Lane Changer — Cathy Mann, finding the lane to Nova Scotia
Cathy Zooming back to Toronto
In her LinkedIn profile, Cathy Mann describes herself as a “No-nonsense fundraising expert.” It’s that approach that drew me to her when she did some consulting for a charity board I was on a decade+ ago. I’ve followed her since on social media so her website was the one I gravitated to when I sought out some fundraising advice in my current position. When I heard this long-time Toronto resident had relocated to Nova Scotia though, my lane-changing bells dinged loudly. Hers is the classic pandemic move story except, wait a sec — she’s not a millennial escaping Toronto to get into the real estate market. And nor does she identify as a digital nomad. Nope, she’s in her early 60s still serving the charitable sector where she’s been for more than 30 years. Let’s hear why Wolfville, Nova Scotia has all Cathy needs, after a lifetime in big cities.
Cathy Mann was born into an anglo working class family in east Montreal. She landed at Montreal’s Concordia University studying finance planning a career as a stock broker, but shortly after her graduation Black Monday, the market crash of October 1987, dashed her hopes. Her depression-era parents were delighted when she rebounded into a job as a branch manager trainee at the Royal Bank. They imagined Cathy having a 40-year career there. Cathy, however, found the constraints of working in a large institution soul-sucking. Before long, she abandoned banking for the charitable sector, her professional home since. I spot a lane change!
She first spent a little time working for the camp where she’d been a counsellor as a teenager, and then served for a year as the executive director of a child care facility in Nova Scotia. There she was exposed to fundraising, although, like many of us in the sector, she just muddled along. It was also when Cathy first fell in love with Nova Scotia, foreshadowing the permanent geographic move she’d make 35 years later.
Cathy’s self-image included having a graduate degree so her next move was to Ottawa where she enrolled in a Masters in Public Administration. After she moved, though, she reflected on her bank experience — was she really suited to the large institution work of a public administrator? She withdrew from the program before she started but stayed in Ottawa, convincing her employer that instead of the PR work they’d hired her for, they really needed her to be their fundraiser. ‘No-nonsense’ with a heavy dose of the persuasiveness necessary for fundraising.
By 2002, Cathy had moved to Toronto. She spent five years as Executive Director of Frontier College, now named United for Literacy. In 2007, though, she started the business she still runs, Fundraising Lab, coaching organizations to increase their coffers with her consulting, improved databases, grant-writing support, and online courses. Cathy also spent 15 years teaching fundraising at Toronto Metropolitan University, including a decade as the academic co-ordinator of the fundraising management certificate program.
Not content to just teach and coach, at age 51, Cathy completed a Masters in Philanthropy at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. I dare say by then, Cathy might have taught in the program, but I respect the need to round out the CV with that second degree. Lifelong learning - another classic trait of a lane changer.
The great shift to remote working in 2020 allowed Cathy to make a move to Halifax with her then-partner. The marriage ended not long after the move but being on the east coast had always been Cathy’s dream. There was no question she was staying. She moved to Wolfville, an hour out of the city.
As a university town, Wolfville has more delights than you’d generally expect of a centre of just 5,000 people. Cathy reports that great sushi and other good restaurants, funky coffee shops, a movie theatre (albeit only open a few nights weekly), great live entertainment and sports all meet her urban needs. She’s happy though that those features are accompanied by things that can’t be found in Toronto. She walks her dog every morning on the beach, just 10 minutes by car from her house. Ten minutes in the other direction, she can hike in the rolling hills. She knows she will never be stopped in traffic or struggle to find parking. Having a dog and an outgoing personality helped establish herself socially as a new singleton in a small town. She laughs when she reports that some long-time Wolfville residents met each other for the first time through her! Before long, Cathy surprised herself by falling in love again. Her new girlfriend moved to Wolfville too. Living four doors apart, together they’ve developed an all-aged crew of independent raucous women to hang with; it’s no surprise to me that Cathy adds to the raucosity (her apt word)!
She’s reflected on whether Wolfville’s small-townishness would have suited her earlier in her life. She thinks not — that as a younger woman, she appreciated the anonymity of a larger centre. I liken her experience to mine in Weston where I’m greeted by name routinely in a way that would have horrified me not many years ago. She totally gets it. What’s given Cathy Mann the guts to make lane changes like moving 1,800 kms east and begin again socially in her 50s? She credits her mother with raising strong independent women. Playing rugby for 20 years with other badasses boosted her confidence and her feminism too and showed her how to play outside the conventional rules.
Does Mann have any regrets? Well, she should likely have studied accounting instead of finance but that’s a minor one - she ended up professionally where she needed to be. She might have started therapy or found mentors sooner too, but like most of our generation, figured she wasn’t entitled to ask for help. She sorted things out on her own.
Truth is, Cathy Mann loves the work she’s doing now, sharing with her clients the wisdom and strategy that comes from decades of experience. Being in her 60s gives her the confidence to be honest with clients too — remember, she’s no-nonsense. That said, when she retires one day, she’ll enjoy spending a bit more time in the garden or mastering the ukulele. But she’s got another thirty years for that!
Missed previous Lane Changer profiles?
Peter Chandler, how it all began for me
Cathy Crowe, her lane is the street
Marissa Bastidas, same lane, new direction
Pam Hudak, living on a multi-lane highway
Jennifer, crossing lanes from Phuket to pup-minderEmma Simpson, from taxiway to writing terminal
Jessica Waraich, changing lanes on the career on-ramp
Michelle Simmons, straddling two lanes in her mid-40s
Sybil Chandler (1928-2025), proud to find life’s off-ramp
Faiv Noelle, solo on a global highway
Karly Wilson, waiting aside life’s highway for the next lane
Marya Williams, when life’s lanes bring you full circle
Carolyn Whitzman, lanes inspired by mother and grandmotherValerie Groves, when the lane is bordered by perennials and pollinatorsElana Harte, Changing lanes on the “Being of Service” Highway
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