October 01, 2018

Attention: Jaren Kerr

Please find enclosed a detailed package in response to the questions posed to WE

Charity and ME to WE on September 26th and 28th. We have provided thorough
documentation and contextual information of WE Charity and ME to WE operations,
policies, guidelines and data to ensure there is no mischaracterization or false
assertations of our work and employment practices.

The responses to your exact questions can be found in the attached document which
has been divided into four sections:
i) About WE
ii) Employee Experience
iii) Partnerships and WE Charity (which includes corporate and media partnerships)
iv) WE Charity and ME to WE Relationship.

Please note, each section includes links to additional content and sources that are
critical to understanding both WE Charity and ME to WE.

We have also provided a detailed larger document providing additional points of

consideration and clarification that we feel is critical to proactively address potential
false claims and to provide you with the formal clarity, on all such matters.

Moreover, please allow us to provide a summary of salient points for your review, all of
which are further elaborated within this larger document which we have provided to you.

Additional Points of Consideration and Clarification

Canadaland advocates for high-quality journalism. Key pillars of such journalism include
approaching a topic without any preconceptions, and an openness to being persuaded
by facts. We seek to ensure that specific issues of possible concern, based on the
nature of your broad questions, are also clear. We formally seek to ensure that there is
no place where either a lack of context or incorrect assertions could possibly lead to any
form of innuendo or broad statements.

As a result, we trust that statements by yourself or interviewed individuals will not be

provided as broad characterization without proper context, nor will there be an
opportunity to report any assertions which are simply factually false, especially on
matters about which we have provided you evidence and/or data to the contrary. In
short, we seek to ensure you have formal clarity, on all such matters.

Employee Experience
Our concern, based on your broad questions, lies in ensuring that you have the proper
facts and accurate information regarding the employee experience at WE Charity and
ME to WE.
We have over 1,000 staff and 1,200 alumni over the 23 years the we have been
operating. Many former staff (particularly new graduates), when leaving their role with
WE Charity or ME to WE, proceeded to continue to advance their career in notable
ways or have returned to further their education.

We see in former articles on the Canadaland site that involve the workplace or
employee experience, you have in the past interviewed a dozen or so employees, and
stated conclusions from these conversations. It is important to consider that if you were
to speak to 36 former and current staff members (a theoretical number for sake of
illustration) that would only represent a statistically insignificant portion (about 1.7% of
employees). We believe it would be irresponsible to infer or make sweeping statements
based on this small former/current employee sample.

We also believe that facts matter, and data speaks for itself. We have engaged third-
parties to undertake measures and evaluate our employee experience, policies, and
culture. In candor, the purposes of these measurement practices is because of our
commitment to continual self-important. In addition, we feel that it is important to share
the information with you because these groups operate with proper data capture
processes, such as anonymous aggregate data, and mass statistically-significant data
capture size.

WE Charity and ME to WE have conducted employee surveys with its 1,000 staff
receiving a 90% response rate. The recent survey (conducted using independent third-
party employee engagement survey provider, TemboStatus) measured engagement,
employment culture and experience. We have provided you information and analysis in
this set of documents with over 900 anonymous respondents. In short, the survey
found:
• 78% of WE employees say “they love their job”
• 98% of WE employees believe they are making a positive change in the world
because of their work
• 91% of WE employees feel a personal connection to the work we do
• 80% of WE employees see a future for themselves with WE
• 87% of our team say they are personally engaged by the work they do
Moreover, in an independently-conducted third party study, WE employees
overwhelmingly agreed that working at WE had improved their:
• Communication skills (reported by 90% of WE team members surveyed)
• Ability to work effectively with a team (86%)
• Ability to multi-task (85%)
• Relationship building and networking skills (84%)
In our commitment to continuous improvement, we have seen significant improvements
in key engagement areas, since 2015 relative to 2019, we have seen employees report
the following:
• 2.85x improvement in the area of work-life balance
• 5.33x improvement in providing adequate compensation
 • 1.22x improvement in overall employee recognition
• 1.73x improvement in the effectiveness of our internal employee communications
efforts
Furthermore, WE Charity and ME to WE’s culture has been recognized as industry
leaders, and has received the following honours after an independent rigorous vetting
process by experts in this area of human resources and workplace culture:
• Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Culture Award
• Canada’s Top Employer For Young People
• Notable.ca Canada’s Top 5 Charities Run by Young Professionals
We have an extensive and active alumni network and current employee base. We
would be happy to provide the opportunity for you to speak with dozens to hundreds in
our network to ensure you have the fullest information on all of these topics.

Employee Retention
We have also seen in past articles on Canadaland that some workplaces that have
been described as a “revolving door”. In the case of WE Charity and ME to WE, allow
us to proactively address that this would not be an accurate characterization in the
least, and provide you the facts and unequivocal data on this statement.

By way of context, both WE Charity and ME to WE have two primary tracks of

employees with separate trajectories that influence retention and tenure.
• “New Grads”
o We recognize that transition into the workforce is often a very challenging
time for new graduates, and we are proud to offer roles for many young
people attracted to social enterprise and non-profit work.
o Leveraging well-established and widely praised models like “Teach for
America”, “City Year”, and “Peace Corps”, the average tenure of our “new
grads” is 25 months, and these employees gain valuable skills and
coaching which they then go on to return to their education or advance to
their next step in their career.

• “Career-track”
o We seek to retain the best of our younger staff and provide them with
learning and development opportunities and career opportunities.
o Among those on “career track” it is not uncommon to stay at WE 3, 5, or
10 years. A significant number of our senior staff have been with the
organization for 10+ years.
o Retention is particularly high within the upper to senior management band
at both WE Charity and ME to WE

Any review of the facts about job transitions would not be complete without noting that
statistically a) millennials are more likely to transition careers within the first five years of
graduation; b) shorter work terms are more frequent in the industry of
Government/Education/Non-Profits industries. Recent graduates in this industry have
an average of 3 jobs within the first 5-years. (https://blog.linkedin.com/2016/04/12/will-
this-year_s-college-grads-job-hop-more-than-previous-grads) Based on this data and
the average tenure of an “New Grads” employee, WE Charity and ME to WE retain staff
longer than the industry norm.

Employee Compensation

For your information, currently the entry level salary for “New Grads” is $33,000 –
$37,000, with the average salary being $35,000, in addition to a benefits package
valued at $5,000. This provides a total average starting compensation package at
approximately $40,000.

These benefits package includes:

• Professional development training opportunities
• An employee assistance program to support our team’s individual mental health
• In-house fitness centre in Toronto with wellness programs like yoga, and free
memberships to Goodlife Fitness in Canada, Energie Cardio in Quebec, and 24-
Hour Fitness in the U.S.
• Through partnerships, WE provides extensive perks like retail, dining, and
entertainment free offers and/or discounts, these perks and benefits help offset
factors that contribute to the high cost of living for our team
Please note that this is comparable to starting salaries among other groups working in
social welfare, international development, global education, youth service, and social
enterprises. According to Payscale.com the facts are, “An entry-level Program
Coordinator, Non-Profit Organization with less than 5 years of experience can expect to
earn an average total compensation of $38,000 based on 4,260 salaries provided by
anonymous users. Average total compensation includes tips, bonus, and overtime pay.”
(https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Program_Coordinator%2c_Non-
Profit_Organization/Salary)

“Career Track” employees at both WE Charity and ME to WE are compensated

competitively within the sector.

ME to WE’s relationship with WE Charity

We see you have several questions on this topic. It is imperative to understand that ME
to WE exists to benefit WE Charity. When the facts show such an overwhelming benefit
being provides from ME to WE to WE Charity, it would be incorrect and harmful to state
that ME to WE receives any undue benefit from WE Charity.

Below is a summary overview of the key relationship points between ME to WE and WE

Charity.
ME to WE’s Social Enterprise Model. More information is provided in this larger
document.

The relationship between the two entities has been independently studied and reviewed
by multiple legal and financial experts.
 • When launching ME to WE as a social enterprise, there was no legal definition of
a social venture or enterprise in Canada, so various experts were engaged to
build a strong system to govern the social enterprise and enshrine its social
purpose to benefit the charity.
• There is a very strong governance model, system of fiduciary oversight, and
checks and balance. Any indication to the contrary would be false. Any
characterization of negligence would be false. The following details the process
that was taken:
o To create a sound corporate structure, governance model and reporting
requirements, two of Canada’s top law firms, Torys and Miller Thomson
offered pro-bono legal support.
o To create a system of checks and balances, we did the following:
▪ Submitted the legal structure and governing system for review by
the Public Guardian Trustee of Ontario
▪ Engaged third parties for further review, which included Canadian
Supreme Court Justice Peter Corey and Former Canadian Prime
Minister John Turner (via his law firm) – who both independently
reviewed ME to WE and WE Charity – their governance models
and the relationship between them. Both organizations were issued
unqualified laudatory reports.

Financial Contributions:

A minimum of 50% of its ME to WE’s profits are donated annually to WE Charity. Any
outstanding balance is re-invested to grow the social mission (ex: investing to launch
the next Fairtrade sourcing site). ME to WE often donates as much as 80% of its yearly
profits and in-kind revenue to WE Charity. The ME to WE financials are reviewed by the
WE Charity Board of Directors, as part of annual larger review process, in collaboration
with ME to WE’s Executive Director, Russ McLeod. In addition to funds, ME to WE
provides multiple other in-kind benefits to WE Charity.

ME to WE’s use of WE Charity’s Office Space

• ME to WE and WE Charity have always held separate headquarters and office
space. Prior to 2017, ME to WE provided free office space to dozens of members
of the WE Charity staff.
• In 2017, WE Charity relocated to its current headquarters (339 Queen St E), a
move which was made possible with the generous support of a community of
donor. Of the 42,000 square feet of this location, only 400-500 square feet is
used to showcase to visitors the social enterprise as a concept (which is approx.
1% of the space).
• ME to WE and WE Charity’s agreement on office space is as follows:
o Ensure wherever possible WE Charity Staff are located in and working out
of WE Charity offices
 o Ensure wherever possible ME to WE staff are located in and working our
of ME to WE offices
o In the small number of possible cases where overlap occurs, the following
are the system: ME to WE pays for any jointly used office space (e.g. Hot
desks). When WE Charity staff works from ME to WE spaces, WE Charity
does not pay ME to WE for use of that space.

ME to WE Trips and the benefit to WE Charity:

We see you have several questions on this topic. ME to WE Trips was created to
benefit WE Charity, with three outcomes:

1. Creating employment with fair wages. This business model addresses the root
cause of poverty, and empowers communities to be economically self-sufficient.
Towards that outcome, over the years hundreds of jobs have been created in
communities, including guides, drivers, mangers, hospitality workers etc.

2. Introduce potential donors to the work of WE Charity. When individuals have the
opportunity to transparently see a development project and model, they are more
likely to support with a donation. Towards that outcome, on an annual basis
several millions of dollars are donated to WE Charity by trip participants during
the trip or shortly thereafter.

3. Introduce young people to international development. Annually ME to WE trips

hosts young people who are seeking to learning about sustainable development.
Towards that outcome, youth trips financials are designed to be ‘at-costs’ (i.e. in
2018 there was purposely a financial deficit) when accounting for the number of
scholarships and other youth-support programs.
The infrastructure for ME to WE Trips is built and funded by the social enterprise. To be
clear, WE Charity benefits from the ability to host prospective donors, without having to
allocate precious donor dollars towards building hosting infrastructure.

ME to We and Trip Staff

We see you have questions regarding the allocation of time from our staff.

ME to WE has fulltime staff who oversee all aspects of trip operations and logistics, and
the vast majority of trip facilitation.

WE Charity staff may be invited (i.e. it is completely voluntary) if they want to facilitate a
trip. Traditionally, the cost to send charity staff overseas to visit projects and host
donors would be at significant cost to the charity, resulting in less funding available for
projects. Because of WE Charity’s relationship with ME to WE, ME to WE absorbs all
costs associated with sending WE Charity staff overseas. In the rare cases when a WE
Charity staff is facilitating a trip, it is typically for one of the following reasons:
 • S/he is hosting a current or prospective substantial donor. It is an opportunity to
personally show the donor projects, and to discuss financial supporting WE
Charity while there is the emotional connection of being in the country. As noted,
ME to WE absorbs all costs.

