association chose not to unify, and the rest is history! The Fernwood Community Centre Society has expanded, adopted 4 board members who left the FCA, and bought the Cornerstone Building at the corner of Fernwood and Gladstone. And as Tim wrote, we didn't see any big problems with unifying either, but once the merger was rejected, the folks who wanted to pull towards a better Fernwood have done so. For more info on our projects, you can goto: www.fernwoodneighbourhood.ca
Hey Roberta, thanks for stopping by to clear things up. When the merger failed, I just shook my head and forgot about it for the most part.
I lived in Fernwood while attending University, and again briefly after graduating so I got to know the politics back then (admittedly more than a dozen years ago) though I haven't followed too closely since. Still, Victoria's many neighbourhoods really intrigue me -- there are so many little worlds within the region.
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