Maximizing human, social and climate impact in Canada
The Northpine Foundation focuses on investments that have accountable outcomes, a way forward that supports people to live thriving lives, and a stronger Canada — more inclusive and thoughtful of the land we steward and all its people.
Through risk capital and non-financial supports, the Northpine Foundation tests and proves the scalability and accountability of ventures led by people within the country and around the world who are passionate about a thriving Canada.
The Northpine Process
With a focus on the end user, we choose investments that maximize impact and build momentum.
We work with people who bravely take on risks to find, test and prove ways to deliver change, creating a catalog of ventures that can be replicated and scaled.
We approach venture philanthropy through exploring unmet opportunities, understanding alignment, designing ventures, and establishing relationships on the journey to a point of completion.
Continuously evolving our approach and portfolios as we learn, we offer support through:
- Tailored financing to shape capital according to stages of development — to facilitate scalable models
- Commitment of time, expertise, networks and other non-financial supports — to accelerate scaling up or failing forward
- Impact measurement and management — to ensure accountability
Focus Areas
Climate, Carbon & Nature
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Formerly Incarcerated Persons
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Refugees
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Rural Newfoundland & Labrador
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Scarborough
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Climate, Carbon & Nature
We focus on enabling pathways for people to accelerate success for Canada in the fight against climate change, including decarbonization of energy generation and use in rural and remote communities, nature-based and engineered solutions for carbon removal, low-carbon-footprint food production, distribution and consumption, nature conservation and more.
Some of our current investments include:
Formerly Incarcerated Persons
We focus on persons who have recently exited the Canadian prison system, through people who provide supports including accessible legal services, affordable supportive housing, accessible post-secondary education, equitable and accessible healthcare, and accelerate attainment of meaningful and sustainable employment for formerly incarcerated persons, and more.
Some of our current investments include:
Refugees
We focus on newly arrived refugees in Canada, through people who provide supports including accelerated attainment of meaningful and sustainable employment, maximizing the potential of Canada’s private sponsorship of refugees, scaling supports for refugee claimants, building entrepreneurship and business development opportunities, and improving accessibility to stable and affordable permanent housing, and more.
Some of our current investments include:
Rural Newfoundland & Labrador
We focus on socio-economic development in rural and remote communities in Newfoundland and Labrador through people who provide supports in areas including accessibility and inclusivity for persons with disabilities, accessible mental health services, affordable and healthy food, preservation of Indigenous culture, overall improved health, and more.
Some of our current investments include:
Scarborough
We focus on socio-economic development in Scarborough, through people who provide supports in areas including improving access to health, literacy, meaningful employment, affordable and nutritious food, and more.
Some of our current investments include:
Bayan Khatib
Impact Manager – Refugee Newcomers
What is your favourite quote?
We have made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. ― Quran, 49:13
I love this verse because it speaks to the beauty of diversity and the importance of cross-cultural connection. When we get to know someone, we are less likely to fear them and more likely to care for them.
What drives you?
I want to pay forward the kindness friends and strangers showed my family when we arrived in Canada as refugees over 30 years ago.
What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my father who taught me independence and problem solving. I am grateful for my mother who taught me compassion and acceptance. She taught me to look beneath the surface and gain a deeper understanding of people’s journeys.
“Bayan has amazing work ethic. She is pleasant, positive, and respectful. Bayan is brave, and her willingness to learn and ask questions makes her a valuable problem solver.”
Sara
“Bayan balances deep thinking with learning on the fly. She is the person who will ask ‘why’ and use the answer to build actionable solutions. She does this in a way that aligns our team and the organizations we work with. It’s no surprise that everyone around her feels uplifted.”
Aatif
“Bayan is diligent and conscientious in her work. Her passion and commitment to her community shines through her approach to impact investing. She also has the best food recommendations.”
Nkem
Mark Lane
Impact Manager – Rural Newfoundland & Labrador
What is your favourite quote?
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. ― Benjamin Franklin
What drives you?
Collective problem solving.
What is kindness?
To understand and accept all people through an empathetic lens.
“Mark is a champion of his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador. You will see Mark jump on Google or Wikipedia midway through a conversation to build knowledge on an unfamiliar topic. This shows his enthusiasm to understand people and the world better, so he can serve better.”
Aatif
“Mark is a selfless person! He is generous, curious, kind, and inclusive. Mark always asks questions and actively listens to responses to understand others with an open heart.”
Naomi
“You know that person that you can call for help? That person who will always pick up? Then, rally the troops and help you figure things out? That is Mark. An inquisitive lifelong learner, he is quick to find synergy and collaboration in every situation.”
Nkem
Namendra Anand
Impact Manager – Climate
What is your favourite quote?
Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
What does kindness mean to you?
Kindness is a gesture of selflessness. When someone witnesses an act of kindness they fall in love with the giver as much as the receiver. It’s the most human of all gestures. Kindness is contagious.
Why did you choose to work at Northpine?
I choose my passions – mitigating effects of climate change and focusing on human development. Climate conservation and community development has challenges that are directly tied to achieving climate targets. Our team leads human development and plays a catalytic role in climate action by unlocking human potential.
“There are no dull moments with Namendra; he is kind, curious, fun and engaging. He is highly accomplished in his engineering career. Namendra is humble, a lifelong learner and always searches for a better way.”
Naomi
“Namendra combines insatiable curiosity with a drive for action, which results in him learning and doing. His easy optimism and warm smile make him easy to connect with.”
Aatif
Namendra’s passion is impossible to miss. The fire he brings to the team sparks innovation. His commitment to service and excellence, always from a human-centered approach, makes him a vital part of the Northpine team.”
Nkem
Naomi Gichungu
Impact Manager – Special Initiatives
Where do you call home?
