Let's Imagine

The hospital where you were born. The summer camp that shaped a childhood. The food bank that carried a neighbour through a hard stretch. The museum you wandered through last weekend. Chances are a nonprofit was behind every one of them - and chances are you never thought of it that way. That disconnect is the heart of this episode. Only 41% of Canadians say they know someone who has used the services of a nonprofit or charity, yet 8 in 10 believe those services are essential to their communities. Canadians understand the sector matters. They just don't see themselves as part of it - even as more than 170,000 charities and nonprofits, and the 2.9 million people who work in them, quietly shape daily life across the country. This fall, Imagine Canada launched a national public awareness campaign to close that gap, with a simple message: you're already part of it. In this episode of Let's Imagine, host Bruce MacDonald is joined by two leaders who see the disconnect from very different vantage points. Heather McDonald, President and CEO of United Way Greater Toronto - one of the country's largest community funders; and Patti Pon, President and CEO of Calgary Arts Development - a corner of the charitable sector that millions pour into their lives without ever calling it charity. Together, they trace where the sector touches an ordinary Canadian day from morning to night; unpack what's really at stake when people don't recognize it as their own - for public trust, volunteering, giving, and our shared ability to solve problems; and reflect on the moments that made them realize just how much the nonprofit world had shaped their own lives. It's a conversation about belonging - and about what becomes possible when Canadians stop seeing the sector as something distant and start seeing it as something they're already part of. To learn more about the campaign - and to download the toolkit for your nonprofit to use - visit AlreadyPartOfIt.ca. Make sure to check out our full episode list. This episode is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/dOEfpHoGWOe 

Every September, millions of students head back to school. For many, it's a familiar rhythm - new school supplies, new teachers, a fresh start. But for young people growing up in low-income communities, the season carries a heavier question: not just whether they'll show up, but whether they'll be able to stay, belong, and imagine a future that includes post-secondary education at all.   The nonprofit sector has poured real effort into closing that gap - mentorship, scholarships, food security, after-school support. And yet the divide in educational outcomes between low-income students and their peers has proven stubbornly hard to close.   In this episode of Let's Imagine, host Bruce MacDonald is joined by Owen Charters, President and CEO of Pathways to Education Canada. Founded in 2001 in Toronto's Regent Park, Pathways was built on a simple but powerful conviction: that a young person's postal code should never determine their potential. More than two decades later, it works in communities across the country and has helped tens of thousands of students graduate high school and move on to post-secondary education.   Together, they explore why wrapping students in integrated support - financial, academic, social, and mentorship - works where piecemeal approaches fall short (ie the importance of supporting the whole person); how Pathways earns trust in communities with complicated relationships to institutions; and how they help position the students to be "job-ready" in a digitally powered, AI-enabled economy.   Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/qYKcafOCbj7    Listen to past episodes here: https://imaginecanada.ca/en/lets-imagine-podcast 

Attirer l'attention des élus et des médias est déjà difficile. Le faire en mobilisant des organismes déjà débordés relève d'un défi encore plus grand. Pourtant, une initiative du secteur communautaire rassemble des organismes de partout au Québec pour revendiquer la reconnaissance du rôle essentiel du communautaire et la fin du financement précaire.   Dans cet épisode du balado Imagine, nous recevons Sophie Tétrault-Martel, intervenante au Centre des femmes de Longueuil, et Caroline Chartier, directrice adjointe du Centre Roland-Bertrand à Shawinigan, toutes deux porte-paroles du mouvement « Le communautaire à boutte ».    Sophie et Caroline nous expliquent les objectifs et actions du mouvement pour dénoncer une réalité de plus en plus intenable : des besoins qui explosent d'un côté, et des équipes à bout de souffle en première ligne de l'autre.   Cette discussion inspirante touche aussi aux défis quotidiens qui poussent les organismes à se mobiliser, à l'importance de continuer à se battre pour se faire entendre et à l'impact de ce mouvement pour les personnes qui en font partie.   Lire la transcription complète ici  

Across the nonprofit and charitable sector, organizations regularly talk about equity, community impact, and meeting people where they are. But there's a harder question that often goes unasked: who is actually doing the fundraising - and who isn't? Fundraising teams frequently don't reflect the diversity of the communities they raise funds for. That gap isn't just a moral concern - it has real consequences for trust, relationships, and the sector's long-term sustainability. In this episode of Let's Imagine, host Bruce MacDonald is joined by Alain Mootoo, Chief Operating Officer of the CAMH Foundation. Alain oversees the full operations of the Foundation - including the people, strategy, and systems that make fundraising possible. He has also drawn on his own lived experience as an immigrant to Canada, a foreign-trained professional, and a member of the 2SLGBTQ+ community to launch award-winning programs and events for marginalized populations across the country. Together, they explore why representation in fundraising teams matters strategically, not just symbolically; how lived experience shapes the way trust is built with donors and communities; what structural and cultural barriers keep diverse talent from entering and advancing in the field; and what it looks like to create genuine pathways to fundraising leadership for people from marginalized backgrounds.   Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/mj6UOYQadK3  Listen to pas episodes here: https://imaginecanada.ca/en/lets-imagine-podcast 

Across northern Canada, geography, distance, and limited infrastructure have long made equitable access to education harder to achieve. Connected North was designed to change that - using interactive video technology to connect northern classrooms with scientists, artists, Elders, and other experts. Launched with support from Cisco Systems and now operated by TakingITGlobal, it is built on a foundation of deep community trust and partnership. But technology is only part of the story. What makes Connected North work is the way it was built - in relationship with communities, not just for them. That distinction matters, and it didn't come without hard-won lessons. In this episode of Let's Imagine, host Bruce MacDonald is joined by Willa Black, who founded the program while at Cisco and now serves as Volunteer Chair of Connected North's Advisory Board, and Paul Boucher, a member of the Rocher River people, residential school survivor, Knowledge and Language Keeper, and Language and Cultural Specialist at Paul William Kaeser High School in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. Together, they explore what it takes to build credibility and trust with northern communities, what genuine partnership looks like from inside the classroom, how Connected North keeps community voices at the centre as it grows, and what gives them hope about the future of equitable education in the North. This episode draws on insights from Imagine Canada's Partnering for Impact report, which features Connected North as a case study in why partnership-led models matter. Listen to past episodes here: https://imaginecanada.ca/en/lets-imagine-podcast  Read the full transcript here: https://share.descript.com/view/EVFjm6fOT4y