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Twenty years ago, Free The Children was launched by a group of 12-year-olds from the living room of Craig Kielburger’s home north of Toronto.
The tiny charity quickly earned a reputation for its ability to rally opposition to big companies such as Nike that at the time countenanced child labour. Free The Children has since evolved into one of Canada’s best-known charitable brands while forging strong partnerships with select companies to drive its growth. It is but one measure of how far the charity has travelled: Today, Free The Children has a list of corporate sponsors that is the envy of the charitable world.
Free The Children co-founder Craig Keilburger was in Ottawa this week for We Day, a stadium-sized celebration of young volunteers. He sat down with the Citizen to discuss the charity’s approach. Here’s an edited transcript of the conversation.
Q Let’s start with the news. Free The Children announced last month that it had received a $15 million gift from Winnipeg businessman Hartley Richardson, the Richardson Foundation, and Keg Restaurants CEO David Aisenstat. What will that mean for the charity?
A It’s a game changer for us.
Q How so?
A. About 18 months ago, our board of directors started a process as we were approaching our 20th anniversary. We asked: What do we want to accomplish in the next five, 10, 20 years? One of our goals is to make service learning part of the educational experience for every kid in Canada so that they develop life skills while contributing to their communities. We’re now in 10,000 schools. We want to reach 25,000 schools in the next five years, with a special focus on reaching aboriginal Canadians and new Canadians.
But we don’t just want to significantly increase the number of schools we serve: We also want to increase the quality of what we deliver. So how do we do that while controlling costs? That’s where technology comes in. The landmark gift we received will allow us to create the Global Learning Centre, a place where we will have an entire floor dedicated to virtual communications. We’ll have global classrooms where our staff can engage on screen with schools and students anywhere in the world.
The centre will also provide space for young people who want to incubate their own charities or social enterprises. So they’ll have the space we wish we had when we were kids — and someone to mentor them on their journeys.
Q In its formative stages, Free The Children was known for poking big corporations with a sharp stick. What’s changed?
A. It’s telling the companies that we have partnered with as much as the ones that we haven’t. We’re still very much the same people we were 20 years ago. I make my own shopping choices very carefully all these years later: Fair trade and ethical production are very important to me, and it’s why we partner with a company like Staples to retail handmade items made by women in East Africa.
I believe at the end of the day, aid alone will never end poverty: we need trade, we need business, we need economic empowerment. That’s why I think it’s just as important to talk about aid and international development at We Day as it is to talk about fair trade, ethical manufacturing and responsible sourcing. Because most Canadians will spend vastly more in stores than they’ll ever give to charity. So how do we unlock that potential for good? How do we ensure that their spending is ethical and responsible?
Q That’s part of Free The Children’s mission?
A I think our mission over the years has grown. We try to empower people to better the world: We want to offer simple, successful ways for ordinary individuals to make a difference.
Q Free The Children now works with some of the biggest companies in Canada: RBC, Telus, Ford, PotashCorp. Internationally, there’s Unilever, Virgin, Allstate, Boeing. What do those partnerships afford the charity?
A I think there’s an old model of charity and a new one. The old one is resource intensive, and it competes with other charities for donors. We use a new model: We don’t use street canvassers; we don’t do telemarketers; we don’t do mass mailings.
I think under the new model, charity, social enterprise and business can have a beneficial relationship that produces social good as long as it’s done in a meaningful and authentic way. We use the market and partner with companies to dramatically reduce our fundraising costs while leveraging their infrastructure.
I’ll use RBC as an example. We do a massive coin drive to support our international work. But we only have three offices in Canada, and there’s no way we could collect all those coins. So we’ve partnered with RBC: A kid can walk into any RBC branch and drop off their coins, and RBC will process all of those coins for us at no cost. Or Telus. We developed a We365 app together so that kids can track their impact online.
Q How do the companies benefit?
A I think consumers are rewarding companies that are doing good.
Q How do you choose the companies to work with?
A We need to find companies that are socially responsible, that have a cause they care about, and figure out how we can best work together. Dollars are part of it, of course, because we’re a charity and we need funding. The best partnerships also get employees involved because it takes 12,000 volunteers to make We Day happen every year in Canada. We need an army — and we can’t afford to pay. That’s what the partnerships offer us. It also means that We Days are free because otherwise a lot of kids couldn’t afford to go.
— Andrew Duffy worked for Free The Children as a researcher and writer during a sabbatical from the Citizen in 2013.
