Understand the project
About Beyond Barriers
Examining how non-profit organizations are structured, governed and run -- and how they might operate differently
The initiative
Looking beyond the structures we have inherited
Beyond Barriers was a 24-month initiative led by Elizabeth Fry New Brunswick and funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), a federal department whose mandate is to advance equality for women and gender-diverse people across the country. This work brought together non-profit organizations, Indigenous elders & knowledge keepers, researchers and community partners across the Maritimes. Together, they examined how organizations make decisions, structure leadership, govern, hire and retain staff, and how they distribute power. The project explored movement away from hierarchical and patriarchal structures toward organizations that better reflect the communities they serve.
Questions at the centre
Three questions helped frame the work
- 01
How are decisions made within organizations?
- 02
How do organizations hire and retain staff?
- 03
how can non-profit organizations move away from these structures towards ones that genuinely reflect the communities they serve?
Active change
Not only studying problems. Working to create something different.
Beyond Barriers considered how values can be reflected in structures, organizational practice, leadership, and decision-making—not only in statements of intent.