• S/he seeks the travel opportunity. Many of the staff who join WE Charity and ME
to WE have a desire to travel. When surveying our staff, we have learned that an
opportunity to travel is one of the principle reasons why they joined the
organization. Participating on a trip overseas to an interesting destination (such
as the Amazon, Masai Mara etc.) is a staff opportunity, and one of the reasons
that we are able to attract and retain the best employees at WE Charity. As
noted, ME to WE absorbs all costs. And, as shared, the experience to participate
as WE Charity staff is voluntary.

We hope this information is clear. We trust having this context will help you in your
enquiry and look forward to understanding the nature of your piece.

Should you require further context, information, clarification or comment please direct
inquiries to the following:

• For WE Charity related inquires: Scott Baker, Executive Director

• For ME to WE related inquiries: Russ McLeod, Executive Director

Sincerely,

Scott Baker Russ McLeod

Executive Director Executive Director
WE Charity ME to WE
ABOUT WE
About the WE movement
• WE is a movement that brings people together and gives them the tools to change the
world.
• Our unique family of organizations empowers people at home and around the world
through WE Charity, and in partnership with our social enterprise ME to WE.

WE Charity
• WE Charity (formerly Free The Children) was first founded in 1995 by a 12-year old Craig
Kielburger, and became a registered charity in 1997.

WE Schools
• In Canada, the U.S. and the UK, WE Day and WE Schools educate and empower young
people.
o WE Schools is a year-long educational program that nurtures compassion in
students and gives them the tools to create transformative social change.
o WE Schools combines unique curriculum, educational resources and action
campaigns, and inspires students to identify the issues that spark their passion
and create the change they want to see in the world. By taking action on one local
and one global issue, students develop leadership skills needed to succeed
academically, in the workplace and as active citizens.
o According to the WE Schools 2017-2018 year in review report:

Reach: • 16,000 schools and groups engaged globally

• 4,327,000 youth impacted globally
• 26,339 youth participated in action planning workshops
globally
Social Impact: WE Schools youth across Canada, the US and the UK
created the following impacts:
• Over $14 million raised by youth in support of 5,454
local and global organizations. Donated directly to
those organizations
• 10,580,243 volunteer hours logged
• 10,895,880 pounds of food collected for local food
banks

Top organizations supported by WE Schools youth in 2017-

2018 include:
• The Red Cross
 • UNICEF
• Terry Fox Foundation
• World Vision
• WWF
• Salvation Army
Outcomes: In 2017-2018 the educators that lead the WE Schools
program for their students reported the following outcomes:
Academic Engagement:
• 86% of students/young people ask more critical
questions to reflect on and understand issues and
concepts
• 79% of students/young people now display a greater
enthusiasm for learning
• 87% of students/young people are now more
capable of effectively voicing their own opinions
Instilling active citizenship
• 86% of students/young people are more likely to
stand up for others that are treated unfairly because
of their gender, race, religion, ability or sexual
orientation
• 89% of students/young people feel a greater
connection to their local community
• 87% of students/young people demonstrate more
responsibility towards local and global issues in their
everyday life choices
Workplace and college readiness
• 90% of students/young people are more likely to
demonstrate increased leadership among their peers
• 88% of students/young people have demonstrated
stronger communication skills
• 87% of students/young people are more able to work
effectively and respectfully in diverse teams

WE Day
• WE Day is an unparalleled celebration of young people committed to making a difference.
You can’t buy a ticket to WE Day. Students earn their way by taking one local and one global
action through WE Schools. Thanks to the generous support of sponsors, WE Day events are
free to attend.To understand how one signs up for WE School please see the following link:
https://forms.we.org/weschools2018/application?cmd

• Why WE Day:
o Empowers and engages young people through service
o Develops and delivers meaningful content, inspiring people to take action
o Creates significant connections with local and global communities
o Cheers for local and global causes and everyday heroes that support them
o Makes it cool to care and invites the participation of all youth, educators, families
and employees
• WE Day Reach
 o To understand the WE Day reach please review this site:
https://www.we.org/we-day/what-is-we-day/
o WE Day has evolved into a series of 19 stadium-sized events held across the U.S.,
Canada, the UK and the Caribbean.
o This past year, 200,000 students attended WE Day and left inspired to create
change both locally and globally.

What Makes WE Schools and WE Day Unique

• They are free and accessible to any youth and educators.
• They are cause inclusive, these programs empower young people to find their passion
and create positive change in the world.
WE Villages
• In Asia, Africa and Latin America, we implement WE Villages, a holistic, five-pillar
international development model designed to achieve sustainable change.
o To understand our development model it is imperative to read:
https://www.we.org/we-villages/our-development-model/)
• WE Villages is an adaptive, effective five-pillar model built on 20 years of experience
collaborating with dedicated community members and international development experts
to find solutions that work.
• The cumulative impact of WE Villages:
o To understand the impacts of WE Villages it is vital to read:
▪ https://www.we.org/we-villages/our-impact/
▪ https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/financials-and-
governance/make-impact/
o 1,500 schools and school rooms giving more than 200,000 children the opportunity
to gain an education
o 1 million+ people have gained access to clean water, sanitation and health care
o $36 million+ donated in medical supplies
o Enabled farmers and families to produce more than 15 million nutritious meals to
fuel their communities
o 30,000 women have been provided with economic self-sufficiency
Third-party evaluated
• Both WE Schools and WE Villages have been measured by independent third-parties.
• WE Charity has engaged Mission Measurement, a Chicago-based measurement firm that
generates data to improve the non-profit sector.
• Mission Measurement has extensively evaluated our programs impacts, a sample of their
findings include:
o WE Schools
▪ To understand the impact of WE Schools it is critical review:
https://www.we.org/we-schools/program/impact/
▪ 76% of youth are more motivated to go to college, because of their
engagement with WE Day and WE Schools (2016, WE Social Impact
Study)
▪ 92% of young adult participants mentioned WE Schools achievements on
their resume (2015, Social Impact Study)
 ▪ 94% of students said employers reacted positively to seeing WE Schools
involvement on their resume (2015, Social Impact Study)
o WE Villages:
▪ To review the impacts of WE Villages please read:
▪ https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/results-and-impacts/
▪ WE Villages is effective:
• WE Villages’ programs and approach are aligned with the
practices espoused and practiced by the leading development
organizations
• WE Villages’ communities have demonstrated growth in each of
the four pillars of impact
▪ WE Villages is sustainable:
• WE Villages is designed around accepted core tenets of
sustainable development
• WE Villages’ communities have demonstrated increased
ownership over their continued growth
▪ WE Villages is cost-effective:
• WE Villages programs and activities have been identified as cost-
effective activities/programs
• WE Villages is structured to maximize the return on investment as
activities/programs produce complimentary, reinforcing outcomes
WE Charity Awards and Recognition
To understand and review WE Charitie and ME to WE’s awards please read the following
sites
https://www.we.org/careers/awards/
https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/awards/

WE Charity: Good Housekeeping Seal

• WE Charity was the first-ever recipient of the Good Housekeeping Humanitarian Seal.
• The Good Housekeeping Institute through an extensive vetting programme, vetted the
financial health, HR practices, accountability and transparency of WE Charity.
• The experts at the Good Housekeeping Institute not only looked at the administrative
and logistical elements, but also the value proposition and mandate of WE Charity
through testimonials and case studies.
• The evaluation includes detailed reference checks and assessments of the integrity of
the charity’s organizational structure and administrative elements.
• https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/08/04/1110093/0/en/Good-
Housekeeping-Introduces-First-Ever-Humanitarian-Seal.html
• https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institute/a45389/good-
housekeeping-humanitarian-seal-faqs/
WE Charity: Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures Award

• Recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having cultures that enhance

performance and sustain a competitive advantage
Other Awards:
Participated in a rigorous vetting and nomination progress.

• Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures Award

o https://www.waterstonehc.com/canadasmostadmired.com/full-winners.html
• Notable.ca Canada’s Top 5 Charities Run by Young Professionals
o https://notablelife.com/canadas-top-5-charities-run-by-young-professionals/
• Canada’s Top Employer for Young People
o http://www.canadastop100.com/young_people/young_people_magazine_2013.p
df
• One of Canada’s Top Employer for Youth
Humanitarianism

• Dedication Award, Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards

• World of Children Anniversary Award
• World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child
• Human Rights Award from the United Nations/World Association of Non-Government
organizations
• Community of Christ International Peace Award
• Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award
• World of Children Founders Award
• Distinguished Peace Leadership Award
• Roosevelt Freedom Medal
Financial Ratings and Recognition
WE Charity: MoneySense top charitable rating 2018

• In January 2018 WE Charity received one of the top ratings on MoneySense’s 2018
Charity 100 by an independent review of experts.
• WE Charity received the following:
Category Grade
Charity Efficiency Grade A+
Fundraising Efficiency Grade A+
Reserve Grade B
Governance Grade A+
Final Grade A

WE Charity: Imagine Canada

• WE Charity is recognized as a Sector Champion with Imagine Canada, which offers

programs and provides resources that help strengthen charities and their operations, so
they can, in turn, support the communities they serve.
• http://www.imaginecanada.ca/program-participant-list/sector-champions/we-charity-
formerly-free-children
WE Charity: Charity Intelligence Canada
 • WE Charity has a four-star rating with Charity Intelligence Canada
• Charities are rated based on:
o 40% donor accountability – a charity’s grade on the quality of its reports, its social
results reporting
o 20% financial transparency – audited financial statements provided
o 20% needs funding – cash and investments relative to what it costs to run charity
programs for 1 year, called “program cost coverage”
o 20% cost-efficiency – 15% for fundraising costs and 5% for administrative
overhead within a reasonable range of 5%-35%
• https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/82-we-charity
WE Charity: Charity Navigator

• WE Charity has a four-star score and rating on Charity Navigator, with a total score of
94.74 (out of 100), scoring 97.5 on financials and 93 on accountability and transparency.
• This rating was published 09-01-2018 and includes data from FY2017, the most recent
990 received at that time.
• https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10481

ME to WE
• ME to WE is an innovative social enterprise that drives social impact through offering
consumers socially conscious products and experiences, empowering people to change
the world with their everyday consumer choices.
• ME to WE partners with WE Charity to offset expenses and help provide pro bono services
to WE Charity’s efforts at home and abroad. ME to WE donates half its net profit annually
to support WE Charity, while the other half is reinvested to grow the mission of the social
enterprise. While ME to WE’s commitment is to donate a minimum 50% of its net profit to
WE Charity, it often donates as much as 80+% of its yearly profit to WE Charity, on an
annual basis. If any small amount of profits are held back they are reinvested into the
social enterprise to grow sustainability. This is in addition to the millions of dollars worth
of cost offsetting kind donations.
• To date ME to WE has donated $20 million (in cash and cost offsetting in-kind) to WE
Charity. Using a highly effective model, ME to WE is structured to help offset expenses
and help provide pro bono services to WE Charity’s work ensuring that the charity
achieves a remarkable rate of financial efficiency with an average of 90% of its donations
going directly to charitable efforts at home and abroad.
• ME to WE is B Corp Certified and scores among the top 5% of all Canadian B Corp
organizations meeting rigorous standards of social and environmental performance,
accountability, and transparency.
• ME to WE is an innovative social enterprise that:
• Empowers people to change the world with their everyday choices by offering
consumer products that give back. Every ME to WE product sold contributes to lasting
change in a community overseas through its innovative Track Your Impact model.
• Inspires and enables people to become leaders and agents of change through
customized leadership training and camp experiences.
 • Offers unique trips that allow young people and adults to participate in health,
education and economic development projects abroad.
Please review ME to WE Awards and Recognition:
https://www.we.org/careers/awards/

ME to WE: B Corp certification

Please review these details on ME to WE’s B Corp certification:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/b-corp-certification/

• ME to WE was certified as a B Corp in 2015,

• ME to WE went through an intensive year-long evaluation, submitting more than 25
documents detailing every aspect of our operations and programs.
• B Corp examined ME to WE’s finances, governance, and human-resource policies.
• WE provided a list of suppliers to show how much of our cost of goods sold went to our
artisans in partner communities versus other suppliers. (76% of the cost of ME to WE
products is spent on providing opportunity and paying fair wages to small-scale,
independent suppliers in developing communities)
• ME to WE scored 108 on our B Corp evaluation—double the median score for all other B
Corps. Here are some of the criteria that ME to WE got a perfect score on:
o Fair wages: ME to WE pays artisans who supply handmade accessories 2.2 times
more than what is considered a fair wage by the B Lab.
o Gender equality: ME to WE has extremely high numbers of women on its team,
as well as women in management.
o Financial accountability: ME to WE produces financials that are verified annually
by an independent source through an audit or review.
o Reaching out: Through its leadership programs, ME to WE reaches underserved
and at-risk youth, including those in Indigenous communities.
o Self-evaluation: ME to WE rigorously measures the outcomes that its products
and services achieve to ensure it is having the impact it wants.

Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2008

• ME to WE was independently evaluated and recognized as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur

of the year for its financial performance, innovation, vision, personal integrity and
influence, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit.
• https://www.ey.com/gl/en/about-us/entrepreneurship/entrepreneur-of-the-year/social-
entrepreneur-of-the-year---canada

Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, 2007

• The Skoll Foundation presents the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship each
year to a select group of social entrepreneurs whose innovations have already had
significant, proven impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems and
invests directly in the promise of even greater impact at scale.
• By investing in organizations when an innovation is ripe for accelerated and scaled
adoption, the Skoll Awards help unleash the full global potential and reach of social
entrepreneurs.
• http://archive.skoll.org/session/skoll-world-forum-2007/2007-skoll-awards-for-social-
entrepreneurship/
 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

This section will provide information for your inquiries regarding:

• What is the workplace culture like in the WE Movement? Can you share how the
company thinks about employee retention, harassment, and conflict resolution, along
with any policies and documents related to these topics?
• How do We Charity and Me to We handle harassment and conflict resolution in their
respective workplaces?
Employee Experience

It’s critical to review the additional information on the employee experience online:
https://www.we.org/careers/awards/

Our employment FAQs:

https://www.we.org/careers/working-at-we/faqs/

It is important to review our employee experience: https://www.we.org/careers/

The vision for WE’s People Operations and Culture team is to build a reputable employee
experience where people love coming to work, know how to be successful, and strive for
excellence to drive WE’s mission.

Over the past 3-5 years, WE has increased its employee base by over 25% to meet the growth
of the movement. As a result, the organizational structure, job requirements, and employee
demographic has evolved from a historically younger demographic of new grads in their first job,
to now, more than ever, a professionally skilled and tenured employee-base with specialized skill
sets, looking for career growth. The People Operations and Culture team continue to build
an Employer Value Proposition, which is to see WE as a place where employees can stay and
grow their career.

Our People Operations and Culture team today possesses more than 50 years of collective
experience in human resource management, with accreditations including:
• Certified Human Resource Professional,
• Certified Human Resource Leader, and
• Global Professional in Human Resources.

The People Operations and Culture team ensure that WE is not only in compliance with labour
laws and industry standards for compensation and benefits, but also strives every day to exceed
those standards to provide a rewarding working environment for our incredible team of change-
makers.

Meet, Chief People Officer, Victoria MacDonald:

https://www.we.org/careers/victoria-macdonald/

WE employs people all over the world

WE employs approximately 1000 employees in North America and the UK who are focused on
driving our domestic and international programming. Our country offices have some of the
greatest minds in sustainable international development supporting our work in nine countries
across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Moreover, after 23 years of work, WE has accumulated an alumni community of 1,200, many of
who have continued onto their next career, returned to school and still remain active through our
alumni network. Many staff have gone on to pursue careers in education, non-profit and the
corporate sector.
Employee Value Proposition

WE is a unique employer. Whether you work for WE Charity or the social enterprise, ME to WE,
we are all driving towards our goal of creating a community of 100 million people who care and
act. We know that it is our employees who make doing good doable for the millions who are part
of the WE movement.

Many of our employees do not see themselves as simply taking a job or getting a paycheque.
They see their employment with WE as a mission. Because of this, WE has created a very unique
employment experience.

Our Employee Value Proposition includes (but is not limited to):

• Birthdays off, and holiday shutdown between Christmas and New Year (which does not
count towards allocated vacation days)
• Opportunities to interact with and learn from WE’s celebrity ambassadors, top executives
and renowned leaders who regularly mentor and share their leadership experiences with
our staff. Many of these leaders will join our staff for Professional Development workshops.
What’s more, WE maintains a video catalogue of these speakers so that employees can
see them in all offices and regions
• Invites to WE Day events, staff socials and parties, as well as special experiences when
working WE Days across North America and the UK
• In addition to a base salary, WE also offers an industry-competitive total rewards package
and a host of other benefits and perks, generally up to an annual additional value of $5000.
This includes:
• An employee-assistance program to support our team’s individual mental health
• An in-house fitness center in Toronto and wellness programs like yoga, and free
memberships with Goodlife Fitness in Canada, Energie Cardio in Quebec, and 24-
Hour Fitness in the U.S.
• As well, through partnerships, WE provides extensive perks like retail, dining and
entertainment free offers and/or discounts. Worth thousands of dollars, these perks
and benefits help offset factors that contribute to the cost of living for our team
• WE team members offered “Sustainable High Performance” training workshops. Similarly,
engagement with:
• Leading experts, regular sessions on self-care and mindfulness
• Healthy snacks during busy seasons and opportunities to stay fit with a fitness
center in the Toronto office
• WE has a team dedicated to the learning and development of staff, providing sessions on
a range of topics, form our three-day onboarding orientation, people and time
management, emotional intelligence and everything in between
• WE wants employees to continue to grow as professionals – we offer employees $500 per
year towards professional development
• In the last two years, we have introduced a new program called Growth and Success
Plans. This process ensures that all employees are clear on their work and contributions
and that they are having regular career conversations with their manager. WE feels that
the Growth and Success Plans program is working because in our last survey 83% of
employees stated they had clear goals and priorities
• In order to grow our junior team, they are regularly paired with more senior team members
who act as mentor’s and coaches
What do our employees tell us about the employment experience?

Whether it’s the female department heads and directors who make up 77% of our leadership,
being selected three times as a Top Employer for Young People or named as one of Canada’s
Top 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures, our impressive numbers help tell the story of our
employee experience. So do the results of our recent anonymous staff survey executed by an
independent third-party organization. The survey clearly indicates our motivated team are
connected to social outcomes and mission of the organizations:

• 1,000+ employees with a passion for change

• 77% of our leadership team are women
• 78% of employees say they “love their job”
• 98% of WE employees believe they are making a positive change in the world because of
their work
• 91% of WE employees feel a personal connection to the work we do
• 80% of WE employees see a future for themselves with WE
• 87% of our team say they are personally engaged with the work they do

* Please note that the standard methodology used is sentiment analysis. There are 4 answers for
each question. If the respondent answers in the first 2 boxes – these are considered as positive
sentiment. The results above are an aggregate percentage of employees who responded
positively to the survey questions. The survey received an over 90% response rate.

Moreover, in an independently-conducted third-party study by a measurement firm Mission

Measurement, WE Team members overwhelmingly agreed that working at WE had improved
their:

• communication skills (reported by 90% of WE team members surveyed)

• ability to work effectively with a team (86%)
• ability to multitask (85%)
• problem-solving skills (85%)
• relationship building and networking skills (84%)

In receiving these awards, along with many others WE has won, the organization has undergone
a variety of culture, HR, financial and management evaluations in a rigorous, independent and
non-biased manner.

Our commitment to continuous improvement for our employee experience

WE is committed to continuously improving the employee experience to ensure our people

achieve fulfillment, meaning and excellence in their career with us. Every year we listen and learn
from our employees in order to improve their experience and make our culture even better.
Employee surveys have indicated that we have made some significant improvements in key
engagement areas. Since 2015, we have seen a 2.85 x improvement in the area of work-life
balance, 5.33 x improvement in providing adequate compensation, 1.22 x improvement in overall
employee recognition and 1.73 x improvement in the effectiveness of our internal employee
communications efforts. This data is third party evaluated and based on anonyms documented
employee feedback.
Typical tenure at WE

WE is a first job for many young people, attracted to social enterprise and non-profit work. Our
organization provides a strong base and training across so many disciplines—education,
philanthropy, retail, leadership, international development, marketing and communications, to
name a few. Many of our staff grow their career by moving between departments within WE,
expanding their knowledge base. The average tenure of our “new grads” is 25 months. Currently
the entry level salary for ‘new grads’ is $32,000-$37,000 with the average being $35,000 and
paired with a total rewards package valued at approximately $5000, for an average starting
package of $40,000.

Leveraging models like “Teach for America” or “ City Year,” the average tenure of our “new grads”
is 25 months, during which time these employees gain valuable skills and coaching that they use
in the next step in their career. WE seeks to retain young talent and provide them with learning
and development opportunities and career growth. Among those on a “career track”, it is not
uncommon to stay at WE 3, 5, 10+ years. For example, we have a very significant core group of
employees who have been here 15+ years. Career track employees are compensated
competitively within the sector.

The organization recently had out first retiree after 18 years of service, which was a true milestone.
In the most recent organization-wide employee engagement survey, 80% of WE team members
said they see themselves staying with WE for the foreseeable future and 87% of our team said
they are personally engaged by the work they do—an impressive result for any organization or
company.

WE’s commitment to diversity

WE believes that one of our core assets is our diverse workforce. Diversity is a business priority
fundamental to our success. For example, we are incredibly proud to say that 77% of our
leadership team are women.

Our policies are built to foster a welcoming and inclusive working environment, including flexible
holidays to accommodate all faiths, and accommodations in working environment for our team
members with disabilities or accessibility requirements.

WE also maintains rigorous policies to ensure a safe and harassment-free working environment
for our team. This includes our gold standard Child and Youth Protection Policy, developed in
partnership with the recognized experts, Plan to Protect. This policy ensures the highest levels of
protection and security, both for the young people we work with, and for our own team.
HR Policies

Our Termination Policy

At WE, our goal is to treat all exiting employees in an honorable way – WE calls this “honorable
closure.” The decision to terminate an employee is not taken lightly. When the decision to
terminate employment occurs, our goal is to treat employees with the highest standard of respect
and fairness. The following outlines some of our guidelines for fair and consistent treatment of
employees. These WE standards/guidelines are in compliance with applicable
province/state/country employment legislation.

General guidelines:

1. The decision to terminate at WE will only be made with the approval of the respective
Executive Director and the Chief People Officer.
2. The Chief People Officer has the final decision related to dismissal and may work with
internal or external Legal Counsel.
3. Managers at WE will follow the Progressive Discipline policy or the Progressive
Performance Management policy prior to making the decision to terminate. The
manager of the employee must demonstrate that all efforts have been made to
address the performance issue and or the conduct issue. Human Resources business
partners are expected to guide this process.
4. It is WE’s desired practice that employees are never surprised by a termination.
5. WE ensures that all employees receive at minimum the appropriate separation
payments and that all payments made are in line with the employees’ tenure, age
and position.

WE Employee Conduct

WE has a zero tolerance policy for all forms of harassment, misconduct or discrimination in the
workplace. We have a formal employee handbook that clearly outlines the expectations for all
employees on: Code of Conduct, Workplace Harassment and Discrimination, Dealing with
Employee misconduct and Investigation process. It is clear to all employees the standard of
conduct WE expects.

All employees are required to sign off on the policies at time of hire. Our Employee Handbook is
accessible to all employees – through our internal communication’s portal. Our three-day
orientation shares all of these resources with our new employees. Leaders in the organization are
the stewards of employee conduct, as such WE also has policy and procedures update meetings
with people managers.

