What is The Public Good Initiative?

This student-led Initiative provides pro-bono consulting services to community organizations that can benefit from the support. The intention is to blend the unique attributes and voluntary ethos of the School of Public Policy and Governance’s graduate students with the needs of public benefit organizations in and around Toronto.

It is a win-win-win arrangement: community organizations receive needed policy support on a defined project; the School of Public Policy and Governance builds connections with the nonprofit and charitable sector; and students take on exciting and challenging projects, and receive the opportunity to use their specialized policy research, critical thinking and problem solving skills to build social capacity.

Student participation is not mandatory, and the program does not represent an official component of the Master of Public Policy program (no reporting requirements). But student consultants do have access to the wealth of experience and expertise possessed by the SPPG’s staff, faculty and fellows.

What will the consulting projects look like?

Projects will be shaped around the skills and backgrounds of the student consultants, the needs of the client organization, and an assessment of timelines and resources available. Projects could involve a number of different elements including:

·         Policy research, analysis and writing (i.e. research reports, policy briefs, grant applications, etc);

·         Political and policy context to support strategic decision making (or Board processes);

·         Consultations with stakeholder or citizen groups;

·         Advising on issues of strategic planning, service-delivery, organizational structure, etc.

Examples of potential projects include a research report about how a service is delivered in other municipalities, or consultations with an organization’s partners and clients about the development of a new program. We are open to new ideas.

What can client organizations expect? What are their responsibilities?

Clients can expect:

·         Consultancy services provided by one student, or a small team of 2 or 3 students;

·         A commitment of at minimum 5 hours per month over a fixed term;

·         A negotiated agreement with the consultant(s) clearly defining project scope, deadlines, meeting schedules and other elements of the relationship.

Client responsibilities include:

·         Proposing a project idea, and clearly defining deliverables, timelines and available resources;

·         At the outset of the project briefing consultants about project scope and objectives, and providing background materials that describe the organization’s mission, structure, ongoing initiatives, etc.;

·         Devoting adequate time and resources to responding to questions and concerns as they arise;

·         Reviewing and providing feedback on interim and/or final deliverables if necessary;

·         Covering any major project-related expenses (i.e. purchase of data, printing, etc).

We understand that it can be a costly and time-consuming process to find volunteers, identify their skills, prepare work, and monitor their output. Reliability is also an issue, as many leave once trained.

By having participating organizations clearly define their desired objectives, expectations and deliverables on the front end, by suitably matching student consultant skills and availability with projects and timelines, and by committing to working over longer periods, we hope to maximize the benefits to client organizations while minimizing the burdensome elements of the process.

Timelines

Timelines are flexible, however, to reflect the needs and schedules of client organizations and student consultants. The matching process between student consultants and clients will also be ongoing throughout the year, and will include flexible start and end dates.

List of the Initiative’s current partners.

Questions and Inquiries

Questions, inquiries or proposals are welcomed, and should be directed to www.publicgoodinitiative.ca or publicgoodinitiative@gmail.com.

"Public Good Initiative services are entirely independent and not supervised, approved or associated in any way with the University of Toronto or the School of Public Policy and Governance."