Innoweave moves to MakeWay to grow, transform, and support capacity strengthening across the charitable and nonprofit sector

We are pleased to announce that after 12 years in operation at the McConnell Foundation, Innoweave has moved to MakeWay Foundation. The move signals a new chapter for Innoweave and an opportunity to evolve and provide more capacity strengthening support for the charitable and nonprofit sector.  

Innoweave has contributed over $8 million in capacity strengthening support to social purpose organizations across the country, by providing access to coaching so that organizations can learn and implement approaches that will help them clarify and achieve their desired outcomes. Through 900+ coaching engagements, Innoweave has helped hundreds of Canadian non-profits and charities refine their strategic impact goals, enhance organizational performance, prepare to receive impact investments, and collaborate towards collective impact.

Since its beginnings, Innoweave has continuously shifted to meet the changing needs of charities and nonprofits. With demand for capacity strengthening support at an all-time high, Innoweave is transforming again. The transition builds on a longstanding collaboration between McConnell and MakeWay over the past decade and deep mission and values alignment. With its focus on providing operational and strategic support to partners, as well as its commitment to supporting projects through its shared platform, MakeWay is a natural fit for Innoweave’s next stage of growth.   

Over the past two decades, MakeWay has been part of transformative community-led change. Working towards a world where nature and communities thrive together, MakeWay has developed a unique array of tools, expertise, and resources to support community visions for change at the intersection of social justice, economic, cultural, and ecological wellbeing. MakeWay is committed to fostering a more equitable, resilient, and impactful charitable sector by empowering changemakers with the support and solidarity they need to flourish. Joining MakeWay will allow Innoweave to grow and evolve, building on over a decade of experience to meet the needs of today’s nonprofit and charitable sector.

 “This sector plays a crucial role in responding to society’s most pressing challenges, and the demands on organizations have never been greater,” said Joanna Kerr, MakeWay President and CEO. “MakeWay and McConnell recognize the urgent need to support sector capacity strengthening and invest in the well-being of the people driving social and environmental change. MakeWay is excited to build on Innoweave’s experience and legacy while it was housed at McConnell. We hope to ignite an even more transformative program that aligns with MakeWay’s commitment to justice, uplifts community leadership, promotes healthy organizational cultures, and provides spaces for healing.”

“The social sector is the cornerstone of a caring society and plays a pivotal role in creating positive social and environmental change in Canada. Innoweave’s transition to MakeWay represents an exciting opportunity to strengthen the capacity of the non-profit and charitable sector,” says Lili-Anna Pereša, President and CEO of the McConnell Foundation. “By combining Innoweave’s rich history of supporting social purpose organizations with MakeWay’s commitment to empowering changemakers, we are confident that this new partnership will help to usher in transformative impact for Canada’s charitable and non-profit sector and will nurture the seeds of lasting change.”

Given the unprecedented and challenging context in which changemakers are having to lead, supports are needed across the sector more than ever. MakeWay will be seeking additional funder partnerships for this critical capacity-strengthening work, supporting Innoweave as it adapts and grows to foster resilient organizations capable of achieving meaningful and sustainable impact.

Innoweave coaching engagements currently underway will continue through the transition phase and applications for new funding will be available in 2024. To learn more about funding opportunities, we invite you to reach visit the Innoweave website or to reach out to a member of the team

Questions and Answers

What is Innoweave?

Since its launch in 2011, Innoweave has contributed over $8 million in capacity strengthening support to social purpose organizations across the country. By providing access to coaching, Innoweave supports social purpose leaders to learn and implement approaches that will help them clarify and achieve their mission. Through 900+ coaching engagements, Innoweave has helped hundreds of initiatives refine their strategic impact goals, enhance organizational performance, prepare to receive impact investments, and collaborate towards collective impact.  

How does Innoweave align with MakeWay’s mission and strategic priorities?

Given MakeWay’s role in grantmaking and hosting the Shared Platform, we are only too aware of the challenges that changemakers face. We recognize the need for sector-wide capacity strengthening in order to be more strategic, to develop financial resilience, and enable thriving models that are inclusive and future-proofed, or able to manage growth and transformation.  

The world is currently in a state of uncertainty and crisis, paralleled by a groundswell of remarkable community-driven efforts for a healthy planet and a just society. In this extreme volatility, many leaders are burning out or just hanging on. MakeWay is well positioned to invest in and support the people doing this crucial work and to create spaces and opportunities for more diversity in leadership. We know that the equitable charitable sector that we strive for is not possible without investment in the people doing the work.  

Will MakeWay update or change the current coaching streams offered by Innoweave?

As Innoweave moves into its new home at MakeWay, the program is entering an exciting phase of learning and testing for the next one to two years. This will include collective reflections on how to improve and transform the program to better support different communities. In particular, we will be leaning into justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) work and centering MakeWay’s commitment to Indigenous leadership. This may involve shifting current coaching streams, providing different pilot offerings, and creating new models that align with MakeWay’s strategic priority areas.  

How can my organization access Innoweave’s support and services?

We encourage all those interested in accessing support to learn more about Innoweave’s approach on the program’s website: https://innoweave.ca/. 

When will Innoweave start accepting applications for funding again?

We will begin funding projects again in 2024 and will share details as we move forward in our upcoming communications. Subscribe to Innoweave’s newsletter to receive updates on the application timeline and process.  

How can funders support Innoweave’s work?

The need for capacity strengthening supports is at an all-time high. MakeWay will be seeking funding partnerships to bolster this critical work, and we encourage anyone interested in supporting the next phase of Innoweave to get in touch.