(July 28, 2020) The Charity Report announced today that it is welcoming Cheryl Roddick as its latest contributing editor.
Roddick is a fundraising professional with over 20 years of experience in the charitable sector as a practitioner, consultant, and volunteer. She has led fundraising teams at a number of organizations, including The Stop Community Food Centre where she was Director of Development and Communications for 8 years. As a consultant, Cheryl has worked with clients from across the charitable sector on projects including feasibility studies, campaign planning, fundraising assessments and interim management. She holds a CFRE designation, an M.A. in Public Policy and Administration and a Combined Hon. B.A. in English and Political Science, both from McMaster University.
“We’re thrilled to have Cheryl as part of the editorial team. She is smart, informed and a terrific writer,” said editor in chief Gail Picco. “Having her has part of the editorial team increases our capacity to cover the sector in a systematic way, and brings us closer to our goal of being a definitive source of news in the charity sector in Canada and beyond.”
“The charitable sector in Canada is huge and continues to grow, both financially and in terms of the number of people depending on it as employees and beneficiaries,” says Roddick.
“It’s pretty remarkable that a sector of this size and with this impact on society isn’t more accountable and transparent. I think The Charity Report fills an important information gap and brings to light uncomfortable issues that simply aren’t being discussed anywhere else in the same way.”
Roddick will be working on a diversity of stories for The Charity Report.
“I’m interested in covering a range of topics affecting the sector. I’m working on a story now about donor advised funds, for example,” she said.
“But I’d also like to cover the work charities are doing to address some of society’s most pressing issues – social inequity, food and housing insecurity, racial injustice. What’s working to get at the root cause of these issues, and how much is just maintaining the status quo? When I first started working at The Stop, I read Sweet Charity? by Janet Poppendieck.
“It really opened my eyes to the ways charity, however well-meaning, can often be a Band-aid solution to serious policy shortcomings and a mechanism to perpetuate existing power structures in society. We need to grapple with these issues if we truly want the charitable sector to play a role in building a more just, equitable country.”
Roddick has served as a volunteer board member for various nonprofits, including Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) and Dancing with Parkinson’s, and on the Pecaut Centre for Social Impact’s Investment Committee. She is the proud mom of two daughters, an avid gardener and cook, and passionate advocate for social change.
You can reach her at cheryl.roddick@thecharityreport.com. Or follow her on Twitter @cherylsnews.