Contribution: 2011-2023
$8.7 million
903 projects supported
Funding strategy
Capacity Strengthening
Innoweave has been a critical component of McConnell’s Capacity Strengthening work for more than a decade. The initiative began as an idea in 2011. Identifying a need within the social sector, McConnell asked how individualized coaching could help Canadian nonprofits and charities apply innovative ideas and strengthen their capacity to create positive change.
Innoweave’s first coaching engagements supported organizations to define their impact goals, to use collective impact to collaborate on complex issues, or even explore other revenue streams. In line with the shifting needs of charitable and nonprofit organizations, Innoweave has evolved over the last 12 years to launch coaching streams like impact measurement, investment readiness and policy engagement.
The Innoweave model applies three key learnings:
- Impact first: Every Innoweave engagement is guided by organizational clarity and intentionality about the impact they are seeking and a hypothesis of how that can be achieved.
- People matter most: An organization’s ability to strengthen its capacity rests in its people. It is key that team members take ownership of the capacity strengthening trajectory, and that Innoweave supports their needs. The impact of those leaders will radiate outwards within their organizations and networks.
- Coaching at its core: Innoweave coaches deliver the program one-on-one with each organization, bringing outside perspective and drive towards impact clarity. Coaches also serve as sounding boards for leaders who face competing priorities.
One initiative Innoweave has been proud to support is the Together Project, a project on the MakeWay shared platform. The project’s Welcome Group Program creates social connections among newcomers to Canada, supports integration priorities, and helps build more welcoming communities.
First accessing Innoweave support in 2018, the Together Project has grown its reach within the Greater Toronto Area. It has also recently expanded to Surrey and Ottawa, with more Canadian cities on the horizon.
“Through Together Project’s participation in Innoweave’s Impact and Strategic Clarity module, our Steering Committee and staff were able to align around a Theory of Change with specific and measurable goals. After refining our Welcome Group Program to ensure it achieved its intended impact, we engaged in a Scaling workshop to determine how best to reach more newcomers and volunteers in new regions,” says Anna Hill, Co-Director, Together Project, a MakeWay Charitable Society initiative.
“By dedicating the time to defining our intended impact, learning how to measure it, and determining where our social change initiative was most needed, we have been able to grow a good idea into a national program. All of this learning would not have been possible without Innoweave’s support,” continues Hill.
As Innoweave continues to adapt to the needs of the sector, it became clear that the initiative should be housed with even greater proximity to the many different organizations it serves. Innoweave’s move to the MakeWay Foundation — a leader in inclusive, sustainable social-purpose work in Canada — will achieve that aim.
At MakeWay, Innoweave will continue to support charitable and non-profit organizations from across the sector. We have committed $7.5 million in funding over a five-year period, and we are thrilled that MakeWay will continue Innoweave’s mission of innovation and impact for years to come.
Thank you to the Together Project for the providing the images used on this page and others throughout this report.