For Immediate Release

Friday, February 18, 2011

Manitoba Federation of Non-Profit Organizations invites Manitobans to imagine

the future of the non-profit sector and the meaning of social innovation.

What is social innovation and what role does it have to play in building and sustaining a vibrant civil society
in Manitoba? Over the next seven weeks, the Manitoba Federation of Non-Profit Organizations invites you to
consider these questions by participating in an online discussion about the future of non-profit organizations
and the possibilities of social innovation for renewal and transformation in our sector.

Through our project blog and via our Facebook page, the Manitoba Social Innovation Stories Project will highlight
stories from local, regional and national non-profits and present feature interviews with leaders in the
community to explore the different ways that non-profit organizations are integrating innovative practices into
their work. In addition to these stories and interviews, our project editor Matthew Koop-Peatce will be offering
regular commentary and links to topical resources relating to the themes and issues that emerge in the course
of discussion.

The Manitoba Social Innovation Stories Project is an initiative of the Manitoba Federation of Non-Profit
Organizations in partnership with the Canadian Non-Profit Innovators Network. This network is made up of a
number of non-profit sector organizations across Canada who are each exploring the role of social innovation in
the non-profit world through a different lens. In Manitoba, our contribution to this national conversation will be
to pay special attention to the ways in which non-profits are doing innovative work around intergenerational
cooperation.

Our project will consider the theme of intergenerational cooperation in two ways. First, we will highlight
non-profit organizations with programming that engages generations in shared learning and working
collaborations. The second way we will address this theme will be to consider the ways in which generations
cooperate and share knowledge within organizations, paying special attention to both the tensions and benefits
inherent in intergenerational collabroations while also thinking about how non-profits are addressing the
challenge of knowledge succession between older and younger generations of staff and volunteers.

The Manitoba Social Innovation Stories Project is an exploratory and experimental initiative intended to be a
jumping off point for more detailed talks about the uses and potential of innovation in Manitoba's non-profit
sector. We believe the best way to generate this discussion is not to try and offer a presecriptive definition of
what social innovation is and should mean for non-profits, but rather to frame the issue by asking the right
questions and let the sector speak for itself and tell its own story.

Join the conversation. Share your innovation story.

Visit our project blog at http://socialinnovationmb.tumblr.com and be sure to
subscribe to our RSS feed. We want to hear your ideas and opinions. Do you
know of an innovative project or idea that you want to share, or do you have a
suggestion for an issue that you think should be discussed?
Join our Facebook group at http://on.fb.me/socialinnovationmb and let us know!

Contact our project coordinantor, Matthew Koop-Pearce at socialinnovationmb@gmail.com

M.F.N.P.O c/o 300 - 207 Donald Street, Winnipeg MB. R3C 1M5
nonprofitsector.ca | mfnpos.ning.com | 204-272-6088