“There are gonna be barriers to success in any industry, whether you’re talking for-profit, non-profit, any type of business that’s been created, there’s gonna be barriers. There’s gonna be excuses. There’s gonna be that down and dirty area that not everyone is gonna wanna go down that road for. At the end of the day you have to always stay focused on what the future is gonna bring, what the collective is going to bring.

If you look at the statistics, charities here in Montreal and across Canada represent about 10% of full-time jobs to the Canadian small business markets. That’s huge. And that’s not taking into account an average of one hundred to let’s say a thousand volunteers depending on the charity. We’re talking full time jobs. That’s a big dent in business for what we’re trying to accomplish. From a standpoint of excuses, people saying they can’t get to where they have to go, people saying that they can’t afford to give financially the same amounts.

I believe strongly in everyone feeling good and positive about the experience that they get while working with a charity. So to treat that million-dollar donor the same way that you’re gonna treat that five-dollar donor or that one-dollar donor makes a huge difference. You never know what somebody’s future is going to hold. You never know what baggage that person has when they’re gonna be coming to you with.

So someone might be coming as a donor because their parent felt passionately about the cause. Their parent was diagnosed with something that touches on what’s going on. They might not have friends. They might have just moved to Montreal and not know anybody and reaching out to a charity is their way of connecting with the larger population.

They might have volunteered at of food bank in Toronto. And they gravitate towards helping out at a food bank here in Montreal, because they’re familiar with it. They might have volunteered with some autistic children back in Ottawa. And when they come to Montreal they reach out and they connect because that’s what they wanna do. They love being around those types of people and that gives them that positivity.

Here in Montreal we’re all about positivity. You can see it the in way that people walk. You can see it in the way that people dress. You can see it in the way that everyone loves going out or having fun. We’re all about that great positive outlook. There’s always going to be something better out there. So it’s just a matter of finding what people are interested in. And more often than not, people don’t say no to the charity. People will say no to the type of ask that’s made.

If me as a professional, I come and I ask someone for $10,000, they might not have that financial flexibility for this $10,000 gift. They might come back to me and they might say, look, I can only give you $100. But that in and of itself is a positive. Every dollar through the door today is a dollar more than we had yesterday. And we can do some beautiful things with those dollars.”