At Communitech, many of the companies we work with are technology startups in the ‘sink or swim’ stage of their development, devoting almost all their resources to financial growth. However, I’m always impressed when our companies of all sizes – even those still developing early-stage growth – approach me looking for ways to give back more to their community.

Often when a company wants to give back, they have a loose idea of what they’d like to do (for example, a team volunteer opportunity, or an engaging fundraising campaign) but don’t know how to get the ball rolling.

When this happens, I usually ask the three questions about the company:

    • What is your bandwidth?
    • Who are your champions?
    • How would you like this to work with your company’s mission?


When you look at bandwidth, it’s important to be honest with yourself. That way you don’t over-promise or let down a charity, but also get the most out of it yourself. Your bandwidth is what you have to give, and it can be a mix: from volunteer hours (group and individual), financial contributions and office space to in-kind donations and skilled volunteerism, you can find the right fit for where you are and go from there.

When you look at champions, you’re asking, who is responsible for organizing this on our end, liaising with charities, pumping up co-workers and evaluating success? This can be an individual, a founder, an HR leader or a committee – whatever works for where you are.

And when you look at your mission, that’s when you can start to think of the causes that really motivate your team. If you’re in the education sector, look at STEAM-related charities; if in green tech, sustainability groups make sense, and so forth. You can also calculate other mission-based factors here like growing your company’s brand locally, building a culture of giving, and attracting talent who want to lead more fulfilled work lives.

These three questions are pretty simple, but a good launching point for creating a mutually beneficial giving relationship. Once you know what you can do, your champion(s) can find the right charity to fit the bill.

Something Good

Last week, I was included on a lovely email chain initiated by Kris Braun, Director of Engineering at Bonfire. Bonfire is a quickly-growing tech firm in town that recently hired a Syrian refugee through Talent Beyond Boundaries (and you can read all about Mohammed Hakmi’s journey to Canada here) and wanted to do more.

Kris had the idea that we could partner up to find the Next Ten – local companies that could be inspired by this success story to hire refugees as well. We are so excited for this challenge, and we’ll be asking all our companies to look at their talent needs to see if Talent Beyond Boundaries makes sense for them. If you’d like more info on this, just drop me a line.

What can I do?

Stone Soup V: THEMUSEUM, Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m. Stone Soup KW

DemoCampGuelph25: E Bar, Wednesday April 17 at 6:30 p.m. Demo Camp Guelph

Plasma Car Fundraiser: Conestoga Mall, Friday, April 5 at 7 a.m. KidsAbility

Not Another Gala: Victoria Park Pavilion, Friday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. Reception House