McConnell started its journey of impact investing in 2007 when we made a $10 million bridge loan to finance part of the construction of Quest University. The loan was repaid in full with interest in 2009. This was an important milestone for us. The experience of making a direct investment in a grantee and making […]
Learn moreProsper Canada is a national charity dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovation. One of our biggest problems in Canada is we can’t always see — or understand — what’s going on in the financial lives of Canadians. This is partly because some Canadians don’t file taxes, […]
Learn morePLUS1 partners with live events to mobilize support for positive social change. Matching artists with impactful organizations, PLUS1 adds $1 to each ticket sold and gives away 100% of the money raised to the chosen causes. The mobilizing tagline for PLUS1 is “compassion is contagious.” The charity was founded by musician Marika Anthony-Shaw, who toured […]
Learn moreSKETCH, based in Toronto, is a community arts enterprise engaging diverse young people, ages 16-29, who navigate poverty, or live homeless or on the margins. The ultimate goals are to transform lives and communities. The work of SKETCH straddles several complex systems — health, education, employment, social services and community development. The promise of the […]
Learn moreThe McConnell Foundation and Community Foundations of Canada, brought together a group of stakeholders working at the intersection of public interest journalism and democracy to build relationships, deepen collective understanding of the connections between a healthy democracy and public interest journalism, and to explore potential interventions across sectors
Learn moreMeet-up 2: Reflections from a Toronto Horizon April 2-3, 2019 These turbulent times require that we rethink our assumptions – about our economies, our relationships with large corporations, public institutions, governments, nature, and with each other as citizens, as people, building society together. It requires the best in us, individually and collectively. During the coming […]
Learn moreCould a network of regulatory experimentation labs in cities build legitimacy and shape inclusive innovation toward a great transition? The societal crises of ecological collapse and inequality require bold collective action. Yet the foundations of collective action are shaking; trust in government and institutions has eroded. It is at the scale of cities and communities […]
Learn moreEtuaptmumk is the Mi’kmaw word for Two-Eyed Seeing. This phrase, made popular by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, refers to “learning to see from one eye with the best in the Indigenous ways of knowing and from the other eye with the best in the mainstream ways of knowing, and most importantly, learning to see with […]
Learn moreMcConnell is traditionally viewed as an Anglophone foundation, but as we deepen our engagement with French communities across Canada, we are learning how to improve our communication in our second language – French. We were recently sensitized to the changing norms of the language and realized that our existing practices needed to evolve. We conducted […]
Learn moreMcConnell is traditionally viewed as an Anglophone foundation, but as we deepen our engagement with French communities across Canada, we are learning how to improve our communication in our second language. We were recently sensitized to the changing norms of the language and realized that our existing practices needed to evolve. We conducted research into […]
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