CanadaHelps is a public foundation advancing philanthropy through technology.
For Canadians, it powers CanadaHelps.org and UniteforChange.com, where Canadians can easily and securely learn and support the charities or causes they care about.
For charities, CanadaHelps develops affordable fundraising technology used by more than 26,000 charities, and free training and education so that, regardless of size, all charities have the capacity to increase their impact and succeed in the digital age.
Since 2000, more than 3.5 million people have given over $2.2 billion through CanadaHelps.
Mastercard Changeworks™ is a social-impact program that helps Canada’s not-for-profits harness the power of technology and data to create positive change.
Our mission is to support Canadian not-for-profits – and the individuals and communities they serve – by helping them improve their technology and data capabilities through Mastercard Changeworks.
Designed with three program pillars: grants and partnerships, hackathons and datathons, and employee volunteer programs, Mastercard Changeworks focuses on supporting Indigenous and Immigrant/Newcomer entrepreneurs; a segment of the business community that continues to face significant challenges.
Skills for Change is known for pioneering programs for nearly 40 years, has played a major role in uplifting equity-seeking communities, and offers 25+ programs and services, and annually serves 20,000 people.
COVID thrust our organization into digital services, so we’re excited to go through this program to learn how to navigate digital transformation effectively and understand how we can leverage data insights to address digital equity in our service offerings.
SAMPADA KUKADE DIRECTOR, EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT &
PARTNERSHIPS, AND PROGRAM MARKETING
The Centre for Immigrant Settlement and Integration (CISI) supports newly landed immigrants and all immigrant communities in their process of settlement, adaptation and integration into Canadian society.
We are excited about what we are going to learn and how it is going to help us. Being a new charity, we have the challenge of spreading the word about our services. If we have a digital presence we can reach more people and impact a lot more immigrants who can benefit from our services.
FATIMATOU WEFUAN OFFICE MANAGER
Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) builds bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, businesses, and communities, promoting progressive and prosperous relationships, and growing a new economy based on mutual respect and shared prosperity.
We’ve grown rapidly in the last two years, while also adapting to the change of the pandemic. We’re looking forward to expanding our fundraising program to reach individual donors, and having the tools to steward all our generous supporters well, while also tackling our operational systems to support more efficient remote work.
Kathryn Wash Director, Human Resources & Operations
Pow Wow Pitch is a grassroots community of Indigenous entrepreneurs across Turtle Island, purpose-built to provide a safe, collaborative, supportive and empowering platform for inspiration, education, mentorship, celebration, and reconciliation through entrepreneurship.
We run an intentionally lean organization supported by a network of Indigenous entrepreneurs and artists, and dedicated volunteers. We are excited to leverage technology that will reduce manual work, improve the experience for the entrepreneurs we work with, and free up more resources that we can put towards our programs.
Sunshine Tenasco Founder
Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society (TWHLS) is an Indigenous-led charity dedicated to ending the over-incarceration of Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ women. TWHLS believes the best way to reduce the number of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women in Canada’s jails and break the cycle of systemic racism that fuels intergenerational trauma is to increase opportunities for Indigenous women to thrive.
In the past two years, TWHLS has had to grow its operations quickly to provide programs and services against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. This has strained our capacity and resources to strategically plan our technology infrastructure and information management processes. We’re excited that this program will support our team in building new skills that leverage technology, make our fundraising efforts more effective, and ultimately help us achieve our mission.
Patti Pettigrew Founder and Executive Director
YES Employment + Entrepreneurship offers comprehensive English language services to job-seekers, entrepreneurs and artists in Quebec, guiding their clients in developing personalized career or business strategies, and equipping them with the skills and confidence they need to achieve their career and business objectives.
As a charity you have to stretch every dollar and there is a lot of potential with digital to do that. Since we don’t always have the budget to do everything, we’re looking for support in prioritization and highlighting areas to invest in for our future.
KATHY SLOTSVE DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Startup Canada is the gateway to Canada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. We’re here to connect entrepreneurs with the support, community, and tools they need to build a successful business in Canada.
We’re at the stage where we need to put systems in place to set our organization up for success and support scaling and growth. We have strong foundations in place and are looking forward to learning how we can improve our digital transformation process moving forward.
Kristal Falea, Managing Director
Enactus Canada is shaping a generation of entrepreneurial leaders passionate about advancing the economic, social and environmental health of Canada. Guided by academic advisors and business experts, the student leaders create and implement community empowerment projects and business ventures in communities coast-to-coast.
We are challenged by using multiple tools across the organization that aren’t integrated, which makes effective reporting and stewardship difficult. We’re excited that this program will help us prioritize our digital transformation efforts, and upskill our staff so we can achieve greater impact.
Cody de Leijer Director, Programs
Indigenous Perspectives Society (IPS) offers specialized training programs and services supporting Indigenous children, youth, families and businesses. IPS also provides consulting services strongly grounded in Indigenous worldviews.
As a small organization, staff capacity is always stretched. We’re excited for additional supports to help our amazing team evolve our programs, streamline our tools, and establish strong data management practices to help us better learn from our activities and report on our impact.
Rachelle Dallaire Executive Director
Rise is a national charity dedicated to empowering Canadians with mental health and addiction challenges to achieve greater social and economic inclusion through entrepreneurship training, small business loans, mentorship and custom supports.
We’re a small marketing team with minimal resources to increase capacity to grow our work to the next level. We’re looking forward to expanding our skills in digital marketing so we can reach more future entrepreneurs and finding ways to make our processes more efficient so we can redirect resources.
Erin Burgess Manager, Development
& Communications
The Kw’umut Lelum Foundation is led and stewarded by nine Coast Salish Nations, which have a shared purpose and vision for children and communities. It is the only independent Indigenous-led community foundation in British Columbia, and one of three in the country. They work to expand cultural, economic, social, educational and recreational access in support of Indigenous children and their families.
As a young organization, we are at the beginning of evaluating how digital tools and processes can support our work. We’re excited to work with the Charity Growth Academy team to build the foundations of a digital transformation strategy.
Sharon Hobenshield Executive Director