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The
Planned Lifetime Advocacy Network has been
hailed as the
charity of the future and a
pioneer of social entrepreneurship.
Two
years ago it was presented with the
prestigious New Spirit
of Community Award by
the Canadian Centre on Philanthropy.
More
recently it was singled
out from more than 75,G00
charities by award-winning journalist Andre
Picard as being "on
the cutting edge of the
revolutionary transformation taking
place in Canada's voluntary
sector."
PLAN
e xecutive-director
Al Etmanski
describes social entrepreneurship as taking
the under-utilized
resources of the
private, public and civic sectors
and putting them to work.
For
example, PLAN persuaded London Drugs to
be a no-cost distributor
of the organization's
guidebook, Safe and Secure,
on creating
a personal future plan
for people with disabilities.
VanCity
Savings, which recently unveiled a
comprehensive package of products and
services for PLAN members, is
also posting information about
the non-profit group in every
branch and in mail-outs to
credit union members.
In cooperation with PLAN
and the Canadian Special
Olympics, Royal Trust offers
a free
information booklet entitled Lifelong Security
For Your Child
With Disabilities. |
In
1997-98, PLAN received
the B.C. Association of Broadcasters'
Humanity Award, providing
it with more than $3 million in
free advertising on every
TV and radio station in
B.C. for a
year.
Citing
that award, Etmanski
persuaded Pacific Press to provide
complimentary print advertising in The
Vancouver Sun and
The Province.
In
another entrepreneurial
flourish, he works with the
Grizzlies organization and
CIBC Wood Gundy to include
information about PLAN in
Spinoza the Bear, an outsized
teddy bear carrying audio tapes
designed by psychologists for
children who are in hospital or
for children with disabilities.
As
a result, PLAN has gone from
working exclusively with the
older parents of handicapped children to include parents with toddlers.
Continuing
publicity has also sparked
interest in replicating PLAN
from communities across
North America. Canada's largest private foundation,
the J.W. McConnell Family
Foundation, has awarded PLAN
a multi-year grant to support
expansion across Canada.
At
the same time PLAN will present
an international training program next week for interested parties from
around the
world, and Etmanski has been
invited on a three-week tour
of Australia in the fall.
He
is also working on a lecture series
for Simon Fraser
University entitled Who Cares?
on caring for each other
in a modern
society.
Michael
Kane
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