We believe that the world needs unique solutions to its pressing social problems.

Free The Children, a non-profit registered charity, is the world’s largest network of children helping children through education. We believe in a world where all young people are free to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change. Our goals are to free children from poverty and exploitation and to free young people from the notion that they are powerless to affect positive change in the world.

Free The Children has built 650 schools and school rooms in 16 countries, educating more than 55,000 children every day. Because of Free The Children, millions of people now have access to clean water, health care and sources of alternate income. More than one million young people have been involved in our innovative education and development programs to create systemic change.

Through our work with Free The Children, we’re constantly learning that the choices we make everyday can change the world.

That’s the very ideology through which Me to We emerged.

Me to We is a new kind of organization. It is an innovative social enterprise with a mission to support Free The Children. Here’s how it works:

• Me to We is a social enterprise — offering goods and services, like sweatshop-free clothes, socially conscious media, environmentally-friendly products, inspiring speakers, exciting leadership training and life-changing travel experiences, to people of all ages to encourage the kind of lifestyle change we want to see in the world.
• Me to We has a social mission — to support the important work of our charity partner Free The Children. Me to We gives half of its annual net profit to Free The Children and invests the other half to grow the business. It does not pay dividends. In 2010, Me to We donated $1 million to Free The Children in cash and in-kind services. Donations from Me to We are used to lower Free The Children’s already low administrative costs. We hope that within five years every dollar raised for Free The Children will be able to go to its projects.
• Me to We is a philosophy — each of us can help to change the world through the daily choices we make. By providing socially conscious and environmentally sustainable choices, Me to We helps individuals make a lifestyle shift to create a more just and humane world. Some of our impacts include:
  • 208,037 gallons of water saved by printing on post-consumer waste recycled paper
  • Over 90,000 trees were planted to ensure environmental sustainability through Me to We’s Buy a Tee, Plant a Tree program
  • Hundreds of thousands of pounds of pesticides saved by using only organic cotton in Me to We clothing
  • 275,000 people were inspired by Me to We message through speakers, books and leadership programs in 2010 alone
  • 145,000 volunteer hours were served by participants on Me to We trips.
  • 400 mamas employed full time by Me to We in developing communities
• Me to We has exemplary governance and financial practices. Because Me to We is a new kind of organization, we have made sure it has the highest standards of governance.
  • Me to We has its own separate board, directors, staff, accounting and auditing.
  • Me to We’s financial statements are evaluated every year by outside experts.
  • A legal framework governs the relationship between Me to We and Free The Children.
  • Me to We and Free The Children asked a retired Canadian Supreme Court justice in 2010 to independently review the organizations and the relationship between them, the role of its founders and governance model. Both organizations were issued an unqualified laudatory report.
  • Given that Me to We's mission is in the education sector, all salaries (including all directors, senior staff members) are in line with Imagine Canada Guidelines and comparable to what one would earn in the education sector.
  • Donations to Free The Children, a registered charity, receive tax receipts; Purchases from Me to We do not.
  • Me to We won the 2008 Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the 2007 Skoll Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs Award.

As the senior leadership team of Free The Children and Me to We, respectively, we salute the contributions these organizations are making towards changing our world. We invite you to join this growing movement by getting involved today.

Scott Baker Executive Director Free The Children	Russ McLeod Chief Operations Director Me to We