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Together, We Can Make The World Better

Every year, Sparx hosts our internal purpose-driven event, Make The World Better Day, where we set aside our usual workflows to focus on a day dedicated to doing good. And 2023’s MTWB Day was one for the books!

We had an X-traordinary time gathering together in-person and virtually to enjoy meaningful team building over delicious food and our shared mission to make the world better.

Read on to find out what we did and what we learned, including our impact-focused keynote presentation, the action we took together toward reconciliation in honour of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our hackathon, and a Sparx-hosted shoreline cleanup.

An Impact-Focused Keynote

We kicked off the day with a keynote presentation that included a Make The World Better Magazine impact report and a look at the progress we made toward our 2022–2023 goals.

Our impact report covered how many changemakers we’ve featured since launching the magazine in 2021 (forty-three!), along with insights into the magazine, such as reads and impressions, social media performance, and testimonials and feedback, to validate the work we’re doing and help us improve the magazine for readers in the future.

We also took an in-depth look at impact beyond the pages of the magazine, including the Make The World Better Panel at the Canadian Securities Exchange’s Summit On Responsible Investment, our purpose-driven event participation, third-party validations, and community-building activities.

As well, since we’ve now completed the United Way British Columbia’s Social Purpose Innovators Program, our social purpose statement was unveiled to the team. Stay tuned for our public reveal, which is coming soon!

Following this, we discussed our goals for the rest of 2023 and 2024. Spoiler alert: they revolve around the power of community! We then closed off the presentation with an inspiring speech from Sparx’s Founder and President, Hamish Khamisa.

Taking Action Toward Reconciliation

Driven to make progress on our reconciliation journey, the Sparx team joined the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s (NCTR) Taking Action Towards Reconciliation webinar, hosted by Brenda Gunn, Academic and Research Director at NCTR, with special guests Jimmy Durocher, Chairperson of the Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School Committee, Veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Board Member of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, and former President of the Métis Nation of Saskatchewan, and current President of the Métis local in Île-à-la-Crosse; and Dale LeClair, Director of Indigenous and Northern Affairs at Canada Post.

The webinar stressed how important it is that all Canadians learn the truth about residential schools and how they’ve impacted both the country and communities at the local level, that reconciliation will be meaningless if we don’t have the conviction to do something about it, and to really listen to Survivors, have communication with Indigenous communities, and teach our children about what happened.

It was surprising and frustrating to learn that many residential, boarding, and day schools are unrecognized, including Île-à-la-Crosse Residential School in Île-à-la-Crosse, Saskatchewan, which Jimmy Durocher is working hard to get legally recognized. The fact that there are unrecognized schools shows that we all have to do our part to educate ourselves and those around us.

As an example of how to educate others and take action towards reconciliation, Canada Post’s annual Truth and Reconciliation stamp series was spotlighted. This year’s series features archival photographs of residential schools in different parts of Canada, with the hope of raising awareness and sparking conversations and collaborations. The stamps are made in collaboration with Survivors.

Jimmy Durocher reminded us that all Survivors handle their experiences of abuse differently. Some may not be ready to tell their stories and some may never be. As Brenda Gunn said, we all need to share the information about what happened, but Survivor’s stories are personal. If a Survivor shares their story with us, it doesn’t mean we have the right to tell it to someone else. And, if you invite a Survivor to come tell their story, you need health supports in place before, during, and after.

At the end of the day, it’s all about being human, being kind to one another, understanding each other, apologizing, and building positive relationships. It’s about telling the truth of what happened and becoming part of the story that needs to be told.

To wrap up the webinar, NCTR shared resources, including “Six Actions of ReconciliACTION,” which you can find here.

Building a New Resource

After the webinar, the Sparx team joined forces for an impact-driven hackathon. We divided up tasks and got to work on two projects: our upcoming impact report and a brand new purpose-driven resource.

Putting our heads down, we made tremendous progress in just two hours. While our new resource (hint: a website you’ll want to check on regularly!) is not up and running just yet, we were able to lay the bricks and build a solid foundation.

We look forward to getting our projects up and running soon. Our guiding principle for our purpose-driven resource was to create something we’d use for ourselves that meets our needs. That’s why we’re certain it’ll be a useful tool for the whole community.

More news on our impact report and our new resource will be forthcoming, so keep your eyes on the Sparx site and get ready for them to ignite!

