One Day’s Pay, the grassroots campaign inviting Canadians to support Indigenous-led organizations on September 30th, wrapped up year two with more learning, insight and inspiration.

An idea born from settlers who wanted to do more than reflect on Canada’s First National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, One Day’s Pay is a call to Canadians to reflect and act.

In year one, we confirmed our belief that many Canadians wanted to meaningfully engage in reconciliation. By creating a straightforward way to support Indigenous-led initiatives, supported by a partnership with The Circle -- an Indigenous women-led organization that works to mobilize the settler philanthropic sector to move funds to Indigenous-led projects -- we raised almost half a million dollars for The Orange Shirt Society and Indian Residential School Survivors Society.

In year two, there was no announcement confirming 200 graves at a residential school in Kamloops. Instead, there was a news cycle focused on war in Ukraine, famine in Sub-Saharan Africa, climate catastrophe, and fears of an impending recession. In addition, there were many more organized activities and fundraising campaigns around National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – from national to local. We didn’t know what to expect and speculated whether One Day’s Pay was a one-off event or something that Canadians would rally around annually. We are moved to announce that year two raised an estimated $200,000 dollars.

What did we learn?

We learned that One Day’s Pay is indeed an opportunity to create a pathway for settler philanthropy and engagement anchored around reconciliation. Other insights: In year one, the majority of traffic sharing information was twitter. Year two? Instagram. We also found that companies are interested in employee engagement and matching programs but need a much longer run-way.

This challenges us to be more thoughtful and proactive as we look ahead. We are currently in discussion with The Circle around hosting webinars on a quarterly basis, offering opportunities for education, discussion and action.

We are also looking for ambassadors from every province who want to become a part of our grassroots team. We welcome your feedback, ideas, and connections.

Visit us, https://www.onedayspay.ca or email, info@onedayspay.ca.