The Business of Compassion with Carlene Donnelly

Melanie Nicholson is joined by the Executive Director of CUPS in Calgary, Carlene Donnelly, to talk about how the well-respected organization works in the social sector. Carlene, alongside many research partners and faculties, has created a focus on using research and proven theories in tangible practice for the betterment of lives filled with hardship and trauma. . Carlene has a natural passion for people but she drew on her background in education and psychology to explore what drives an individual’s journey for the negative. She focuses on a trauma-informed approach using development research to reframe social assistance as training and skills. It’s through asking the question “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” and understanding generational trauma as well as trauma’s impact on a child’s development. Carlene’s insight, passion, and knowledge on how to meld research and business into the social sector is both inspirational and aspirational. Hearing her conversation with Melanie on this topic will open us up to new ways of thinking about hardship, trauma, and the houseless. “There's always hope on how to help you in this journey. What are your priorities? And I think that that's a really powerful thing to say to someone to let them be proud of how they've survived pretty, pretty serious situations and pretty serious environments and give them the hope that anything's possible in many ways and that they have the power to drive that. And as we give them more options and understanding around, you know, different skills and abilities and what executive functioning is, what emotional management self-regulation is, they generally want to be part of that.” - Carlene DonnellyAbout Carlene DonnellySince 1989, CUPS has built resilient lives for Calgarians facing the challenges of poverty and trauma. Carlene has spent the past 25 years as a senior leader in the social services sector. Since 2003, she has led CUPS through significant change and growth, participated in high profile research and advocacy projects and has shared her learnings with audiences around the globe. Carlene believes in a science- informed approach to improving outcomes for children and families and passionately advocates for organizations to adopt a business framework and apply current brain science to achieve a larger impact. Under her leadership, CUPS has evolved from a traditional charity to a trailblazing, science-based social agency, capable of improving outcomes for Calgarians for generations to come. In her 18 years as Executive Director, Carlene’s innovative approach using the practical application of business to increase the impact of the organization has yielded many significant advances. Some of her achievements include growing the budget from $650,000 to $17 million, executing a successful $20 million capital campaign to accommodate this growth, securing contracts with provincial health systems to ensure comprehensive primary and specialist care for all CUPS, and expanding child development program to a two-generational model – aligned with current science – to ensure entire families are set up for long-term success. Because of her focus on reporting, CUPS began to develop program plans tied to demonstratable outcomes and put a data infrastructure in place that positioned CUPS to speak credibly about impact. A proud PEIslander, Carlene completed a degree in Psychology at home and later earned her MA of Education from the University of New Brunswick and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Among her other accolades, she’s trained in Coaching Skills and Change Management. Over the span of her career has worked to develop strategies surrounding the challenge of poverty for vulnerable citizens with every level of government, Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, the United Way’s Council of Champions, Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, and advisory