April 28th, 2012
From April 16 to 18 in Gatineau Quebec, nearly 175 people gathered for the national summit celebrating winners of the online Changemakers Competition Inspiring Approaches to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning—a competition of Ashoka Canada, Aboriginal organizations and several foundations, including the McConnell Foundation, to solicit innovative projects and ideas to improve First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning.
Competition winners—30 selected from 266 entries—received a share of $90,000 in prizes and summit attendees heard from featured speakers, including The Right Honourable Paul Martin; Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; and Commissioner Wilton Littlechild of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. McConnell Foundation President, Stephen Huddart and Senior Program Officer Dana Vocisano also spoke at the event.
On the final day of the summit, The Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada (The Circle) joined Askoha Canada to host a session on “The Path Ahead” and discuss plans for The Circle’s Collaborative Circle on Education and Learning.
For more summit highlights, presentations and blog entries, click here.
To learn about the McConnell Foundation’s on-going commitment to Aboriginal-Focused Philanthropy, click here.
Tags: Aboriginal-Focused Philanthropy, Ashoka Canada, Changemakers Competition
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April 20th, 2012
On April 12 at Montreal’s Bonsecours Market, more than 300 people gathered for the city’s first Timeraiser—an innovative auction style event where attendees can volunteer with local agencies and bid their time, not money, on works of local emerging artists.
Highlights from the evening include: 6,500 volunteer hours pledged; $13,ooo invested in local Montreal artists; and maximum bids (100 volunteer hours) for 22 of the 24 pieces of art.
To learn more about Timeraiser events—a program of Foundation grantee, Framework—click here.
Tags: Framework, Timeraiser
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April 13th, 2012
ALLIES—a joint initiative of the Maytree Foundation and the McConnell Foundation—recently released a new report, Global Talent for SMEs: Building Bridges and Making Connections, which highlights new ways to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to hire skilled immigrants.
Consultations for the report included 300 small-business owners in five focus groups across Canada, and individual interviews with entrepreneurs. The report notes that SMEs face skills and labour shortages, and compete with larger businesses for skilled talent. However, due to a lack of HR personnel and resources, SMEs are underutilizing the skills and talents of immigrants in the workforce.
“The potential impact of engaging SMEs in immigrant employment strategies can have significant positive outcomes for local labour markets across different sectors and regions,” says Ratna Omidvar, president of Maytree. “In the private sector alone, SMEs employ 6.7 million Canadians. Effectively engaging SMEs will have an enormous effect on SMEs, skilled immigrants, and on the Canadian economy.”
To learn more about the work of ALLIES, visit www.alliescanada.ca.
Tags: ALLIES, Global Talent for SMEs: Building Bridges and Making Connections, The Maytree Foundation
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April 11th, 2012
Social Innovation Generation (SiG) team members Vickie Cammack, Tim Draimin, Al Etmanski, and Cheryl Rose will present How the World is Changed: Seeing and Shifting Patterns in Systems at the Authentic Leadership in Action (ALIA) Summer Institute in Halifax from June 18-22.
ALIA programs create a place of learning and training, where leaders and change-makers strengthen their leadership, form new collaborations, and accelerate impact.
To learn more about the ALIA Summer Institute, or to register, click here.
Tags: Al Etmanski, ALIA Summer Institute, Cheryl Rose, Social Innovation Generation, Tim Draimin, Vickie Cammack
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April 8th, 2012
Visit our website spotlight on Social Finance to learn about the Foundation’s commitment and collaborations in this emerging field.
Spotlight resources include the Canadian Task Force on Social Finance‘s report Mobilizing Private Capital for Public Good – Measuring Progress During Year One, and a Social Finance Q & A with past McConnell President, Tim Brodhead.
Tags: social finance, Task Force on Social Finance, Tim Brodhead
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March 28th, 2012
The Foundation is pleased to congratulate the winners of the online Changemakers Competition Inspiring Approaches to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning. Through the competition, Ashoka Canada, Aboriginal organizations, and several foundations, including the McConnell Family Foundation, solicited innovative projects and ideas to improve First Nations, Métis and Inuit Learning. In all, 266 entries were received, 30 of which will take home a share of $90,000 in prizes.
“The Changemakers initiative on First Nations, Metis and Inuit learning demonstrates how much can be achieved when organizations work together with the national Aboriginal leadership” stated The Right Honourable Paul Martin. “I am very pleased to see the range of submissions. The projects and ideas demonstrate that creativity and partnership can combine to create innovative solutions.”
Winners of the 5 McConnell Family Foundation sponsored awards are: Skins Workshops on Aboriginal Storytelling and Video Game Design (Quebec); A Tap on the Shoulder (Manitoba); Aboriginal eMentoring BC (British Columbia); Increasing Aboriginal Economic Inclusion through the Use of E-Learning Technology in the Aboriginal Community (Alberta); and Just Move It (Ontario). For the complete list of award winners, click here.
A national summit in Gatineau April 16-18 will celebrate winners and convene partners in discussions about next steps. Speakers will include The Right Honourable Paul Martin; Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami; and Commissioner Wilton Littlechild of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Click here to learn more about the summit and how you can attend.
Tags: Aboriginal-Focused Philanthropy, Ashoka Canada, Changemakers Competition
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March 27th, 2012
The Timeraiser event is coming to Montreal! A program of Framework—a Foundation grantee and collaborator—Timeraiser events connect people to causes and causes to people. Through innovative auction-style events, attendees can volunteer with local agencies and bid their time, not money, on works of local emerging artists. With the support of corporate sponsors and partners, artists are paid full market value for their work.
To date, Timeraiser events in cities across Canada have generated more than 100,000 volunteer hours for not-for-profit organizations such as Meal Exchange and Evergreen and secured more than $500,000 for Canadian artists.
Tickets to attend the first Montreal Timeraiser event are on sale now. The event will be held in Old Montreal’s Bonsecours Market on April 12—click here to purchase your ticket. To learn about upcoming Timeraiser events in other cities, visit www.timeraiser.ca.
Tags: Framework, Timeraiser
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March 26th, 2012
We are pleased to welcome our newest team member—Aaron Good, Managing Director for SiG@McConnell.
Aaron brings a wealth of experience to the McConnell team, through his roles as a non-profit and business strategy consultant with the Bridgespan Group and Bain & Co., and as an executive in the federal government. He was most recently Vice President of the Public Policy Forum in Ottawa and will continue to work with the Forum on a part time basis.
Tags: Aaron Good
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March 26th, 2012
The winners of the 2012 Best Employers for New Canadians competition were recently announced in The Globe and Mail.
The competition—a partnership between Canada’s Top 100 Employers project and ALLIES, a joint initiative of the Maytree Foundation and the McConnell Family Foundation—celebrates employers who have reached out to support newcomers in practical and welcoming ways.
“Each one of this year’s winning employers has developed and implemented practices which have given them a competitive edge. They demonstrate in different ways how recognizing international credentials, mentoring, and effective onboarding are helping them build a diverse and dynamic workforce.”
Some of the recognized employers include: Bombardier Aerospace, The McGill University Health Centre, Energy Resources Conservation Board, BMO Financial Group, and KPMG LLP. For the complete list of winners, click here.
To learn more about the ALLIES initiative, visit www.alliescanada.ca.
Tags: ALLIES, The Globe and Mail
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The Foundation is pleased to highlight the winners of the Community Service-Learning (CSL) Awards, which recognize successful community initiatives supported by robust community service-learning programs.