It’s challenging to define what home means to a person who moved to a new country. Once, I was on a flight from Kenya to Canada. I wondered if it was appropriate to say, “I am leaving home and I am going home.” Home is where I have family. I have a community that is like family to me in Nairobi and Winnipeg. These are the places I call home.
What are you grateful for?
Our team builds a culture of gratitude and kindness in all that we do and in each space we are invited to. Every day, we take the time to share what we are grateful for. I am thankful to work in a role that blends with my values and inspires my best self.
What’s the best part about working at Northpine?
Hands down, the people! Each team member is authentic and brings their true self to work. We have a unique opportunity to serve underserved communities. It is a privilege to work with transformative leaders and the people we support.
What is kindness?
Kindness means being selfless, sincere, caring, compassionate and graceful, even when it is challenging to do so. Kindness is empathy for all and not just those perceived as worthy.
“Naomi is a breath of fresh air for our team. She is focused with excellent analytical skills. If you want to learn how to give meaningful science to ideas, contact Naomi. She is brilliant.”
Sammia
“Naomi’s approach to learning is amazingly enthusiastic and sincere. She is built for her complex role at Northpine. Her ability to connect authentically with diverse communities by carefully listening makes her a leader in a role that requires a lot of relationship building.”
Aatif
”Naomi is effervescent because of her big heart. She is a brilliant facilitator whose welcoming demeanor and assiduousness builds impactful relationships across communities.”
Nkem
Sara Tessier
Impact Manager – Formerly Incarcerated Persons
What is your favourite quote?
There’s a new reality born every minute. Unless one is a believer in predestination (in which case I’ll call the prestidigitator). Or other puppet-like restraints on our powers, one is free to imagine and effect changes on the world. And if enough people do it, there are big changes. These things happen. Anything can. ― Neil Peart
What are you grateful for?
I am grateful for my amazing family. They support and encourage me to be a better person in all I do, every day.
What is the best part about working at Northpine?
I get to live my passion and help those impacted by the criminal justice system. As a formerly incarcerated person, I know the barriers and stigma that stop successful reintegration into our communities. Northpine gave me an avenue to help break those barriers.
“Sara is not only a great colleague, but model of courage, positivity, success, and trust. She is unstoppable, strong on the outside and sweet on the inside. She is our hero and we love her.”
Sammia
“Sara is the embodiment of courage. She is relentlessly kind and optimistic. She is smart. We see this in her experiences in international business and amazing legal understanding. She sticks up for others. This is exemplified by her successful leadership of a ground-breaking class action lawsuit against a corrections officer on behalf of herself and countless other women.”
Aatif
“Sara is passionate about building innovative impact for our communities! She advocates every day for formerly incarcerated people. I can’t wait to see the amazing things she will do.”
Naomi
Climate Innovation Capital
The Northpine Foundation invested with Climate Innovation Capital, a private equity fund that will use growth equity to accelerate the adoption and rapid deployment of decarbonizing technology and services in the Energy, Power & Storage, Transportation & Mobility, Industrial Processes & Management, Agriculture, Buildings and Waste, Plastic & Recycling sectors.
The 51
Investing in initiatives with women founders, focused on technology that transforms the business of food and agriculture with an integrated commercialization approach to sector profitability, sustainable food, customer-driven innovation and reimagining the value chain.
Coverdale Courtworks Society
This investment will reduce recidivism, remand, and the homelessness-jail cycle for women in the region, by providing community-based alternatives to incarceration that do not otherwise exist, including supported housing, bail support and wrap-around therapeutic services.
Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia
Prisoner Advocacy & Transformational Hub (PATH) plans to expand its justice services beyond their current gender-based parameters to protect the human rights of prisoners and formerly incarcerated persons throughout Canada, starting in the Atlantic region. This investment is targeted at reducing recidivism, by increasing access to legal services and clients served.
HanVoice
The Northpine Foundation invested in the HanVoice initiative to ensure the success of the Canadian government pilot to resettle 5 North Korean families in Canada. Its success could support a follow-on policy to scale the existing program and create a permanent and sustainable pathway for North Korean refugees to resettle and succeed in Canada.
Jumpstart Refugee Talent
This initiative connects refugees to meaningful employment through career readiness assessments, system navigation, developing hiring channels and employer awareness & training.
Sakeenah Homes
This investment scales Sakeenah Homes to 3 provinces with Canada’s highest rates of domestic violence, high numbers of newcomer refugees and the lowest contribution of philanthropic dollars: Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland. Our aim is that 85% of women seeking shelter support in these underserved areas become self-sustainable.
The Refugee Centre
This investment pilots the relocation of refugees from big cities to smaller towns, reducing barriers to resettlement and integration time for refugees, as well as boosting economic and social development through population growth for these towns.
Coalition of Persons with Disabilities – Newfoundland & Labrador
This investment increases the inclusivity and accessibility of rural Newfoundland and Labrador for persons with disabilities by solving real-life challenges for persons with disabilities through awareness, digitization, innovation and early interventions.
Dollar a Day Foundation
This investment ensures that victims of domestic and sexual violence in the West Coast and Northern Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland have access to mental health counselling and wrap-around services including legal, housing and employment supports leading to wellbeing and self-sustainability.
FoodFirst – Newfoundland & Labrador
This investment will transform the policy underpinnings of food insecurity in Newfoundland and Labrador. In parallel, it will establish the infrastructure for a more resilient food production and distribution system through scaling up the “Food Hub” pilot to include more communities, regions, and capacity.
Scarborough Health Network
This investment in the SHN Foundation will create Canada’s first no-wait emergency department, modernize diagnostic imaging, and create a surgical quality excellence program, supporting Scarborough’s diverse population.