You’ve heard us talk a lot about purpose & engagement, about the importance of an intentional and meaningful giveback strategy, and about having all of this align with your personal and professional values. Now we want to share with you just how we are showing up in this area ourselves, so let’s dive into Elevate!
The first-ever Elevate event was hosted on February 13, 2018, at Cafe Blackbird, it was Elevate: WIN House. Elevate began, and continues to be, a space where folks can come together to ELEVATE themselves, ELEVATE one another, and ELEVATE community. We elevate ourselves through learning, connection, and personal growth. We elevate one another by supporting, by listening, by building deeper connections and by lending others the confidence and belief to keep moving forward when they might be lacking the belief in themselves. We elevate the community by giving back, by learning about how organizations are showing up to support others and in turn learning how we can support their work and make a difference, and by being a community for others to learn, grow, and build relationships in.
For the first two years, Elevate guests would bring in-kind donations for WIN House, a charity based in Edmonton that provides resources, support, and shelter for women and children fleeing situations of domestic violence. Each month, WIN would let us know what supplies their shelters were in need of and this is what we would ask guests to bring. We collected everything from diapers to formula, shampoo, soap, pajamas, household items, journals, personal care items, and more.
Elevate has hosted monthly events as well as Impact Events, which are larger events focused on a societal or humanitarian issue, and we aimed to provide a safe space for people to come together and learn from a panel of experts on the topic. Proceeds from monthly events were donated directly to WIN House and proceeds from the Impact Events have been donated to organizations doing work on the front line in support of the topic we focused on. Our impact events have covered topics including mental health, fair fashion, human trafficking, and anti-racism.
To date, the Elevate community has donated over $9,000 in cash and in-kind donations to organizations including WIN House, ACT Alberta, We All Believe In You, Momentum Walk-In Counselling, Treaty 6 Outreach, Pride Centre of Edmonton, Indian Residential School Survivors Society, Vu Impact Fund, Fringe Theatre Indigenous Innovation Program, The Hope Campaign in support of Kaleo Collective, and Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton. We are so proud of the community and what they have achieved and cannot wait to watch this number grow this year and beyond.
So this is our P&E in a nutshell! It continues to grow, evolve, and most importantly give back to so many impactful organizations in our community. If you’d like to dive into what Purpose & Engagement could look like for you and your business, reach out, we’d love to chat!