Highlights of our Code of Conduct

At WE employees are expected to observe the highest standards of professional ethics. We all
have a responsibility to help maintain the strong reputation for integrity, honesty and safety of
youth in program delivery by WE Charity and/or ME to WE Social Enterprise Inc. and their
respective affiliates (collectively, “WE” or the “Organization”). Ethical conduct is not a passive
process, but requires employees to make conscious choices and decisions, and to exercise good
judgment, consistent with the ethical values of the Organization.
The following guidelines must be followed:

• Always act honestly and impartially when carrying out your duties;
• Always act in a responsible manner with respect to the efficient use of resources over
which you have control;
• Always act in a manner that properly reflects the mission and values of the
Organization, and never act in any way, shape or form which may bring the
Organization into disrepute;
• Always obtain advanced approval, in writing, from your manager if you wish to take on
any task for the Organization that is outside of your job description;
• Always act safely, never taking risks that would compromise your own personal safety
or the safety of any other employees, contractors, or stakeholders, particularly when
and if you are responsible for a younger person under the age of majority; and
• Always treat others in a courteous and professional manner.

Workplace Harassment

WE believes in the prevention of workplace discrimination and harassment and promotes a

workplace in which all people respect one another and work together to achieve common goals.
All employees are responsible for maintaining a respectful workplace free of discrimination and
all types of harassment and violence. Discrimination and harassment are strictly prohibited by
applicable human rights, health and safety and other legislation, and will not be tolerated,
condoned, or ignored at WE.

Employees are required to report any existing discriminatory, harassing or violent behavior in the
workplace, as well as any potential threats of violence or harassment that become known to an
individual. Reported incidents will be investigated and, if verified, any breach of this policy will
result in disciplinary action that may include the termination of employment for just cause. Where
appropriate, WE may report violent incidents to local law enforcement authorities.

This policy applies at every level of the Organization and to every aspect of the workplace
environment and employment relationship, including recruitment, selection, promotion, transfers,
training, salaries, benefits and termination. This policy also applies to business travel, work-
related social occasions or other locations where the prohibited behavior may have a subsequent
impact on the work relationship, work environment or employee performance. It is also
unacceptable for WE employees to engage in harassment, discrimination or violent behavior
when dealing with clients, or with others with whom they have professional dealings, such as
suppliers or service providers.

WE takes a broad definition of Harassment. Our definition consists of comments or conduct that
is known, or ought reasonably to be known, to be unwelcome. It can involve words or actions that
are known or should be known to be offensive, embarrassing, humiliating, intimidating,
demeaning, or unwelcome. Harassment can occur on any of the grounds of discrimination
identified by this policy. Harassment can consist of a single incident or several incidents over a
period of time.

Anonymous reporting and whistleblowing:

WE has an anonymous process, including an email address, for employees to send through any
concerns on any aspects of HR functions and/or organizational issues. This mailbox is monitored
by our Internal communications team and concerns are answered promptly. Any issues raised
are addressed in a timely manner.

Employees are encouraged to also share concerns with their Manager, Executive or a member
or the People Operations and Culture Team. WE has an open door policy. The Chief People
Officer is the point of escalation for any concerns.

Reporting and investigating conduct issues

WE makes it an obligation of all employees to promptly notify their manager, a HR team member
or the Chief People Officer of any violation or potential violation of our policies.
In the case where an issue is raised, WE acts promptly to investigate. Our process to investigate
is as follows:

• Employee expresses their concern to either their manager, member of the HR team or an
Executive. The concern is documented by the employee
• A senior and trained member of the HR team is appointed as the investigator
• A full investigation is completed – this means that we meet with the person who is making
the complaint, any other employees who may have been witness to the incidents and the
person whom the complaint is about
• All accounts of the incidents are documented
• Once completed the investigation notes and assessment are provided to the Chief People
Officer who works with the Executive to determine if any disciplinary action is required
• The process is completed to the highest standards of confidentially and all parties are
protected in the process
• Depending on the findings of the outcomes a disciplinary action may occur

At WE, upholding our Code of Conduct and our Workplace Harassment and Discrimination
policies are of high importance to us and as such we handle any all matters to the highest
standards.
 PARTNERSHIPS

This section will provide information for your inquiries regarding:

• On the WE Charity website, it says that there is a vetting process for corporate partners.
Can you elaborate on how this vetting process works?
• What would preclude a company from being accepted as a partner?
• What portion of WE Charity’s corporate partners reached out to the charity on their own
initiative to begin a partnership, and how many were recruited by WE Charity?
• Are Craig and Marc's columns in various news outlets their own personal endeavours, or
are they considered part of WE's operations?
• Are the newspaper columns authored by Marc and/or Craig Kielburger written solely by
the brothers, or do they ever receive assistance in writing them from employees at We
Charity and/or Me to We?
• When WE Charity forms corporate partnerships, do companies compensate WE Charity
in the form of a donation? If not, how is WE Charity compensated by corporate partners?
• Both Craig and Marc Kielburger, and the WE Movement have multiple media
partnerships. Are the Kielburger brothers, WE Charity, and/or Me to We paid by media
organizations for their content? In what ways do media organizations benefit from
partnerships with the Kielburger brothers, WE Charity and/or Me to We?
Partnerships and WE Charity

What type of program partnerships does WE Charity engage in?

WE believes in partnering to change the world, as aligned to the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) #17: Multi-stakeholder partnerships:
Please review to understand the Sustainable Development Goals as made by the United Nations
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html

The SDG #17 encourages multi-sector partnerships (non-profits, corporations, government etc.)
as the best means forward to make positive social progress. We seek to be a platform that can
unite educational partners, international agencies, community organizations, foundations,
corporations and the media, in order to take action to better the world. At the heart of what we do
is the important philosophy of partnership that together, we can achieve great impact.

WE Charity’s North America and UK programs would not be possible without the dedicated
support, time and collaboration of incredible program partners who make it possible for schools,
youth and families to participate free of charge. In 2017-2018, more than 16,000 schools and
groups and a total of 4.3 million young change-makers engaged in North America and the UK.
WE Charity’s global programs through WE Villages are anchored in a foundation of sustainable
development thanks to multi-year partnerships.

Since 2007, our WE Schools program students have achieved remarkable results:

• 46.4 million hours volunteered for local and global causes

• 119 million dollars raised for more than 6,165 local and global organization
• 23.3 million pounds of food collected by youth for local food banks
• Over 1 million youth earned their way to WE Day
• In Canada alone in 2017-2018, $128,821,169 in social value was created by WE’s network
of youth. (Social Value = total money raised for local and global causes + value of the
weight of food collected + the value of hours volunteered.)

Since our founding in 1995 fighting against child labour in developing countries, to our
current WE Villages sustainable development model, there has been remarkable global
progress:

• The cumulative impact of WE Villages:

o 1,500 schools and school rooms giving more than 200,000 children the opportunity
to gain an education
o 1 million+ people have gained access to clean water, sanitation and health care
o $36 million+ donated in medical supplies
o Enabled farmers and families with food security education and resources to
produce more than 15 million nutritious meals to fuel their communities
o 30,000 women have been provided with economic self-sufficiency
Please review the following link to understand the impact of WE Villages:
https://www.we.org/we-villages/our-impact/
Our diverse partnership base helps WE to reach its goals and include the following sectors:

School boards and districts

• Partnering with ministries and departments of education, school boards and school districts is
critical to the success of our WE Schools program. We seek to help deliver on their education
priorities as identified by these groups, including character education, civics, social emotional
learning and service learning. The WE Schools program is proven through third-party data to
increases student academic engagement, workplace and life skill readiness, and active
citizenship. We align our educational resources to curriculum expectations, and we
collaborate to ensure that programming is complimentary to other initiatives and/or helps solve
for critical needs and is holistically integrated. With ministry, departments and school board
leadership, we can bring programming to life, with scale, across entire school systems and
ensure that educators’ and students’ efforts are supported and celebrated.
To understand our Educational Partnerships it is critical to review :
https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/our-partners/educational-program-partners/

Government and International Agencies

• In Canada, we work with the provincial and federal governments on youth service initiatives,
including testing various systems to increase youth service, leveraging distance education,
rewards and badges and mentorship models.
• In the UK, we work with Team London, which was formed after the London 2012 Olympics to
continue to foster the spirit of the Olympic games through service, by engaging schools across
the city in active citizenship programs and celebrating this on the WE Day UK stage.
• Globally, we work with UN Woman, UNAIDS, UN Global Compact, among other international
agencies, to bring the SDGs into classrooms and highlight during WE Day UN, which aligns
with the UN General Assembly.

Foundations
• Foundations help to fuel programming and fund projects through donations, grants and/or as
a fundraising platform. We receive funding from individual and family foundations (e.g. Pinball
Clemons Foundation), corporate foundations (e.g. RBC Foundation), and community
foundations, boards and trusts (e.g. McConnell Foundation and the Chicago Community
Trust). Foundations also help to provide thought leadership and guidance for program
innovation.
To understand our Foundation Partnerships it is critical to review:
https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/our-partners/

Community organizations and not-for-profits

• We create more impact, build synergies and move the needle on important issues and
development initiatives by partnering with community-based organizations. For example, our
mental health programs are developed in collaboration with groups such as Canadian Mental
Health Association, Mental Health Commission of Canada, Kids Help Phone, Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre, and the Centre for Mindfulness Studies.

• Internationally, we collaborate in the field with local community-based organizations and other
international development agencies to ensure coordination of efforts, data sharing, and
complimentary strategies. In Haiti, for example, we worked in partnership with Partners in
Health to reinforce the publicly funded health system.
• Domestically, we strategically partner with community organizations and non-profits to enrich
service learning, support their efforts to achieve youth development outcomes, provide
volunteer opportunities, and amplify their causes on the WE Day stage. Annually, members
involved in WE volunteer for more than 46.4 million hours for over 3000 local and global
causes.

Read more on domestic impact online at https://www.we.org/we-day/what-is-we-day/

Media
• Please see ‘Why media partnerships section?”

Corporations
• WE Charity believes in partnering to change the world and align to SDG #17: Multi-stakeholder
partnerships
Please review: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/focussdgs.html.
Corporations provide support through both cash donations and grants, fundraising donations,
in-kind donations, volunteerism, and sponsorship. Our corporate partnerships support WE
Charity’s work in three main areas:
▪ Africa, Asia, Latin America
• WE Villages holistic development and special infrastructure and programming
• Establishment of WE Schools programming in new global markets e.g. China,
Brazil, Thailand, UK.
▪ North America and UK
• WE Schools service learning program and custom campaigns
• Scholarships for youth to participate in camps, and/or to receive grants for their
social projects
• WE Day and special events
• Television broadcasts and media events
▪ Operationally
• In-kind support for shipping, printing, travel and logistics, etc.
• Telecommunications, technology
• Capital infrastructure – office space
• Volunteerism through employee engagement programming (e.g. WE Day
volunteers where we need close to 700-1000 volunteers to execute each event)
Read more in the following section and online at: https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-
charity/our-partners/partners-corporate/

Please note that partnerships are governed by partnership agreements

outlining parties’ responsibilities, deliverables, representation rights and (when applicable)
financial responsibilities. Agreements are reviewed and signed by WE Charity’s Executive
Director, in accordance with the bylaws established by the Board of Directors.

Why does WE Charity form corporate partnerships?

We believe that corporate-charity partnerships can positively help influence both the for-profit and
non-profit sectors to achieve greater social good and change the world. Through our corporate
partnerships, we have been able to achieve a remarkable rate of financial efficiency and maximize
the delivery of our social programs and initiatives through innovation and scaling to uplift lives at
home and around the world. At the heart of our partnership philosophy is the UN Sustainable
Development Goal #17, and the belief that businesses have an essential role in supporting social
causes and solutions.
Engaging corporate partners to support programming, bring attention to causes, and mobilize the
community is a backbone of the charitable sector, and our engagement of corporate partners is
similar to that of other charitable organizations (e.g. CIBC Run for the Cure, Enbridge Ride to
Conquer Cancer, Bell Kids Help Phone).
Corporate partners are important to furthering our mission, and we engage corporations in order
to:

1. Ensure financial efficiencies. Corporate partners assist with a diversity of resources,

including a robust network of active volunteers for programs. This ensures our financial
efficiencies, such as WE Charity achieving an administration rate of less than 10% –
resulting in over 90% on average of every dollar donated allocate directly to youth-serving
programs.

