We believe in the dignity, interdependence, and sacredness of all: self, one another, and the Earth.
From this worldview, we support philanthropists and the public to respond to today’s accelerating disruption and uncertainty by engaging in grantmaking and storytelling that centers love — not simply as sentimentality, but as action — as humanity’s most powerful and generative force.
When our choices and systems are rooted in love, everything changes — from local neighbourhoods to national strategies. Ultimately, our collective action transforms systems, and inspires science, society, and spirituality to meet and catalyze bold, tangible impact.
ABOUT
What we mean by love:
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This moment is asking something different of us. Not just more solutions, but deeper courage, wiser imagination, and intentional care.
Across Canada, and across the world, we are witnessing profound challenges — but also profound awakenings. In quiet rooms and dynamic workplaces, in forests and classrooms, in laboratories and places of worship, people are remembering and acting upon something essential: love.
In its most sacred form, love is humanity’s most powerful force for good.
This type of love reminds us that we are part of something greater than ourselves, and from there, moves us to more deeply show up for ourselves, others, and the Earth. Sacred love is not simply a feeling or sentiment. It is an active and generative force, capable of shaping how we live in the world. Some call sacred love a spiritual force - others call it a moral or creative force. However we name it, it calls on us to recognize the sacredness of all, so that we can transform our selves, relationships, systems and world - even across differences.
The problem:
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We are witnessing many urgent social, economic, ecological, political and technological crises. Many crises worsen and persist because the choices and systems responding to them are organized around fear, fatigue, extraction and loss of shared meaning. Continued investment in these choices and systems produce cycles of inefficiency – funds dissipated without durable change, and interventions repeated without lasting resolution. These recurring cycles also harm people, who move through these systems without experiencing holistic and long-term relief; and they harm the Earth, whose ecological limits are repeatedly exceeded. A different orientation for our choices and systems are needed.
The solution:
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The essence of all choices and systems are the people and their relationships with themselves, one another and the Earth. A sacred worldview reorients our relationships by affirming the inherent dignity, interdependence and sacredness of all. It weaves together scientific, societal, and spiritual ways of knowing, doing and being. Sacred love acts at the center of this worldview to:
Transform our relationships from fear, rivalry, use and extraction to belonging, cooperation, care and responsibility, helping us shift our values, norms, skills, behaviours and awareness that govern our systems.
Cultivate creativity and freedom for bold exploration, helping us move out of our traditional and limited thinking-patterns, and create the conditions for imagination, innovation and impact – across sectors and with people of all generations – to respond to our most complex challenges.
This isn’t abstract thinking. Sacred love is already alive in communities across Canada — in movements for justice, in ecological restoration, in interfaith collaboration, in Indigenous leadership, in youth changemaking, in research, in art, in policy, in business, and in everyday acts of courage and care.
If we fund love, as an organizing principle for our choices and systems, the flourishing of our people and planet will endure.
What we will fund:
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In Canada, there is no national philanthropic movement devoted to resourcing and weaving together people across generations, disciplines, backgrounds, and worldviews, toward a shared purpose of love. At a time when philanthropy itself is under increasing pressure to respond to complex challenges, a strategic, trust-based, collaborative fund and sustained movement is necessary.
We are deeply inspired by a handful of private foundations who fund love. For example, the U.S.-based Fetzer Institute has an $800 million endowment (as of 2026) to actualize a sacred worldview and sacred love as the path to shared flourishing. They fund projects across sectors such as civic engagement, environment, science, religion and spirituality, organizational culture, and culture and media. The U.S.-based John Templeton Foundationhas a 3.4 billion endowment (as of 2023) to fund bold ideas that support a world where “people are curious about the wonders of the universe, free to pursue lives of meaning and purpose, and motivated by great and selfless love.”
Building on these successes, we aim to:
Create a pooled fund and collaborative grantmaking mechanism to advance community-led efforts, storytelling, and research that help love take root in systems
Convene transdisciplinary and intergenerational forums where science, society, and spirituality meet, grounded in intellectual curiosity and moral imagination
Champion young people as grantees and stewards of a sacred worldview by inviting them to explore the most profound questions of themselves and the universe
Yet we know learning from local communities and funders is essential to determining what we invest in, and how we manage a pooled fund. As we start this journey, we’re asking questions like: What does love (as action) mean to us? Where is love already taking root, and how do we strengthen it? How do we fund love - together? We cannot answer these questions alone. So, starting in early 2026, we are traveling across the country to listen and learn from people, communities, organizations, and philanthropists.
Our featured efforts:
As a pre-incorporated entity that aims to be a public foundation, we are taking a deeply relational and participatory approach to co-developing this foundation. This is important because a public foundation exists to serve the public, and so it should be shaped by the public. If the spirit of this work moves you, below are three ways to help shape the soul of this foundation.
This is a living document, which will continue to evolve during our co-creation phase (until Q3 of 2026). It articulates early thoughts on our vision, mission, activities, inspirations, FAQs, and more. Share your thoughts with us: What feels strong? What is missing? How might we carry this work out more wisely?
Our partnerships with those who feel moved to help bring this foundation into being is growing. We welcome those interested in becoming a founding Board Member, Advisory Committee Member, Anchor Partner/Donor, Youth Advisor, or Collaborator.
In 2026, we are traveling across the country to listen and learn from people, communities, organizations and philanthropists on what it means, and how we can, fund sacred love. We’ll also be highlighting initiatives that are already rooting and strengthening love in systems and sectors.
Contact Us and Stay Up to Date
Email Us: canadiansacredcommons@gmail.com
Our primary place of gathering is located on the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, Haudenosaunee and Wendat Nations who have called this land home since time immemorial. We recognize the Mississaugas of the Credit as the original rights holders and the signatories of Treaty 19 (the Ajetance Purchase of 1818). Yet we travel and gather in communities across Turtle Island, and thus acknowledge that these lands are the ancestral, unceded, and treaty territories of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis People. We are committed to our ongoing role in reconciliation through meaningful action rooted in truth, justice and respect.
with love, Canadian Sacred Commons Foundation
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