Understand the project
About Beyond Barriers
A 24-month initiative examining how nonprofit organizations are structured, governed, and run—and how they might operate differently.
The initiative
Looking beyond the structures we have inherited
Beyond Barriers was led by Elizabeth Fry New Brunswick and funded by Women and Gender Equality Canada.
The work brought together nonprofit organizations, Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers, researchers, and community partners. Together, they examined how organizations make decisions, structure leadership, govern, hire and retain staff, and 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 nonprofits move away from hierarchical structures toward structures 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.