GPIAtlantic Annual Reports

Annual Report 2006 270K PDF

Annual Report 2005 332K PDF

Annual Report 2001 200K PDF

Annual Report 2000 336K PDF

Genuine Progress Index Atlantic Society By-Laws 80K PDF

2006 Annual Report

Executive Summary

In 2006, GPIAtlantic scaled back its work from the extremely busy and fast-paced previous year that included organizing a major international conference, and returned to dedicated research in order to focus on the completion of the remaining components of the Nova Scotia GPI and on its work for the Canadian Index of Wellbeing. Work proceeded throughout the year on several of the remaining GPI core components, including education, agriculture, debt, and sustainable transportation. A major report on Sustainable Transportation in Nova Scotia was released in November 2006, and final reports for the remaining components are all expected to be released in 2007. GPIAtlantic reports, materials, and results continue to be referenced regularly by the media, policy makers, and non-governmental organizations.

In 2006, GPIAtlantic continued to work with the Atkinson Charitable Foundation (ACF) and other partners on the development of the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (CIW). The CIW held two major events in 2006, a National Working Group meeting in June and a Working Conference in November. GPIAtlantic played a key role in preparing materials and research work for both of these events, in addition to providing ongoing leadership on the project as part of the Project Management Team and in its capacity as research director for the CIW.

Although most of its focus was on research in 2006, GPIAtlantic also began to move towards greater outreach and practical application of its work. It is playing a lead role in the development of the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative, in partnership with a number of other organizations, and increasing its focus on outreach and communication with members and supporters. These outreach activities include an expansion of membership and an increasing emphasis on fundraising from private donors as a way of diversifying the organization’s funding base.

There is a burgeoning interest in new indicators of wellbeing and sustainable development, both nationally and internationally, and our greatest challenge continues to be managing the increasing demand for our work. We continue to receive far more requests than we have the capacity to respond to, even though we do not market our work, respond to requests for proposals, or solicit new work – all of which could expand our reach further if we had the capacity to do so. This means that we presently have to make careful decisions in selecting projects and activities that contribute to our core goals. Expanding our capacity to meet the demand for the work we do remains our most substantial challenge – a challenge that we have not yet effectively met.

Strengthening and maintaining key organizational infrastructure is therefore an important part of ensuring that GPIAtlantic is able to continue to do its work, and possibly expand it. Going forward, we would like to continue to produce high-quality research, while also improving and expanding our communications and outreach work, and encouraging the practical application of our research to improving sustainability in Atlantic Canada and around the world. Whether or not it is possible to accomplish both these goals simultaneously is something we need to consider carefully during the coming year.