2. Secure sustainable funding and deliver long-term system-change programs. WE

Charity relies on a diversified funding base including corporations, foundation,
government, and individuals. This allows us to plan for long-term sustainable development
programs globally, with an average of 4 to 7 years of development programs per WE
Village region to achieve economic self-sufficiency. Domestically, WE Charity is able to
plan in 5+ funding year cycles with committed corporate partners to invest in educational
program development that delivers high-value system-level programs, such as the
development of Advanced Placement with WE Service – the ground-breaking program
with the College Board celebrated for integrating service learning into college-recognized
AP classes. These partners make it possible to provide this programming for thousands
of students who would not otherwise have access to these experiences.

3. Ensure accessibility to our programs. We are proud that our domestic programs are
available free of charge to youth and families, thanks to sponsorship by corporate and
foundation partners. In the US, an average of 63% of students engaged in WE Schools
are from Title I eligible (free or reduced lunch) schools. We believe that world-class service
learning and educational resources are not just a privilege of the few but should be
available to all young people excited to make a difference.

4. Engage companies in sustainable development. Through our partnerships we’re able

to work in constructive dialogue with corporations to influence partners’ development of a
‘shared value’ framework. This includes encouraging companies to engage their
employees, consumer base, and supply chain in pro-social actions, volunteerism and
campaigns that better the world. Aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goal #17, it
is critical that non-profits engage with corporations in partnership to leverage all leavers
of social impact.

Each of these points is further explained below.

1. Ensure financial efficiencies
Charities are reliant on public fundraising. In the U.S. and Canada there are an estimated
1.7 million charities. In order to raise funds, many charities choose to engage in practices
that require a substantial percentage of the funds raised to be spent on costly fundraising
administration. WE Charity does not use telemarketers, street canvassers, unsolicited
mass mailings, fundraising galas, employee third-party fundraising companies, or other
similar practices.
WE Charity partners with a diverse stakeholder base of supporters (government,
corporate, foundation, individual etc.). As outlined in the UN SDGs #17 and the UN Global
Compact, companies can be one of the greatest forces for social impact. With their vast
resources and networks, companies have an unparalleled ability to lead and deliver
change. When combined with the social impact expertise of high-impact charities, such
joint ventures can be one of the greatest forces in the modern economy to achieve
significant social impacts.

Some of the ways WE Charity harnesses the power of corporations in support of our
mission:

• We tap into the core competencies and business intelligence of our partners to
help achieve efficiencies, off-set costs, and impact more lives. For example, as our
telecom partner, TELUS absorbs our telecommunications costs. DHL is our
logistics partner, offering free shipping. As our air travel partner, WestJet provides
free flights. We believe that every dollar saved in expense is a dollar earned to
impact more lives.
• We partner with companies to reach new audiences and gain presence in new
geographies. We choose to not spend precious charity resources to open multiple
branch offices in every city across Canada, the U.S. or the UK. Instead, our
corporate partners provide their location support. For example, Ford dealerships
serve as the key central community drop-off point for our annual WE Scare Hunger
food drives. Leveraging the vast warehouse space of this partner, the food is
sorted, packed, and shipped to foodbanks across the country. This is especially
important for rural regions of Canada.
• We seek to operate our non-profit like a smart business and learn from the
business acumen of global companies. Companies such as Siemens help outfit
the WE Global Learning Centre with cutting-edge environmentally-friendly
technology to minimize our carbon footprint. Microsoft assisted with a digital
transformation program to track the delivery of our global impacts, such as life-
saving inoculations, school supplies, and other program benefits.
• Corporate partners provide access to potential donors and volunteers. While most
charities recruit supporters through mass advertising or by purchasing mailing lists,
our corporate partners introduce our programs to their network of consumers and
staff. For example, some of our American retail partners provide free signage in
their stores to encourage their millions of annual customers to support the global
development work of WE Charity.
• With corporate partners, we are able to expand and scale programming into areas
where we would not otherwise have the resources to deliver programs and help us
activate important causes.
▪ By way of example, RBC and TELUS joined forces to partner with WE in
2012 to help make WE Schools and WE Day a fully national offering coast
 to coast in Canada. Prior to their investment, we had only been able to
provide the full WE Schools and WE Day programming in Ontario and
emerging in Vancouver and Montreal. As another example, TELUS’
partnership has also provided the means to develop anti-bullying and
internet safety educational resources, helping to tackle cyberbullying – a
cause that youth identified as critical and important. Our partners have
helped make topics accessible to work on key social issues.
▪ Internationally, partnerships with agriculture companies has allowed us to
add Agriculture and Food Security as a pillar of our holistic development
model, empowering farmers to provide for their families.

Thanks to these partnerships, WE Charity achieves an administration rate of less than

10% – resulting in over 90% on average of every dollar donated allocate directly to youth-
serving programs
2. Secure sustainable funding and deliver long-term system-change programs

Often the charity sector is limited by financial uncertainty. Donors give to urgent appeals,
and international development groups lurch from crisis to crisis providing short-term
emergency aid, because the charitable sector struggles to raise funds for pro-active
interventions, such as prevention, promotion, and sustainable development.
The situation is worsened by government funding cycles that are increasingly limited in
length, with priorities changing depending on the government in power. Moreover, as a
true partner to the educational system, we believe that it is our role to not solely rely on
finite government funding, but to also bring incremental support to social benefit programs,
such as the education sector.
WE Charity has successfully continued to grow and reach scale because we have
diversified our funding model. When we partner with companies and institutions, we seek
multi-year agreements (2, 3, 5-year contracted terms) to achieve financial sustainability,
long-term planning, and the most effective social benefit programs that deliver system-
level change.
3. Ensure accessibility to our programs

Corporate partnerships help ensure access to our programs free of any financial barriers,
allowing us to reach millions of lives at home and abroad.

• Corporate partnerships ensure our programming is accessible and without financial

barriers. While we serve all schools, the vast majority of WE Schools are public
schools, and many are in challenged regions. If WE Day wasn’t free, hundreds of
thousands of students wouldn’t be able to participate in these life-enhancing
experiences to develop academic engagement, leadership skills, and active
citizenship. We firmly believe that service learning shouldn’t be a privilege of wealth,
and that all should have access to the transformative learning and experiences we can
offer. As supported by our corporate partners:
o Some 63% of the U.S. schools that run our programs are Title 1 eligible—meaning
students receive free or reduced-cost lunch.
 o Canada and the UK don’t have such a public classification, but we believe
demographics are similar and prioritize working with at-risk and underserved youth
and schools. For example, WE Charity’s Sacred Circle program works with
Indigenous youth, including in remote fly-in communities, to deliver learning
training and youth empowerment programs to assist youth to become leaders by
tackling a social cause of their choice in their communities.

• WE Charity has a diverse funding base. Corporate partnerships are a critical factor to
keeping service learning programs free to youth, schools and families. For example,
specific corporate partners and patrons sponsor the costs of WE Day, which includes
production costs. This ensures that general funds donated to WE Charity DO NOT
fund WE Day, and instead are directed towards other youth-serving programs. Thanks
to our targeted partners, WE Day events—free to students, educators and families—
annually inspire over 250,000 attendees in 16 cities around the world, with a broadcast
audience of 8.9 million viewers.

4. Engage companies in sustainable development

In accordance with the UN SDG #17, WE Charity believes that corporations have a
fundamental responsibility of ‘shared value’ to create a more just, human, and equitable
world. ck to the communities in which they operate.

• We support partners in bringing corporate social responsibility to life not only through
investment but through their core business and by engaging employees. In the
workplace, we have helped advise and counsel corporate partners on how to bring
social issues to life by raising awareness, encouraging fundraising and volunteering.
We help inspire employees through service workshops, corporate campus events,
equipping employees with resources and tools they can use at work or at home with
their family, and providing amazing experiences, like attending WE Day as a reward
that is earned through service.
• We support companies to engage their customers and wider audiences in positive
social causes. We are a platform to help realize corporate social commitments to the
sustainable development goals and local issues. Our corporate partnerships to date
have helped to make topics accessible and resources available to young people,
educators and families to work on key issues affecting them such as bullying, mental
well-being, local poverty, accessibility, STEM, etc.
• By carefully vetting our partners, we influence them and other potential partners. give

What is WE’s partner vetting assessment process?

WE Charity’s Corporate Partnership Review Process:

In accordance with the UN SDG #17, WE Charity believes that corporations have a fundamental
responsibility to create a more just, human, and equitable world. WE Charity has always followed
a standard partnership assessment (“vetting process”) that was established by senior leadership
in collaboration with WE Charity’s Board of Directors.
Our partnership assessment process has consistently weighed a variety of factors including the
mission/vision of the organization, alignment of values, corporate social responsibility efforts,
brand reputation, relevance of causes supported by proposed partner with young people and
previous charitable affiliations and sound practices (environmental, community relations and
labour).
We apply five lenses to assess potential partners:

• The first test is assessing whether the company overall adheres to a ‘shared values’
approach to business.

We recognize that no company is ‘perfect’, but we take a 360-analysis to determine

the overall socially responsible practices of the business. We draw heavily from the
criteria determined by the “B Lab” – which provides the “B Corp” certification. We
gained valuable insight as to the process in which the social enterprise, ME to WE,
was selected as a B Corp, a designation granted by the third-party certification that
puts companies through rigorous testing on environmental impact, worker well-being,
and ethical sourcing. ME to WE excelled in these standards and is now a certified B
Corp. The insider insight and learnings gained through the certification process
informed our own analysis of potential corporate partners

• The second test is whether the company’s fundamental purpose of engaging with WE
Charity is overwhelming social good. We appreciate that a company can have multiple
partnership objectives (engaging employees, brand amplification etc.), but the
overwhelming benefit must be to WE Charity and the fundamental purpose of the
partnership must be to advance the charity’s social mission.

We assess this factor by identifying potential partners who are seeking to bring social
issues to life by system-change programs and deeper engagement. We support
companies to engage their stakeholders, customers, supply chains, and wider
audiences in positive social causes.

WE Charity assesses whether the partner is genuinely open to the charity providing
advice, guidance, and partnership towards continual improvement in their shared
values principles. WE Charity does not want to make “perfect” the inhibitor of
“progress” and is open to partnering with companies that are genuinely willing to
further develop their social outcomes.

We are a platform to help corporate partners committed to the UN Sustainable

Development Goals – as implemented on local, national, or global objectives. Our
corporate partnerships to date have helped our young people, educators and families
to wok on key issues affecting them such as bullying, mental well-being, local poverty,
accessibility, STEM, etc.

• The third test is whether the company is appropriate to the specific type of
engagement and partnership pathway.
 Certain corporate partners may be more appropriate to provide certain areas of
engagement and support to WE Charity.
• general donation to the charity (without any activation)
• pro bono and in-kind support
• volunteer assistance
• internal staff engagement

If the potential corporate partner is seeking to engage directly with a youth audience
in an educational setting an additional level of scrutiny is applied, and the type of
engagement and appropriateness of the message is deeply reviewed.

If WE Charity approves a corporate partner to provide a message that will reach a

youth audience, we carefully work with them to shape the messages surrounding their
social causes on our various platforms. For example, through our partnership with
TELUS, we address the issue of bullying at WE Day stage through having young
people on stage speaking out against the issue and then we follow up with schools
that want to get involved by offering free educational resources.

• The fourth test is whether the company’s practices align with the charitable sector best
practices. WE Charity studies other charities engaging with similar stakeholder groups to
determine their best-practices in vetting and establishing partnerships with companies.
WE Charity regularly analyzes the best practices of multiple groups (such as Imagine
Canada, Scouts Canada, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, AmeriCorp etc.). WE Charity
seeks to ensure continual improvements in partnership vetting.

• The fifth test engages the expertise of WE Charity’s Board of Directors. The Board of
Directors has a veto on all partnerships, and the Board is comprised of experts in the fields
of non-profit governance, ethics, education, child and youth protection, and other related
fields. The Board of Directors includes a U.S. Commissioner of Education, two former
Canadian Directors of Education, two College professors with expertise in social justice
causes, and multiple other experts.

Through this robust vetting process, we seek partners who are interested in more than a
transactional relationship, but instead help inspire employees through service workshops,
corporate campus events, equipping employees’ families with resources and tools, and building
a culture of service through opportunities such as WE Day celebrations.

