Cathy Denyer, the current president of Big Brothers and Big Sisters Toronto, a mentorship program for youth, has been working in the not-for-profit sector for a number of years.  She has always had an interest in this area.  With a background in criminology and sociology, Cathy has worked in a variety of different organizations dealing with young people and families, including York Region’s Pathways to Children, Youth and Family.  She joined Big Brothers and Big Sisters as Executive Director and spent 13 years in the position prior to becoming president two years ago.

As president, Cathy’s role is to represent the organization internally and externally, manage day-to-day activities and responsible for overall management and leadership of the organization. Over the past two years, Cathy has helped Big Brothers and Big Sisters grow and expanded its reach to more kids across the city.  While her career is very challenging and demanding, she manages to have a good work-life balance.  Cathy is married, and has two kids and two stepchildren. Three out of these four kids (now grown) were involved with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, either in high school or university.  In fact, her son had over 500 hours of community service!

Cathy on what makes Big Brothers and Big Sisters different from other mentorship programs:

We’re one of the oldest organizations out there.  We have over 100 years of experience, and have been recognized as being leaders in mentoring.

On Big Brothers and Big Sisters and volunteerism:

Volunteering is very important, especially with an organization like Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  Even though we have over 1,200 volunteers in the Toronto organization alone, we are always looking for more.  There are a lot of kids who need mentors, but not enough mentors for them.  Our waiting list is long.

Tips for people who want to work in the non-profit sector:

An education is necessary, of course, as with any career, as is research.  You want to find out exactly what you want to do – the sector’s big and there are many different types of organizations.  Of course, you should also get hands on experience by volunteering as well.