In this episode, Mary Ellen Schaasfma, Director and Co-Founder of the Social Purpose Institute (SPI) at United Way BC, shares the concept of businesses having a social purpose as their reason for being, beyond profit. Over the last 5 years, SPI has been piloting programming to help businesses determine and implement their social purpose, in an effort to create a movement of businesses for good.      While it’s more often that businesses support charities, Mary Ellen explains how it...

In this episode, Lynn Fergusson and Sally Fazal, Partners at SIA, share their thoughts on the first annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.   The day is a federal statutory holiday in Canada, and SIA is also recognizing it as a day for reflection and learning.   To quote our federal government’s announcement: “The day honours the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful...

In this episode, Mojdeh Cox, Executive Director of London, Ontario’s Pillar Nonprofit Network, shares a new lens she is bringing to the organization:  radical accountability. She believes the organization (and everyone) needs to first look at ourselves, and hold ourselves accountable for our roles in today’s hot issues including systemic discrimination, reconciliation, and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).  She shares that we also need to take a hard look at the nonprofit or social...

Lee St. James founded Social Robots to apply her tech background to a social issue, close to home.  Not able to spend as much time with her father while seeing the effects of social isolation, she took action. Through this social enterprise, and with help from an Investment Readiness Program grant from the Community Foundations of Canada, through the Oakville Community Foundation, Lee is piloting the use of a friendly robot, complete with a tablet for interactive apps and photos, to engage...

In this episode, Trevor McAlmont, Executive Director of the Macaulay Child Development Centre, shares the importance of providing affordable, universal child care to change the system in Ontario, and Canada. While directly serving 7000 children and 6000 parents through the multi-service agency, Trevor also invests in areas to strengthen the outcomes for these clients.  He sees a need for nonprofits to be able to pivot to address emergency needs, as they did in providing food to their...

Kara Peck, Senior Director, Strategy + Partnerships, B Lab US & Canada shares their journey to strategic clarity for their organization and for making a real difference in the world.  Leveraging a time of organizational and societal change, they have developed a Theory of Change, creating alignment around a new focus for the B Corp-certifying nonprofit, to support the business sector in taking collective action towards addressing racial equity, climate justice and stakeholder...

In this episode, Sally speaks with Alexandra Hoeck Murray, the new Executive Director of Community Living Oakville (CLO). Alexandra talks about the impact the organization and larger community is making in the lives of people with developmental disabilities.   In our conversation, Alexandra talks about when the COVID crisis first started and how CLO addressed the potential isolation and disruption that the shutdown of their day services and central building could have caused, and how...

We are happy to be sharing a podcast from an initiative whose work we admire. Together Project, on the MakeWay shared platform, connects refugee and immigrant newcomers and Canadians to build stronger, more integrated communities.  Their podcast is gathering and sharing the stories of newcomers they serve.     In this episode, Joudy, a young refugee woman from Syria, speaks with Natasha at Together Project about her experience coming to Canada as a young newcomer, continuing...

Our guests in this episode are Anna Hill and Andrew Lusztyk, co-directors and founders at Together Project, a charitable initiative on the Makeway Shared Platform.     Together Project connects refugee newcomers and Canadians to build stronger, more integrated communities. Together Project is founded on the simple idea that social networks are an important factor for integration.    We first spoke with Together Project back in 2019, about their strategy and goals for impact in...

In this engaging conversation, Dr. Joseph Smith shares his expertise and passion for equity and inclusion and the emotional intelligence needed for productive conversations between people of diverse backgrounds. He talks about the work underway to close the gap in philanthropy in Canada, in which the needs and assets of Black Communities have been overlooked.     Dr. Smith is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Generation Chosen which focuses on Mental health and Emotional...

Our guest today is Andrea Nemtin, Executive Director of SI Canada. Sally and Andrea talk about what Social Innovation is, the history of the field in Canada, and how Social Innovation Canada (SI Canada) came to be.  Andrea talks about the priorities of the organization as our country emerges from COVID, and how solutions to the complex challenges of social justice and climate change can be catalyzed and aligned through education, intentional networking at local and national levels across...

Having been a refugee himself as a youth, Leo shares how he has taken his own experience and created an organization to support youth to ensure they can navigate the Canadian system for educational success, to lay the foundation for life’s success.  We hear about Empowerment Squared’swork with Hamilton youth, and importantly, their parents or caregivers. We learn of the effects of COVID-19 on their work, and how they’ve pivoted and are now serving many more people, and in a broader way,...

Court Desautels, CEO of the Neighbourhood Group of Companies, shares how his restaurants operate differently.  They have health and wellness programs, including paid health benefits and education supports. They interview and listen to their employees to see what they need and how they can help.  They empower the employees to decide which local charitable organizations to support.  They sold gift cards during COVID and gave all the proceeds to their employees, allocated by an employee team. ...