查看原文...
The tiny charity quickly earned a reputation for its ability to rally opposition to big companies such as Nike that at the time countenanced child labour. Free The Children has since evolved into one of Canada’s best-known charitable brands while forging strong partnerships with select companies to drive its growth. It is but one measure of how far the charity has travelled: Today, Free The Children has a list of corporate sponsors that is the envy of the charitable world.
Free The Children co-founder Craig Keilburger was in Ottawa this week for We Day, a stadium-sized celebration of young volunteers. He sat down with the Citizen to discuss the charity’s approach. Here’s an edited transcript of the conversation.
Q Let’s start with the news. Free The Children announced last month that it had received a $15 million gift from Winnipeg businessman Hartley Richardson, the Richardson Foundation, and Keg Restaurants CEO David Aisenstat. What will that mean for the charity?
A It’s a game changer for us.
Q How so?
A. About 18 months ago, our board of directors started a process as we were approaching our 20th anniversary. We asked: What do we want to accomplish in the next five, 10, 20 years? One of our goals is to make service learning part of the educational experience for every kid in Canada so that they develop life skills while contributing to their communities. We’re now in 10,000 schools. We want to reach 25,000 schools in the next five years, with a special focus on reaching aboriginal Canadians and new Canadians.
But we don’t just want to significantly increase the number of schools we serve: We also want to increase the quality of what we deliver. So how do we do that while controlling costs? That’s where technology comes in. The landmark gift we received will allow us to create the Global Learning Centre, a place where we will have an entire floor dedicated to virtual communications. We’ll have global classrooms where our staff can engage on screen with schools and students anywhere in the world.
The centre will also provide space for young people who want to incubate their own charities or social enterprises. So they’ll have the space we wish we had when we were kids — and someone to mentor them on their journeys.
Q In its formative stages, Free The Children was known for poking big corporations with a sharp stick. What’s changed?
A. It’s telling the companies that we have partnered with as much as the ones that we haven’t. We’re still very much the same people we were 20 years ago. I make my own shopping choices very carefully all these years later: Fair trade and ethical production are very important to me, and it’s why we partner with a company like Staples to retail handmade items made by women in East Africa.
I believe at the end of the day, aid alone will never end poverty: we need trade, we need business, we need economic empowerment. That’s why I think it’s just as important to talk about aid and international development at We Day as it is to talk about fair trade, ethical manufacturing and responsible sourcing. Because most Canadians will spend vastly more in stores than they’ll ever give to charity. So how do we unlock that potential for good? How do we ensure that their spending is ethical and responsible?
Q That’s part of Free The Children’s mission?
A I think our mission over the years has grown. We try to empower people to better the world: We want to offer simple, successful ways for ordinary individuals to make a difference.
Q Free The Children now works with some of the biggest companies in Canada: RBC, Telus, Ford, PotashCorp. Internationally, there’s Unilever, Virgin, Allstate, Boeing. What do those partnerships afford the charity?
A I think there’s an old model of charity and a new one. The old one is resource intensive, and it competes with other charities for donors. We use a new model: We don’t use street canvassers; we don’t do telemarketers; we don’t do mass mailings.
I think under the new model, charity, social enterprise and business can have a beneficial relationship that produces social good as long as it’s done in a meaningful and authentic way. We use the market and partner with companies to dramatically reduce our fundraising costs while leveraging their infrastructure.
I’ll use RBC as an example. We do a massive coin drive to support our international work. But we only have three offices in Canada, and there’s no way we could collect all those coins. So we’ve partnered with RBC: A kid can walk into any RBC branch and drop off their coins, and RBC will process all of those coins for us at no cost. Or Telus. We developed a We365 app together so that kids can track their impact online.
Q How do the companies benefit?
A I think consumers are rewarding companies that are doing good.
Q How do you choose the companies to work with?
A We need to find companies that are socially responsible, that have a cause they care about, and figure out how we can best work together. Dollars are part of it, of course, because we’re a charity and we need funding. The best partnerships also get employees involved because it takes 12,000 volunteers to make We Day happen every year in Canada. We need an army — and we can’t afford to pay. That’s what the partnerships offer us. It also means that We Days are free because otherwise a lot of kids couldn’t afford to go.
— Andrew Duffy worked for Free The Children as a researcher and writer during a sabbatical from the Citizen in 2013.
查看原文...