The partnership assessment criteria are reviewed on a regular basis and the policy has been
updated as the scope of our mandate grows. Additionally, although WE Charity agrees to enter
into a partnership with a corporation, the Charity reserves the right to end any partnership at any
time, if the partnering organization fails to meet the Charity’s mandate at any point during the
relationship. This is standard in any of our corporate partnership agreements. All partnerships are
reassessed on a 12-18-month basis.

Furthermore, WE Charity abides with CRA regulations and enforces strong rules governing
sponsorship vs. donation in terms of tax receipts and benefits.
We believe that the best corporate-charity partnerships will help influence both the for-profit and
non-profit sectors to achieve greater social good.
Has WE Charity ever declined corporate partnerships?
We take our vetting process seriously and have frequently declined/halted pursuit of partnerships
because they do not align with our values or meet our established partnership assessment
criteria. We are dedicated to adhering to our strict vetting process, even in cases where the
opportunity cost has been millions of dollars.
We pride ourselves on working with partners whose commitment to social impact is an authentic
and integrated part of their business model.

How does WE Charity identify potential corporate partners?

WE Charity proactively and carefully seeks to work with businesses that demonstrate a
commitment to, and affinity with, our organization’s mandate and core values that fit with our
strategic direction and subsequently program deliverables and desired outcomes.

We are proud that as a recognized leader in youth development and architecting purpose-based
partnerships, that there are corporations, foundations and non-profits who have reached out to
us or been introduced via organizational stakeholders.

A few ways that corporate partners connect:

• WE Charity is often a first-time employer for many staff, and when they leave to continue
their careers at other companies, they will often encourage their employer to become
involved with WE Charity

• WE Charity has been celebrated by groups such as the Skoll World Forum on Social
Entrepreneurship at Oxford University, which is an opportunity for socially-conscious
companies and high-impact charities to connect together

• Referrals by existing corporate partners – networking hosted at one company to introduce

the cause to other companies in their geography or professional area

• ME to WE Social Enterprise volunteer trips are designed to support the work of WE

Charity, including by introducing individuals to become potential supporters. Past
participants who engage in the trip will often bring the charity to their employer to
encourage involvement.

In all cases, partner prospects are evaluated using our partnership assessment process before a
partnership is pursued.

WE Charity accepts funds from corporations in two main forms – donations and/or sponsorships.
i. Donations
 a. Occur when funds are provided to WE Charity to support its charitable programs
and no advantage (benefit or other item of value) is received by the Donor in return
b. WE Charity gives donation receipts for the eligible amount of the donation only,
per tax laws (Income Tax Act (Canada), Internal Revenue Code (USA), etc.)
c. Larger donations are confirmed with a Charitable Pledge Agreement, signed by
the Executive Director or its designate (i.e. Department Head)
d. As an example, WE Charity’s international development program, WE Villages, is
delivered around the world to empower people to lift themselves out of poverty with
education, health, food, clean water and opportunity programming.

ii. Sponsorships
a. Occur when funds are provided to WE Charity, and an advantage is received in
return
b. WE Charity’s Board of Directors, executives and employees ensure that no
advantage received by a sponsor exceeds the value of the funds provided. This is
all detailed in formal agreements vetted by our in-house council
c. No charitable receipt is provided for sponsorships
d. As an example, WE Charity’s youth empowerment event, WE Day, is a free event
for youth largely because of sponsorship funds
e. The terms of all sponsorships are confirmed by a Sponsorship Agreement, signed
by the Executive Director or its designate (i.e. Department Head)

How does corporate in-kind donations support WE Charity?

WE Charity is further able to keep its administrative costs as low as possible through partners
who provide us with valuable in-kind services. We are proud of the fact that we consistently
exceed industry standards. WE Charity spends less than 10% of its funds on administration, with,
on average, 90 cents of every dollar donated going directly to support our projects and programs.
WE Charity receives approximately one eighth of our consolidated budget in the form of in-kind
goods and supplies. Citizenship-minded companies support us from legal and business services,
to the supplies and logistics that make WE Day possible (e.g. tour shipping, air and ground travel),
to the advanced technology that made the WE Global Learning Center a hub for connecting staff,
youth, educators and social entrepreneurs around the world.

Why we partner with media

• Multiple media partnerships and sponsorships have been forged across print, broadcast
and digital entities to generate public awareness on issues of importance, and also support
the broadcasting and promotion of WE Day to expand its reach to youth and families.

• The relationships between WE and its reputable media partners are built on a foundation
of common respect and a shared goal of raising a generation of engaged and informed
citizens. Our media partners do not seek to influence or control WE content, nor do we
interfere with their journalistic responsibility to report the news.

• Outside of editorial content, and as common practice within the charitable sector, we do
offer media outlets the opportunity to become sponsors in support of select WE initiatives
and events, such as WE Day. Just as radio stations and television networks run PSAs
across their own communication platforms to raise awareness about charitable initiatives
 they sponsor—from walks to gala events—WE is grateful for the support of media outlets
from across North America and the UK.

• Media outlets are traditionally involved in sponsoring community events in a

marketing/advertising capacity. It is a long-standing practice and is not driven by the news-
gathering/editorial functions but by the business and community outreach divisions.

Tracing WE’s history to a single news story

WE was sparked by a newspaper headline. At 12 years old, Craig Kielburger was looking for the
comics when he was shocked by an article on the front page of his local newspaper. The headline
read, “Battled child labor, boy, 12, murdered.” The story told of Iqbal Masih, a Pakistani boy killed
after escaping bonded labour. Craig took the clipping to his Grade 7 class and shared the news,
after which he and his classmates—with help from older brother, Marc—launched a children’s
charity that would become a movement of millions.
For WE Co-Founders Craig and Marc Kielburger, discussing the daily news was a family affair.
Broadsheets were spread out at the breakfast table, and with two school teachers for parents,
lessons were offered on local elections or foreign wars. Politicians, peacemakers, trade and tariffs
were regular topics around the kitchen table and the TV was most often tuned to a news channel.
This is how two kids from the suburbs first became acquainted with world issues.
Educating youth about issues that matter
WE wants youth to change the world. And changing the world starts with knowing what’s going
on in the world.
So journalism matters. News media tell the stories that are important, drawing attention to local
and global challenges that need our attention. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once told Craig
Kielburger, every newspaper is a ‘to do’ list for creating positive change.
That’s why WE works with multiple media partners around the world—to educate more youth on
important social justice issues, and to help them discover the causes that matter most to them.
Building media literacy
One of WE’s founding principles is that media literacy is the foundation of engaged citizenship.
WE believes that caring about the world starts with learning about it, especially for young people.
That’s why WE works with our media partners, drawing on their journalistic experience to develop
free resources that support youth to deeply understand the issues covered in the press—be it
television, print, radio or online. WE also offers free educational sessions delivered by respected
journalists and broadcast to remote classrooms, via our WE Global Learning Centre in Toronto.
Media literacy is especially vital in some of the countries in which WE works, where freedom of
the press is not an established value. And in countries where it is an established value, it must
not be taken for granted in our current climate of political divisiveness, fake news, and mediums
of communication that lack traditional checks and balances.

Global Voices Column and Lesson Plans

The Global Voices Program is our largest and most well know education programme. Its articles
and related free lesson plans were launched more than 10 years ago as part of WE’s commitment
to teaching media literacy to youth, informing them on current affairs, and helping youth take
action on the issues they care about most.
Global Voices is regularly published and includes a column on social issues by youth
empowerment advocates Craig and Marc Kielburger, and accompanied with free lesson plans. A
selection of the materials were compiled in an educational resource available for schools,
featuring a forward by anti-apartheid hero and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond
Tutu. The program materials reach more than 10,000 educators in Canada, the U.S. and UK via
e-newsletter and are intended to encourage media literacy among students and foster
understanding and discussion among students on important issues.
Global Voices takes a village. Craig and/or Marc Kielburger are deeply involved in each column,
from idea generation, through the dictation, writing and editing process, but like any co-founders
of a large organization, they depend on the support of a skilled team of researchers, writers and
curriculum experts to deliver the full Global Voices program.
This process is clearly and transparently outlined on our website, it’s critical that this is
review. https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/financials-and-governance/

The Global Voices column and Lesson Plan distill current events and social issues into digestible
reading and discussion questions for young people. It is an agile resource on local and global
issues that is always timely, unlike textbooks. Teachers find Global Voices especially helpful in
Language Arts, Science and Social Studies, though the lessons can be applied to almost any
subject area.
Global Voices comes with Elementary (Grades 4-8) and Secondary (9-12), ready-to-use
classroom resources developed by curriculum specialists. The issues covered include genocide,
environmental challenges, human rights, women's empowerment, mental health,
globalization and indigenous issues (examples below).
These issues are introduced with an aim to help readers, especially young people, take action on
a cause related to the issue. For instance, a column about protecting the environment might
include lifestyle-esque tips for a school committed to no single-use plastic, or how a family can
reduce their dependence on cleaners that negatively affect waterways.
To expand the discussion, these columns also appear on select media platforms (print and online)
across Canada and the U.S.
To review our lesson plan column archive please read:
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/
Below is a select sampling of Global Voices columns, including curriculum resources:
Media literacy
Beware the Hidden Messages in Memes
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/beware-hidden-messages-memes-think-
click/
How internet algorithms are dividing us
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/internet-algorithms-dividing-us/
Indigenous Issues
Speaking the language of reconciliation
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/speaking-language-reconciliation/
A path to reconciliation is just through the kitchen
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/path-reconciliation-kitchen/
Crisis of missing and murdered Aboriginal women is greater than we realize
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/crisis-of-missing-and-murdered-
aboriginal-women-greater-than-anyone-realized/
Women’s Rights
Our Gender Bias Report Card
https://www.we.org/we-schools/columns/global-voices/holding-accountable-gender-bias-report-
card/

Media partnerships built on mutual respect

The relationships between WE and its reputable media partners are built on a foundation of
common respect and a shared goal of raising a generation of engaged and informed citizens. Our
media partners do not seek to influence or control WE content, nor do we interfere with their
journalistic responsibility to report the news.
Outside of editorial content, and as common practice within the charitable sector, we do offer
media outlets the opportunity to become sponsors in support of select WE initiatives and events,
such as WE Day. Just as radio stations and television networks run PSAs across their own
communication platforms to raise awareness about charitable initiatives they sponsor—from
walks to gala events—WE is grateful for the support of media outlets from across North America
and the UK.
Media outlets are traditionally involved in sponsoring community events in a marketing/advertising
capacity. It is a long-standing practice and is not driven by the news-gathering/editorial functions
but by the business and community outreach divisions.
 WE CHARITY AND ME TO WE RELATIONSHIP

This section will provide information for your inquiries regarding:

• On the Me to We website, it says Me to We employees can be seconded to support WE

Charity. Does it ever work the other way around?
• The WE Headquarters at 339 Queen St E is owned by We Charity. Does Me to We pay
rent to the charity for using its office space? How much space does Me to We lease from
We Charity?
• How are WE Charity and Me to We separate, and how are they not? Do the two
organizations share employees? Do they share office space? Do budgets from one
organization ever fund initiatives by the other? Are there any broad policies or
organizational statements you can provide to help us understand the distinction?
 WE CHARITY AND ME TO WE RELATIONSHIP
What is WE?

WE Charity and ME to WE social enterprise work together in partnership to power the WE

Movement.

Due to the archaic laws governing the charitable sector in Canada, ME to WE and WE Charity
need to operate as two separate entities but share a common mission. Please note this structure
would be significantly different if the organizations were headquartered in countries such as UK
or various Scandanavian nations that have fully embraced Social Entrepreneurship in the
charitable sector.

WE is the brand of the WE Movement. WE Charity and ME to WE partner and work collaboratively
to achieve the mission to empower all people to change the world, locally and globally, achieving
transformative outcomes for themselves and others. It is the primary joint initiative between the
two organizations, with a shared objective to mobilize a movement for social good.

WE makes doing good, doable.

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about the WE
Movement: https://www.we.org/we-movement/

What is WE Charity?

