Wow, time flies. It has been two decades since this organization began as a scrappy environmental non-profit working on conservation in the Great Bear Rainforest. Given that we can’t get together to dance and share stories of old times, we thought we would share 20 reasons to celebrate (because we all need some good news these days):
1. Back in 2000, Tides Canada (now MakeWay!) was born when a small group of caring and daring philanthropists including Carol Newell, asked “how can we bring more capital to tackle pressing environmental and social problems in Canada?”
2. Over the last 10 years, 59% of our funding in the Pacific region went to Indigenous-led initiatives, totalling over $29.2 million in grants to further people and place, thriving together.
3. We’re growing up—from a few staff in Vancouver to a team of 60 Foundation staff in Victoria, Metro Vancouver, Squamish, Roberts Creek, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Iqaluit, the Greater Toronto Area, Saguenay, Ottawa, and beyond, and another 215 staff on MakeWay’s shared platform in communities from coast to coast to coast.
4. Recently, staff told our People & Culture teammates that their favourite thing about working at MakeWay is their connection to the vision and mission of helping to support nature and communities thriving together.
5. After the demands (oodles of paperwork, thousands of hours) of two multi-year CRA audits, we passed with two gold stars!
6. Five core values root us in a sense of PLACE: Partnership, Listening, Action, Courage, and Equity.
7. Four amazing Indigenous northern women (and Steve ?) lead MakeWay’s programmatic work in the North, living with and building trusted relationships with a diversity of communities and organizations across the three Canadian territories and the Inuit regions.
8. Diverse forms of government across Canada hold partnerships with MakeWay including municipal, provincial, federal, First Nations, Inuit, and Metis governments.
9. In 2017, an incredible woman, Toni Frisby, passed away, leaving a generous – and surprise – legacy gift to MakeWay in her estate. In life, Toni was dedicated to environmental protection in BC, and she saw the value in bringing people together for a common cause. We were inspired by her belief in our work, and strive to make her proud.
10. We have pet-friendly offices: perhaps you’ve seen our Vancouver pup, Dave, on our Instagram? Dave is often the first MakeWay team member to “vet” interviewees.
11. We joined the open data movement and proudly publish our grants quarterly as part of our commitment to transparency and sector innovation.
12. We piloted the shared platform model in Canada which has caught on as a cool and effective way to increase access for amazing changemakers to the charitable sector.
13. Over 150 changemaking initiatives have joined the family on MakeWay’s shared platform since its inception in 2000.
14. Our closest partners, staff, and board said that MakeWay is both “reliable and successful,” and “daring and imaginative.” Both a dynamic tension and a sweet spot we are happy to hold.
15. We’re the backbone home to five amazing funding Collaboratives in the Arctic, Northern Manitoba, and Ontario.
16. Canada’s first 100% customizable impact donor-advised fund to be invested for impact was launched by MakeWay in 2018 to bring charitable giving and impact investing together in one fund for more impact.
17. We were one of the very first organizations to move all of our investments to a fossil-fuel-free portfolio, invested with ESG (the latest environmental, social, and governance criteria) since 2006.
18. Our notorious claim-to-fame is that Alberta’s Premier Jason Kenney once called us a “pig in lipstick” … we don’t really get it either.
19. The partners and communities we work with have incredible stories to tell – and they are just getting going. Here are just a few.
20. In our 20th year, we changed our name from Tides Canada to MakeWay – an invigorating call to action, our new name invites us to all to work together and make way for what’s possible.
