The first report of its kind in Canada, the Canadian Corporate Community Investment Benchmarking Report was published by The Conference Board of Canada today. Until now, we have had to rely heavily on community investment research based on U.S. data. This report provides necessary access to Canadian-based research which will allow for the identification of trends in the sector, better comparisons between companies, and a baseline for future improvements in programming.

180 companies, including …

The Co-operators and The Natural Step Canada are partnering to offer the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training in Vancouver. During the 2-day in-person workshop on April 26-27, 2013, participants will deepen their sustainability understanding, enhance their confidence as leaders, and be empowered to develop meaningful sustainability projects in the community. Following the training, each participant is expected to develop and implement a local sustainability project that will help transform…

The Co-operators and the David Suzuki Foundation announced a four-year partnership that will empower a dozen young people to make positive environmental change.

The partnership, supported by funding from The Co-operators Foundation builds on the success of its IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership, which empowers post-secondary students to be real and effective agents for change in their communities, organizations and businesses.

They are currently looking for a …

The Co-operators and The Natural Step Canada are partnering to offer the IMPACT! Sustainability Champions Training in Montreal. During the 2-day in-person workshop on March 8-9, 2013, participants will deepen their sustainability understanding, enhance their confidence as leaders, and be empowered to develop meaningful sustainability projects in the community. Following the training, each participant is expected to develop and implement a local sustainability project that will help transform…

The IMPACT! Fund, a resource available for alumni of IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership, was created in 2009 as a way to engage and support youth alumni with their solutions to critical sustainability issues. In the four rounds of funding to date (including the most recent round), The Co-operators Foundation - IMPACT! Fund has distributed over $250,000.

In its fourth round of funding, 20 successful students were selected from among 31 applications. The…

The Co-operators and the David Suzuki Foundation announced a four-year partnership that will empower a dozen young people to make positive environmental change.

The partnership, supported by funding from The Co-operators Foundation builds on the success of its IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership, which empowers post-secondary students to be real and effective agents for change in their communities, organizations and businesses.

They are currently looking for a …

Gracen was inspired by her experience at IMPACT!, and when a summer internship opportunity arose in The Co-operators Sustainability & Corporate Citizenship Department, she eagerly expressed her interest in the position. Gracen talks about her experience below:

The Co-operators vision is to be 'a catalyst for a sustainable society' and an important component of the 2011-2014 Sustainability Strategy is to encourage people to be personal sustainability champions. Recognizing that The…

As IMPACT! alumni, we all aspire to "ACT" as future leaders for sustainable change, but it can be challenging to see how we can apply our skills to make an impact.

As a business student, my path to sustainability championship has been an unusual one. In 2011, I travelled to rural El Salvador for two weeks with World Vision. During this time, I realized the positive impact that individuals can make through engaging with their communities. I redefined success for myself, and pondered on how to…

"But… you can't just change everything."

"Why not?"

"Well, it's just - it's too much. How would everything work?"

Drastic, unimaginable changes have happened before, and they'll happen again.

***

That's an excerpt from a Wings of Change workshop. That particular conversation was taken from a recording of an eleventh grade class at Dartmouth High, but it could just as easily have been a summer camp in Nunavut, tenth graders in BC, a student conference in Nova Scotia or a group of university…