Venture for Canada releases 2021 Impact Report; supporting over 3,000 young, entrepreneurial careers
Venture for Canada is proud to announce the release of its annual Impact Report. The 2021 report details VFC’s yearly achievements and shows how the organization’s programs continue to offer an upward growth and impact trend.
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, VFC programs continued to be in high demand. According to the Veritas Foundation, Venture for Canada ranked the 6th fastest growing charity in Canada over the past five years. The number of young Canadians who participated surged by 97% in 2021, and VFC reached an organizational milestone with an all-time overall growth of 50x since its first programming year in 2015.
"VFC made a large investment in its programs, organizational capacity, commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion to primarily focus on serving young Canadians from under-served communities," remarked founder Scott Stirrett.
“We believe that it is increasingly essential for Canadians from all walks of life to be entrepreneurial. For us to be entrepreneurial is to identify and act upon opportunities to add value for others, whether social, final, or environmental. If we can be the most entrepreneurial country globally, we can have the highest quality of life,” he states.
2021 was a key year for developing VFC’s programming and serving French-speaking communities nationwide. During this period, VFC teams have delivered two programs currently offered in French. This has been accomplished through promotion, training, customer success, organizational culture, and partnerships with strategic players, like the Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec (MAIN).
“We’re proud to share the impact our programs have driven for students, recent graduates, and small and medium-sized businesses across Canada,” said Gina Patterson, Chief Programs Officer. “In this report, we thought it’d be fundamental to share where we succeeded, and failed and learned — whether that be about our programs, community, team, or operations — so that we can candidly inform other growing organizations about the inputs required to scale in a remote environment.”
VFC offerings and practices have evolved to address the changing education, entrepreneurship, and employment challenges young Canadians face.
“The value participants give our programs is the ultimate measurement of success. This is why we measure Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and look to understand Alumni’s attribution of their career success to VFC,” said Anna Smith, Director of Training and Skills Development. “Telling the stories and sharing the reflections that both participants and employers is incredibly valuable to get a full picture of what VFC has to offer the startup and innovation ecosystem. We feel so inspired by their commitment to lifelong learning.”
The theme of this year’s report is scaling, activating, and mobilizing, which centers on learning and long-term value creation in impact work. VFC’s commitment to ecosystem-building includes investing meaningfully in innovative programs and events, demonstrated through the launch of projects like Reskilling Retail Workers. Through the Reskilling Retail Workers Project, we’ve centered collective impact and cross-sector collaboration by working with a committed group of advisors and prioritizing alignment, positionality, communication, shared values, and intentionality from the outset.
“We believe strongly in collaboration from multiple sectors to co-create solutions to complex and urgent problems,” said Juanita Lee Garcia, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing.
“By working together, each collaborator can leverage their unique strengths and the group's collective expertise, creating more holistic, equitable, and sustainable solutions to benefit a broader community.”
See VFC’s impact report to learn more about how their programs have impacted young Canadians and our contributions to building a more inclusive Canada.
About Venture for Canada
VFC is a national charity that fosters entrepreneurial skills and mindset in young Canadians. We recruit, train, and support young people to work for innovative Canadian small businesses and startups. Through our programs, participants develop the network, knowledge, and entrepreneurial skills to have more impactful careers: https://ventureforcanada.ca/about-us