WE Charity is an international charity and educational partner. Our organization is unique among
Canadian charities in that it operates collaborative programs both domestically and internationally.
In Canada, the US, and the UK, WE Day and WE Schools are initiatives of WE Charity that
educate and empower young people to make a difference. WE Schools is a year-long educational
program that nurtures compassion in students and gives them the tools to create transformative
social change. WE Day is a series of stadium-sized events that celebrate youth making a
difference in their local and global communities.
In Africa, Asia and Latin America, we partner with communities to implement WE Villages, a
holistic, five-pillar international development model designed to achieve sustainable change.
Together with local leaders and families, we transform lives with solutions that are adaptive,
effective and sustained long term by the community itself.

• WE Schools is a year-long experiential service-learning program that empowers youth to

make positive impacts in local and global communities. With over 16,000 schools engaged
globally, WE Schools aims to revitalize the fundamental purpose of education: instil a love
of learning in students, move them to develop life skills to better the world, and empower
them to forge their own personal paths to success. Educators are given the tools to engage
their classes, allowing students to further their core-curricular learning while gaining an
understanding of the root causes of the pressing issues around them.
Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about WE
Schools: https://www.we.org/we-schools/
 • WE Day is a day-long educational and inspirational event that celebrates the power of
young people to make a positive difference in the world. As part of the WE Schools
program, students earn their way to WE Day, WE Charity’s signature youth empowerment
event. While the event is free for schools and youth to attend, participants must earn their
tickets through a commitment to one local and one global action of their choice through
the WE Schools program. Reading the information on this page is critical to
understanding more about WE Day: https://www.we.org/we-day/
• WE Villages is an adaptive, effective five-pillar model built on 20 years of experience
collaborating with dedicated community members and international development experts
to find solutions that work. Our model is designed to address the root causes of poverty
and remove the barriers to education to break the cycle of poverty. It is not a handout or
single solution, but a combination of key interventions that empower a community to help
themselves through our five Pillars of Impact: Education, Water, Health, Food, and
Opportunity. At the heart of the asset-based community development approach lies the
belief that the community’s own assets and resources including the people, institutions,
skills and capabilities are the most critical resources for development. In essence, it is an
approach that seeks to build sustainable livelihoods and to break the cycle of long-term
dependency to promote self-sufficiency. We currently work in nine countries overseas:
Kenya, Tanzania, Ecuador, Nicaragua, India, Rural China, Sierra Leone, Haiti, and
Ethiopia.
Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about WE
Villages: https://www.we.org/we-villages/our-development-model/

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about WE Charity:
https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/

What is ME to WE?

ME to WE is a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences that
allow people to do good through their everyday choices. ME to WE operates based on a unique
social enterprise model and uses its income to support the operating costs incurred by its partner,
WE Charity. Through the sale of socially conscious retail products, leadership experiences and
immersive volunteer trips, ME to WE drives impact by supporting WE Villages communities
around the world with its unique selling points and experience offerings. ME to WE has two
principle lines of social entrepreneurship:

• Trips: ME to WE’s world-class service trips are particularly impactful. Each life-changing
experience provides young people, adults, families and corporate groups with the unique
opportunity to volunteer on a WE Charity international development project. This can
include assisting with local harvests, collecting water or even building a school.

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding why ME to WE

trips are different:
https://www.metowe.com/why-metowe-trips-are-different/
 • Retail: ME to WE retail products offer consumer choices that give back, and every product
sold contributes to local programming or creates lasting change in a community overseas.
To make this process even more transparent and powerful, our innovative Track Your
Impact model uses an 8 digit code to show supporters exactly what charitable impact their
purchase will have in support of WE charity.
Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding our retail impacts:
https://ca.shop.metowe.com/pages/about-us
What makes ME to WE a true social enterprise in that its bottom line is not measured by profits,
but by the people empowered and the lives transformed. Every decision begins and ends with
‘how will this make the world a better place,’ and every action brings us closer to this crucial goal
and helps support the work of WE Charity.
ME to WE donates half of its net profit to support WE Charity, while the other half is reinvested to
grow the mission of the social enterprise. While ME to WE’s commitment is to donate a minimum
50% of its net profit to WE Charity, it often donates as much as 80+% of its yearly profit and
millions of dollars of cost offsetting in-kind to WE Charity. To date ME to WE has now donated
CAD $20 million (cash and cost off setting in-kind) to WE Charity. Using a highly effective
model, ME to WE is structured to offset expenses and help provide pro bono services to WE
Charity’s work, ensuring that the charity achieves a remarkable rate of financial efficiency. WE
Charity on average is able to spend an average of 90% of its donations going directly to charitable
efforts at home and abroad.

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about ME to WE:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding our social enterprise
model:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/social-enterprise-model/

What led to the creation of the social enterprise?

A reality for many non-profits in Canada, in its earlier days WE Charity faced the challenge of
having a reliable and sustainable funding source that could guarantee the charity’s ability to
effectively scale its operations to support the delivery of world class programs aimed to create
sustainable and transformative change both domestically and internationally. After natural
disasters like the 2004 Tsunami in Sri Lanka/Thailand, WE Charity saw a massive shift toward
donors funding urgent relief efforts and away from donating to support long-term international
development efforts. It was after this shift that WE Charity realized the organization could no
longer solely rely on donor dollars. Moreover the 170,000+ registered charities and non-profits in
Canada, coupled with the limited amount of income people are spending on charitable donations
each year (only 20.9% of Canadians make charitable donations donating only 0.56% of their
income), the senior leadership at WE Charity faced the challenge of fighting for a very small
portion of these limited funds.

Facing these limitations within the charitable sector that don’t allow registered charities and non-
profit organizations to develop business-driven activities to create sustainable funding sources,
WE Charity made the bold decision to establish a separately structured social enterprise that
would support the charity financially while at the same time furthering its mission.

Today, ME to WE is an award-winning social enterprise that drives social impact through offering
consumers socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity. ME to WE is
B Corp Certified and scores among the top 5% of all Canadian B Corp organizations meeting
rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about the
effective model of social enterprise:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/social-enterprise-model/
It is critical to watch the section on “Recharging battery” from :00 to 1:45

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding ME to WE’s origins:

https://www.metowe.com/about-us/our-story/

What is the relationship between WE Charity and ME to WE and how is it

structured?

WE Charity is a registered and operating charity. WE Charity’s headquarters are located at 339
Queen St. East.

ME to WE is a social enterprise. ME to WE’s Headquarters are located at 145 Berkeley St.

WE Charity has an active Board of Directors who oversee the organization and drive the strategic
direction of the charity. The board provides legal, financial, and fiduciary oversight to the charity
and appoints the Executive Director to oversee the day to day operations.

ME to WE has an active Board of Directors who oversee the social enterprise and provide
strategic guidance to the business. The Chair of WE Charity participates on the ME to WE board
to ensure the social enterprise acts in the best interests of WE Charity. Furthermore the Executive
Director of ME to WE provides a full annual report to the WE Charity Board of Directors.

ME to WE and WE Charity are legally distinct entities and maintain separate financials,
governance, and headquarters. However, each party shares a common mission and work towards
a common goal.

WE Charity and ME to WE partner together in driving the WE Movement. The relationship is

defined by a legal partnership agreement which outlines the roles and responsibilities of each
party and is reviewed and signed off annually by the Executive Directors and Board of Directors
of both organizations.

The structure of the partnership is such that ME to WE’s primary function is to support the
mission of WE Charity. ME to WE designs its programs and products in such a way to support
and reinforce the core activities of the charity.
Watching the video on this page is critical to understanding the effective model of social
enterprise:
Jason Saul’s video in the “What is Social Enterprise” section:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/social-enterprise-model/

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding the relationship

between WE Charity and ME to WE:
https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/financials-and-governance/me-to-we-partnership/
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/relationship-with-we-charity/

Has the structure between the two organizations been reviewed by a third party?

WE Charity and ME to WE recognized that the social enterprise model was not common place in
the Canadian context. Consequently, they have taken a number of unprecedented steps to ensure
the model and partnership structure has been assessed by independent experts. This includes
modes of interactions and areas of financial engagement including, financial transfers, staff
allocation and office space. These areas have been reviewed by a series of experts and
independent groups:

• Provincial Guardian Trustee Sign off on Model

The Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee (“PGT”) is a branch of the Ontario
government’s Ministry of the Attorney General which provides services that safeguard the
legal, personal and financial interests of certain private individuals and estates. As a matter
of legal due diligence, WE Charity and ME to WE underwent a full assessment from the
PGT and were awarded an official court order supporting the structure and relationship.
• Evaluation and Endorsement from the Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
The Honourable Peter Cordy, C.C., C.D., performed a comprehensive review of all
governance and operations of the charity and social enterprise and provided an
unconditional commendation and formal recognition of the financial diligence
demonstrated by both ME to WE and WE Charity.
• Model Proposed and Structured by two top law firms
To help create a sound corporate structure, governance model and reporting requirements
for the partnership, WE Charity and ME to WE engaged two of Canada’s top law firms,
Torys and Miller Thomson, who offered pro bono legal services in creating the governing
documents of the partnership.
• On-Going Legal Advice from Miller Thomson LLP
Miller Thompson LLP is a national legal practice which specializes in business law and
works with non-profit organizations and businesses alike, as an internationally recognized
law firm. Since the inception of ME to WE, we have sought legal counsel from Miller
Thomson, and continue to receive ongoing confirmation of the legitimacy of the structure
of our operations.

What governance measures are in place for the partnership between WE Charity
and ME to WE?
WE Charity and ME to WE are committed to strong governance of their respective entities and of
the important partnership they have. A series of measures and processes have been put in place
to ensure a high degree of clarity, transparency and accountability.

The governance measures in place include the following:

1. A legal partnership agreement is in place, reviewed annually and signed off by the
Executive Directors of the respect entities.
2. Both parties perform annual independent financial audits.
3. On a regular basis the Executive Directors of ME to WE and WE Charity perform formal
reviews of the following:
a. Office Space
i. Ensure that wherever possible ME to WE staff are located in and working
out of ME to WE Offices
ii. Ensure that wherever possible WE Charity staff are located in and working
out of WE Charity offices
iii. In the small number of possible cases where overlap occurs, that ME to
WE is paying for the jointly used office space (i.e. hot desks within the
buildings)
b. Staff & Personnel
i. Ensure that ME to WE staff are contracted by and paid by ME to WE
ii. Ensure that WE Charity staff are contracted by and paid by WE Charity
iii. In the small occurrences where overlap may occur for joint projects,
programs or initiatives, a formal and documented reconciliation process is
put in place and led by the Executive Directors and HR team leads to
ensure staff time allocations are tracked and reconciled formally. In all
cases, this process has shown that, on the whole, ME to WE staff support
the work of WE Charity overwhelmingly. This will continue as a matter of
policy
4. ME to WE’s Executive Director provides detailed updates and reports to the WE Charity
Board of Directors to ensure there is strong insight and oversight.

Watching the videos on this page is critical to understanding WE Charity’s Board of

Directors, the governance structure and the partnership with ME to WE:
https://www.we.org/about-we-charity/our-team/meet-scott/
• 1:23 – 1:54 - Overview of Board
• 5:56 – 6:41 - Partnership with ME to WE
• 9:45 – 10:48 - Diversity and expertise on the Board of WE Charity.

Watching the videos on this page is critical to understanding WE Charity’s Board of

Directors and the governance structure https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/our-
team/#!jig[1]/ML/60826
Video: Michelle Douglas, chair of Canadian WE Charity Board of Directors
• 1:34 – 2:10 - Q: Why is the work of the WE Charity Board so important?
• 2:11 – 3:02 - Q: WE Charity’s partnership with ME to WE?
What is the governance process for the financial transactions between both
parties and who oversees this?

In order to maintain the financial integrity of both organizations, on an annual basis, WE Charity
and ME to WE go through the standard process of reconciling and accounting for the support of
WE Charity by ME to WE. This annual reconciliation process is designed to fulfil the legal
obligation of tracking income and expenses, and to document all financial records. The Board of
Directors of WE Charity is deeply engaged in this process. Documentation is provided to the
Board of Directors with the details to ensure full insight by the Board into the relationship.

This reconciliation process and review provides oversight to the following:

1. All financial transactions between the two organizations,

2. The nature and value of the in-kind support provided by ME to WE to WE Charity; and
3. Any other substantive work done in partnership.

