Small Change Fund is the registered charity where individuals and grassroots groups get crowdfunding help, expert campaign advice, and coaching to turn their good intentions into great results.
Small Change Fund acts as a catalyst for Canadians to improve the environment, reduce poverty and promote reconciliation efforts. Their diverse staff of 28 experts work from coast to coast to coast in both official languages and several Indigenous ones.
While the crowdfunding platform is the core of Small Change Fund’s operations, the registered charity also provides expertise in campaigning, fundraising, government relations and communications. In fact, the Small Change Fund has helped more than 270 organizations, while also developing their own projects that tackle climate change, promote youth transit and construct housing for the unhoused.
Co-founded 15 years ago by Ruth Richardson and Mary McGrath Vyas, these visionaries were inspired by the idea of using micro-funding to support grassroots initiatives. Richardson now serves as chair, while McGrath Vyas is the executive director.
Small Change Fund is a way to capitalize on ideas and solutions by investing in people who know exactly what their communities need, but who might benefit from a little guidance and financial assistance to achieve their goals.
Guiding others to enact small change
Small Change Fund offers a plethora of services including the crowdfunding platform; campaign strategy; fundraising support; government relations; digital strategy and support; communications; financial systems support; administrative support; as well as research and human resources support.
Project & Communications Manager, Abbie Branchflower, supports partners with messaging, grant writing, project management and digital strategy. She is the voice behind Small Change Fund’s daily communications, newsletter and social media and regularly produces visual and written content for both the Fund and their partners.
“At Small Change Fund, we believe that people know best what their communities need but don’t always have the tools necessary to make these changes. When we began in 2009, our goal was to help the many small grassroots groups that no one else was — and we’re still doing that today. These groups bring the passion, knowledge and drive and Small Change Fund supports them with fundraising, strategy and more. As our website says, we’ve helped more than 300 community-led projects “punch well above their weight,” Branchflower told Small Change via email.
“Grassroots groups that sprang up overnight to fight something in their community find their fundraising rhythm with our support and meet or even exceed their goals in a matter of months. I’ve also seen groups fighting a massively uphill battle find renewed strength through our support and resources after years of fighting for their communities,” Branchflower added.
Supporting a range of initiatives
Let’s take a look at a few of the initiatives Small Change Fund is helping to advance and I’m going to start with some that I’ve written extensively about and that are near and dear to my heart.
Of course, there’s Karen Barnes who is facing a potential $400,000 fine and pending court cast because Burlington City Council is falsely claiming that her ten-year old garden, “doesn’t conform to bylaw standards.” Karen has set up a fund to help with the costs of their on-going legal challenge. You can donate here.
Demand A Moratoium Now! Reform Gravel Mining Coalition (RGMC) is calling for a moratorium on new gravel mining applications in order to assess aggregate needs for the future while protecting the environment and communities from the devastating impacts of gravel mining. Donate to the DAMN campaign here.
Water Watchers is dedicated to the protection, restoration and conservation of water in the Great Lakes Watershed. Water Watchers believes that Water is for Life, Not Profit and that water is a human right. They want to see United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) achieved in Canada by 2030. Donate to Water for Life here.
Now, lets look at some less well known projects that Small Change Fund is supporting.
Climate change isn’t funny, and that’s a problem. Small Change Fund believes when people are laughing, they’re listening. That’s why they created Hot Globe, an online comedy series that exposes the real stories as well as the bad actors behind the Canadian and global climate crisis.
Created by Canadians Alex Tindal, Miguel Rivas, Roger Bainbridge, Laura Cilevitz and produced by Small Change Fund, each micro-episode is filled with climate change information, pertinent players from governments to businesses and even the greenies themselves. This valuable information is easily digestible thanks to the humour.
With a goal of raising $2,000, Hot Globe has total donations of $413 so far, but you can donate today to help turn up the heat on climate issues!
The documentary FAIRY CREEK premiered at the Planet in Focus Film Festival in Toronto in October 2024. The Fairy Creek (Ada’itsx) valley sprawls across Pacheedaht First Nation territory on southwestern Vancouver Island and its thriving old growth forest ecosystem is at threat from the Teal Jones Lumber Corporation as they demolish this environmental haven to facilitate their road-building project.
Director Jen Muranetz captured the largest demonstration of civil disobedience in Canadian history and the mass arrest of approximately 1,200 people. Muranetz is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and visual storyteller residing on the unceded and stolen Coast Salish territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations, in the place now known as Vancouver, BC.
FAIRY CREEK is an urgent portrait of resistance, documenting an assembly of protestors organizing together despite varying backgrounds, ideologies, and tactics. Muranetz highlights the rapture of a united eco-activist community, coinhabiting the earth, dancing together, and cherishing biodiversity. At the same time, this breathtaking documentary looks at the challenges of political consciousness in an age of rampant extractive capitalism, where industries working with governments – lets call them what they are, oligarchs – eviscerate everything in their path, including the last pristine ecosystems. FAIRY CREEK depicts a historic struggle to defend Canadian old growth forests as an experience of absolute devotion, thrust between whiplashes of triumph and heartbreak.
With a goal of raising $30,000 FAIRY CREEK has raised $18,347 and you can donate today to help get this important documentary get out to audiences. Click here to host a community screening.
“There are lots of ways readers can get involved in Small Change Fund‘s work! Please consider signing up for our monthly newsletter — a sign up form is located near the bottom of every page on our website smallchangefund.ca — and following us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram and engaging with/sharing our content,” Branchflower told Small Change.
Visit Small Change Fund to learn more about their impactful work and be sure to watch their four-minute 2024 Annual Report video for some much needed inspiration and hope!
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