This podcast shares the findings and experience of following a Collective Impact process for the Rural Ottawa Youth Mental Health Collective, led by Nicole McKerracher, Executive Director of O-YA, a youth association in a rural Ottawa village. We’re joined by Emily Dozois, a youth with personal experience trying to access mental health services in rural Ottawa, and Evaluations Coordinator for the Collective.  In particular, we hear the actionable findings from their survey of over 300 rural...

Tim shares insights into Socially Responsible Investing – about people looking to do less evil and perhaps more good with their investments. Even more importantly, we look beyond that, to his business model aimed at helping one million Canadians invest intentionally, because of the difference he sees that will make in the world.  He’s creating a movement and shares how he’ll accomplish this,based on his Theory of Change or Change Theory.  This approach has Tim acting as a coach, helping...

This podcast is two-fold.  We have the pleasure of hearing from Astrid Hepner about the great work of the Hamilton Music Collective, where, modeled after a proven program in Germany, 6000 under-served Hamilton school children are exposed to playing musical instruments, and all the related skills, pride and self-esteem that brings. We also hear from Carl Joose, representing the next generation of the John & Ellie Voortman Charitable Foundation, and also a board member on the Hamilton...

As a social enterprise, we’ll hear how and why Plato Testing was created and the impact it was looking to have, intentionally setting a bold target for the number of Indigenous software testers they would create and leverage in Canada.    We hear now, five years later, how the planned impact is becoming a reality.  We’ll hear about the partners they are working with, in post-secondary institutions and Indigenous training centres, and corporate partners who share in their mission and look...

The Black Social Services Sector, as Agapi describes it, isn’t getting the attention it needs.  The CEE (Careers, Education, Empowerment) Centre for Young Black Professionals is taking that on.  Hear how they are supporting 3B organizations – that’s Black-focused, Black-led (including Board representation), and Black-serving organizations, including many that are not registered charities.    In addition to supporting the sector, CEE provides direct programming, targeting particular...

As someone with lived experience, and as a person of mixed colour, Sonia brings a unique perspective to addressing eating disorders as a mental health issue, raising up the voices of people with lived experience and seeking more equitable access and support.      Sonia explains the issues and challenges facing people living with eating disorders , particularly through a pandemic that creates additional stress. She also shares some of the solutions developed by the national Body Peace...

The GenWell Project is a Canadian organization dedicated to making the world a healthier and happier place by educating people about the importance of proactive face to face social connection and inspiring them to take action. We're going to hear a lot more about that from Founder, Pete Bombaci. After a successful career in the beverage industry, and then leading Movember Canada, Pete is now focusing on the rollout of this passion project.      You're going to hear about human...

As the co-owner and Community Manager for the Ian Martin Group, Kate Masson works to establish a community of belonging and shared accountability for staff through a self-managed operating system and a genuine spirit of care for those in the organization. You're going to get a sense of that in this conversation. We're focused here not on the staffing organization, the work of Ian Martin Group as a B Corp, but on their foundation. They have been intentional in creating a foundation. The...

In this episode, Social Impact Advisors Partner Lynn Fergusson interviews representatives of the Toronto Child & Family Network.    Kelley Baldwin provides backbone support to the Toronto Child and Family Network, a network of about 100 organizations.  Tamara Augsten, who’s had a lead role in developing the Network’s Raising the Village initiative shares the value of this database. This initiative has pulled together data from various partners’ sources, such as EQAO standardized...

As co-founder and CEO of Foundations for Social Change, Claire Elizabeth Williams is getting global acclaim for North America's first direct giving project with people experiencing homelessness.  Direct giving project, as in giving a lump sum of cash directly to people experiencing homelessness. We hear about their innovative project, the New Leaf Project, and its key success factors, including:  the ability to be innovative  forming partnerships  conducting the research - the proof...

Sadia and her small but mighty team at Inspirit Foundation are focused on shifting Canada to having more inclusive and equitable media and arts, impact investing, and philanthropy sectors.      With a background in journalism, it should be no surprise that Sadia shares the power of storytelling to make change, and Inspirit follows through, providing platforms for voices to be heard, including through the Narrative Change Lab, particularly raising Muslim and Indigenous voices.    ...

It’s evident in this conversation that Melissa is a strong proponent of a non-profit having a Theory of Change – having a clear objective and a road map to get there. She shares with us Canada Learning Code’s significant but achievable goal, and their journey of developing and living into a Theory of Change to deliver on that goal.  It has continued to be their guide through a re-branding and the unprecedented times presented by COVID-19. You’ll hear how the Theory of Change has rigourously...