3 minute read · 1 week ago
We have to be honest with you — we didn't see this coming. Not like this.
When we quietly launched the BRIDGE beta, we knew there was a need. We had the research, the data, the conversations with communities. We understood intellectually that Canadians were ready to act on reconciliation and that Indigenous youth needed a faster, simpler path to funding. We built BRIDGE because we believed in it.
But belief and proof are different things. And in the weeks since launch, you have given us proof.
Indigenous youth and families began reaching out almost immediately — wanting to post campaigns, share their projects, and access funding for the things that matter most to their lives and culture. The volume of interest from youth wanting to get on the platform has been higher than we anticipated and higher than we can currently accommodate at the pace people are asking.
At the same time, funders showed up ready to give. People who have been looking for a meaningful, direct way to act on reconciliation — not a donation to a large institution, not a symbolic gesture, but a real transfer of resources to a real person with a real project — found BRIDGE and said yes.
Organizations reached out wanting to know how to get involved. Community leaders asked about partnership. People shared BRIDGE with their networks without being asked.
We are a small team. We were not fully prepared for this. And we are so grateful.
To everyone who has submitted a project and is waiting to go live — we see you and we are working as fast as we responsibly can. Onboarding youth and families onto BRIDGE is not something we rush. Every person who posts a campaign deserves a process that is safe, supported, and on their terms. That takes time and care, and we will not compromise it to chase momentum.
To everyone who has contributed, shared, or simply shown up with curiosity — thank you. You are proving something important: that the will to act on reconciliation is real, and that when you give people a clear and direct way to do it, they do.
To everyone who has been waiting for more campaigns to fund — they are coming. We are onboarding new projects every week and that pace is accelerating.
Since launch, BRIDGE has distributed over $7,100 across 30 projects, directly funding 35 Indigenous youth. We have been live for 138 days. These are not large numbers by the standards of institutional philanthropy. But behind every one of those dollars is a kid who got to go to a tournament, finish an art project, or stay connected to their culture because someone they had never met chose to act.
That is what BRIDGE is. That is what you are part of.
This is still the beta. The platform is still being tested, refined, and built out based on what we're learning from real users in real communities. There will be rough edges. There will be things that don't work perfectly yet. We are asking for your continued patience and feedback as we grow — because what we're building together is worth getting right.
More campaigns. More funders. More community partnerships. A platform that grows with the trust of the people it serves.
If you are an Indigenous youth with a project that needs funding, text BRIDGE to (250) 999-1745. Five questions. Five minutes. People are waiting to support you.
If you want to fund a project, visit bridgeimpact.ai. There are young people there right now who need exactly what you have to give.
And if you want to help shape what BRIDGE becomes — as a community partner, a pilot organization, or a member of our Leadership Circle — reach out. That door is open and we are actively looking for the right people to walk through it.
Thank you for being here at the beginning. We won't forget it.
BRIDGE is built by Remarkable Communications, a national Indigenous-centred digital storytelling, strategy, and technology agency, guided by and accountable to an all-Indigenous advisory board.
bridgeimpact.ai · Text BRIDGE to (250) 999-1745
Ready to act?
Browse Projects