You're Already Part of It: The Nonprofit Sector in Every Canadian's Life (with Heather McDonald & Patti Pon)
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.
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