The charities and nonprofit sector in Canada is a broad, rich and encompassing network of 161,000 organizations, 2 million paid employees and nearly 12 million volunteers. Their contribution to community is as diverse as the needs they respond to, the services they provide, the issues they tackle. But they share one overriding factor in common. It’s the passion of their purpose: to make a difference.

The Values Added initiative represents the culmination of a nationwide process of discourse and consideration and a decision to find the common thread that binds the work of this remarkable sector, and take it to Canadians.

The Values Added website provides basic information about the sector and guides users to organizations and websites that provide more in-depth information. The website also provides charities and nonprofits with information, tools and ideas about how they can participate in this new and exciting effort to raise awareness about the sector.

When considered together, charities and nonprofits in Canada are understood to be the heart, spirit and passions of a nation made great by those who live and act upon human values. These organizations—and the millions of people engaged in them and with them—make a vitally important contribution to quality of life in our country. They help define the very essence of community through art, culture, sport, health care, social services, research, advocacy and a deep, genuine commitment to others and the world.

The time is right to celebrate this great gift and to find the way to tell our story, together, to those who would listen. The Values Added platform, while simple in both purpose and method, provides the opportunity to do so.

Check out the organizational User Guide, the ideas for and about how charities and nonprofits are promoting their work and the work of the sector as a whole. Take a look at the statistics and posters that have been produced, or browse through one of the background papers about this project. Above all, we invite you to ponder the passion and difference brought to bear by our sector.