In addition to the annual reconciliation, throughout the year, any other substantive decisions
involving both parties are reviewed and signed off by the WE Charity Board of Directors.

Learn more about WE Charity’s governance structure here:

https://www.wecharity.org/about-we-charity/financials-and-governance/good-governance/

Do staff get paid by the social enterprise, by the charity or both?

WE Charity and ME to WE are separate and distinct entities and staff are either employed by WE
Charity or ME to WE. Employees’ job responsibilities, salaries, and benefits align to the respective
organization by which they are employed. To enable better efficiency and effectiveness of both
the Charity and Social Enterprise, a few functions support both entities, examples of which include
roles on the Human Resources and IT teams. In these teams, the vast majority of staff are paid
by and aligned to the entities separately, i.e., ME to WE staff supporting ME to WE and WE
Charity Staff supporting WE Charity. In the very few cases where an employee supports both
entities, a formal reconciliation process is put in place led by the Executive Directors and HR leads
to ensure staff time allocations are tracked and reconciled formally. In all cases, this process has
shown that on the whole ME to WE staff support the work of WE Charity overwhelmingly. This
will be continued as a matter of policy.

Does ME to WE have a third-party certification verifying structure and

governance?

ME to WE is a social enterprise founded in 2008 that drives social impact through offering
consumers socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity. On
December 5th, 2015, ME to WE was certified as the 150th B Corporation in Canada, meeting
rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B
Corporation certification is to business what Fair Trade is to coffee or LEED is to a building.

In order to become B Corp Certified, ME to WE had to complete an extensive and highly detailed
application, comprised of hundreds of questions. A range of points are awarded for each
response, and the applying organization is required to provide documentation to prove all claims.

In addition, certified B Corporations are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions
on all of their stakeholders. B Corps make this legal change by adding an amendment to their
articles of incorporation. This is considered a "fundamental change" and thus requires a "special
resolution" by the shareholders.

ME to WE attained a score in the top 5% of Canadian Certified B Corporations. Their high impact
policies and practices include producing financials that are verified annually by an independent
source; tracking the impact of its work with small-scale suppliers, such as the women from Kenya
who make handmade accessories for ME to WE Artisans; and reaching underserved and bullied
youth in Canada, including those in Indigenous communities or high-risk populations through its
leadership programming. As a Certified B Corp, ME to WE solidifies its commitment to using
business as a force for good and paves a path for other companies to follow.

“We are seeing an unprecedented amount of interest in this movement from Canadian
companies as the global community continues to grow,” said Joyce Sou, Director of B Lab
Canada. “ME to WE is a great Canadian example of an innovative business model for
positive social change.”

To learn more about B Corp Certification:

https://bcorporation.net/

What did ME to WE excel at in B Corp scoring?

ME to WE has structured itself to maximize its positive social good. As part of the B Corp
evaluation process, the following were particularly high scores relative to other B-Corp certified
companies:
• Fair wages: ME to WE pays the artisans who supply handmade accessories 2.2 times
more than what is considered a fair wage by the B Lab;
• 76% of our total Cost of Goods Sold is spent on providing opportunity and paying fair
wages to small-scale, independent suppliers in “low-income, poor or very poor
markets”.
• Gender equity: ME to WE has extremely high numbers of women on its team, as well
as women in management.
• Financial accountability: ME to WE produces financials that are verified annually by an
independent source through an audit or review.
• Reaching out: Through its leadership programs, ME to WE reaches underserved and
at-risk youth, including those in Indigenous communities.
Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding ME to WE’s B Corp’s
certification:
https://www.metowe.com/about-us/b-corp-certification/
https://bcorporation.net/directory/me-to-we

What role does ME to WE play at WE Day?

WE Day is made possible by the generous support of a community of sponsors who fund the
events and make it possible for schools, youth and families to participate free of charge. ME to
WE is one of the many proud supporters of WE Day. More formally, ME to WE is a key program
partner and sponsor of the event, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, just like other
leading sponsors and partners. As such, ME to WE has the opportunity to share its message of
creating meaningful and lasting change at WE Day.
ME to WE has also provided financial and cost offsetting in kind contributions to expand the event,
and to help maintain its free status to all students and educators who attend.ME to WE has
donated tens of thousands of hours of paid staff time to support WE Day.

What is the WE Global Learning Center?

The WE Global Learning Center (“WE GLC”) is a community space that makes doing good doable
for youth and adults in Canada and internationally. With world-class technology, leadership
programs, social issues workshops, the WE Global Learning Center is an innovative hub where
action plans come to life and transformative change is created.
The WE Global Learning Center is more than just the new headquarters, it’s the destination for
any world-changer who wants to learn about the world. It is the ultimate field-trip for schools or
families that want to learn about global issues, and the place for businesses to hold their staff
retreats to learn about socially conscious leadership.
The best part is that schools and groups don’t need to be located in Toronto to take part in WE’s
cutting-edge programming—they can participate via digital classrooms, using technology that
supports the delivery of leadership training and professional development, no matter where they
are in the world.
The WE Global Learning Center is transforming service-learning opportunities for millions of
students coast to coast and around the world, enhancing their skills and knowledge so they can
create positive change in their local and global communities.
The WE Global Learning Center is owned and operated by WE Charity and was made possible
by the commitment of a community of donors.

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about the WE
Global Learning Center’s Donors: https://www.we.org/wglc/donors/

Reading the information on this page is critical to understanding more about the WE
Global Learning Centre: https://www.we.org/wglc/
What is the nature of the in-kind support from ME to WE?

ME to WE donates half its net profit to support WE Charity, while the other half is reinvested to
grow the mission of the social enterprise. While ME to WE’s commitment is to donate a minimum
50% of its net profit to WE Charity, it often donates as much as 80+% of its yearly profit and
millions of dollars of cost offsetting in-kind revenue to WE Charity. To date ME to WE has donated
CAD $20 million (cash and in-kind) to WE Charity. Using a highly effective model, ME to WE is
structured to offset expenses and help provide pro bono services to WE Charity’s work ensuring
that the charity achieves a remarkable rate of financial efficiency with an average of 90% of its
donations going directly to charitable efforts at home and abroad.

ME to WE provides significant in-kind support to WE Charity that directly reduces or eliminates

expenses the charity would otherwise have to incur, resulting in the ability of the charity to
maintain a low administration rate and maximize donor dollars. The following are some of the
ways in which ME to WE supports through in-kind support:

1. ME to WE staff annually spend thousands of hours on work related to WE Charity

2. ME to WE provides motivational speakers to WE Charity events at no charge to the charity
3. ME to WE provides free office space to WE Charity for dozens of its staff and has been
doing so since its inception.
4. As a staff honouring opportunity every two years, WE Charity staff and ME to WE staff
have the opportunity to come together and travel to either Kenya, India, or Ecuador to see
the impact of the WE Villages model in person. This provides WE Charity staff the
opportunity to connect directly with the projects and people they work very hard to support
and provides a deep connection to the mission and impact of their work. To honour staff,
ME to WE covers all on-the ground costs associated with the trip.

What is the role of Craig and Marc Kielburger?

Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger seek to act always with the highest of integrity. The charity
was born from the commitment of a 12-year old witnessing the injustice of child slavery. More
than 23-years later, they have remained passionately committing to the cause.
When they were just teenagers, launching then-Free The Children in 1995, they were trying to
figure out how to change the world with the most impact and social value. The organizations they
have founded are a reflection of that drive, and the causes they care about.
WE Day celebrates the service and volunteer efforts of young people, and it’s what Craig and
Marc wish they had when they started out. WE Charity helps people change the world, locally and
globally. At home, through innovative programs like WE Schools for educators, youth and schools
and WE Companies, for corporations and their employees. Internationally, through its five-pillar
holistic, sustainable development model WE Villages. At ME to WE, they put their training, Marc
as a lawyer and Craig with an MBA, to work to drive maximum impact through social enterprise.
The brothers volunteer their time to WE Charity, and act as fundraisers on behalf of the cause.
Similar to all sections cited above, we ask you to engage with the utmost of care for any
unsubstantiated claims or negative innuendo towards our co-founders, as it could substantially
negatively impact the charity, and specifically our co-founders’ abilities to fundraise for WE
Charity.
Should you choose to write about our co-founders, please ensure to present an accurate picture
inclusive of the following facts:

• Since the founding of WE Charity 23 years ago, neither Marc nor Craig Kielburger have
ever received compensation/drawn a salary from the charity.
• Both Marc and Craig remain steadfast volunteers on behalf of the charity, with their
principle role acting as fundraisers for the charity.
• Marc and Craig Kielburger draw a salary from ME to WE Social Enterprise. It is
important to note that the salary is in line with Imagine Canada guidelines for nonprofits
and social enterprises.
• All royalties from books, written contributions, and honorariums go back to support WE
Charity, and other select causes Craig and Marc have identified to advance social good.
• Furthermore, both Marc and Craig have made significant personal sacrifices to support
the mission charity, including time away from home and family commitments.
• Craig and Marc were recognized as Canada’s Most Admired CEOs for the Broader Social
Sector in 2015 in Canada. This was done through a rigorous evaluation process by a team
of outside experts examining many important factors of organizational management and
development.

Global Voices Column and Lesson Plan (as also outlined in the media partnership section)

• The Global Voices Program is one of WE Charity’s largest and most well know
education programme. It’s articles and related free lesson plans were launched more
than 10 years ago as part of WE’s commitment to teaching media literacy to youth,
informing them on current affairs, and helping youth take action on the issues they care
about most.
• Global Voices is regularly published and includes a column on social issues by youth
empowerment advocates Craig and Marc Kielburger and accompanied with free lesson
plans.
• Craig and Marc Kielburger are not paid for their participation in this program. They are
dedicated to the program because their own personal journey on social causes was
sparked by reading a newspaper article.
• The program materials reach more than 10,000 educators in Canada, the U.S. and UK
via e-newsletter and are intended to encourage media literacy among students and
foster understanding and discussion among students on important issues.
• Global Voices takes a village. Craig and/or Marc Kielburger are deeply involved in each
column, from idea generation, through the dictation, writing and editing process (with
archived notes from each step), but like any co-founders of a large organization, they
depend on the support of a skilled team of researchers, writers and curriculum experts to
deliver the full Global Voices program. This is, once again, transparently outlined on the
web site.

Why and how do ME to WE and WE Charity partner?

ME to WE and WE Charity have come together in partnership to power the WE Movement – a
movement which empowering people to change the world. As a result, the two organizations
partner on a series of projects and programs to maximize social impact.

Each project/program is governed by a formal partnership agreement outlining parties

responsibilities, deliverables and financial responsibilities. Agreements are reviewed and
signed by the respective Executive Director from each organization.

Partnered projects and programs are reviewed by WE Charity Board of Directors annually.

ME to WE’s business model inherently seeks to provide social impact aligned with the mission
of WE Charity. Some of the ways in which ME to WE achieves this include:

• Providing trips free of charge to support WE Charity fundraising efforts.

o At the request of WE Charity and with the sign off of the Executive Director, ME
to WE hosts key individuals and supporters of WE Charity, providing them with
the opportunity to visit our international projects. This is designed to further our
engagement with them and build their awareness of WE Charity. ME to WE has
provided these experiences at no charge to WE Charity or the individuals
themselves. ME to WE annually directly pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to
host these individuals.

• Offering employment opportunities in WE Villages communities:

o ME to WE Artisans now works with over 2,000 extraordinary makers in Kenya
and Ecuador, from artisans to leatherworkers and cacao farmers.
o Our unique selling proposition is our ability to provide the consumer a direct and
transparent connection to the impact they are creating with each purchase
through the WE Villages development model.
o We call products created by ME to WE that include WE Village community
members in creative development and/or production stages “Closed Loop”
products. These projects specifically support he sustainability of the WE Villages
development model and opportunity pillar to help women escape from poverty,
economically independent and send kids to school
o For example, ME to WE’s signature product, the “Rafiki” bracelet, is sourced and
manufactured in WE Villages communities, and then an impact is donated back
to these communities following each purchase of the product. Thus, ME to WE is
able to empower these communities through production as well as purchase.