Cleaning up the Shoreline

To wrap up Make The World Better Day, we put away our laptops and got out our trash grabbers. Sparx headed to False Creek to help clean up Vancouver’s shoreline.

Our team was joined by five external volunteers to dedicate an hour to protectinging our planet. Together, we travelled down four blocks and prevented five large-garbage-bags-worth of trash from entering our oceans. In total, we picked up 312 pieces of trash, including 143 cigarette butts, 48 pieces of paper, 43 candy wrappers, and 31 pieces of plastic.

Thanks to the purpose-driven champions who joined us! With your help, we made a real difference in our community. We hope to host more meet-ups like this one in the future!

Together, We Can Make The World Better

Every year, the Sparx team gets excited for Make The World Better Day, and each year, we strive to make a greater impact. Your purpose-driven organization can unite internally or externally to help make an impact too. We hope you’ll create your own events that help make the world better, and if you do, we’d love to hear about it!

If you’re a purpose-driven organization with a story to share or initiatives changemakers can get behind, reach out to Sparx for a free consultation. We’d love to help amplify your impact.

Sparx’s CAMSC Certification: Gaining National Recognition as a Minority-Owned and -Led Organization

The Sparx team is excited to share that, this November, we were recognized by the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council (CAMSC) as a minority-owned and -led organization.

This nationally recognized certification is a sign of our continued commitment to “walk our talk” when it comes to making the world better by supporting and adhering to diverse and inclusive business practices.

We are proud to celebrate this milestone and look forward to building new relationships with a community of like-minded organizations committed to leading positive change.

What is CAMSC Certification?

CAMSC is a Canadian not-for-profit organization dedicated to growing Indigenous- and minority-owned businesses by “connecting them to procurement opportunities with companies and governments committed to a diverse and inclusive supply chain.” Through championing and advocating for BIPOC-owned businesses, CAMSC helps to create economic value, expand opportunities, and boost innovation.

According to CAMSC, certification confirms that businesses “are 51% or more owned, managed and controlled by Aboriginal peoples and/or visible minorities,” operate in Canada, and are for-profit enterprises.

Why We Pursued CAMSC Certification

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to our vision of a better world.

We saw CAMSC certification as a way in which to connect with and support a diverse group of mission-aligned organizations and individuals who are in pursuit of greater economic opportunity, especially for excluded and underrepresented groups.

Having a well-established, nationally recognized certification as part of our identity will also enable our existing and potential partners to feel confident that, by working together with Sparx, they too can help build a more diverse and inclusive Canadian economy.

Hamish Khamisa, Founder and President of Sparx Publishing Group, stated, “More than any one project Sparx has worked on, I am exceptionally proud of building an organization that prioritizes and practices diversity, equity, and inclusion. The quality of work we produce is directly tied to this diversity and something our clients benefit from every single day. The CAMSC certification, ideally, can help demonstrate that companies who choose to work with diverse suppliers can gain outstanding results.”

How CAMSC Certification Furthers Our Mission

Our mission at Sparx is to help purpose-driven and minority-owned and -operated organizations market their world-changing message, and an inclusive economy is a crucial step to achieving this vision of a better world. Participating in systemic change within Canada through CAMSC certification is just one of several steps we’re taking to advance our mission of inclusivity.

Through supporting Indigenous- and minority-owned businesses, as well as having a demonstrably diverse workplace, we’re following through on our commitment to the UN Global Compact’s Sustainable Development Goals Program. Specifically, this certification helps affirm our progress on SDG 8 and SDG 10, which aim to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all,” and to “reduce inequality within and among countries,” respectively.

Our CAMSC certification is also a large stride toward our goal of becoming B Corp-certified, as managing and creating inclusive workplaces and attaining procurement through a diverse and inclusive supply chain are two key factors in achieving B Corp certification.

Receiving CAMSC certification will also enrich our relationships with new and existing clients because it proves that we “walk our talk,” that we are mission-aligned with impact-driven organizations, and that we are truly committed to promoting and expanding diversity, specifically by supporting groups that have been systemically excluded from equitable economic participation.

Building a Better World, Together

Sparx is proud to be part of this like-minded community by having a nationally recognized certification, and we’re thrilled to support minority- and Indigenous-owned businesses as part of a more vibrant and diverse Canadian economy. We are eager to help build a world in which systemically excluded groups have greater opportunities to thrive.

Are you on a mission to create tangible positive change? Reach out to us. We would love to work with your values-aligned organization and to help promote or achieve your supply chain diversity goals.