About Us

Renewal is a collection of independent organizations founded by Carol Newell. Leveraging her entire portfolio, Renewal works to foster healthy social, ecological and economic environments that benefit everyone.

These organizations include her initial two entities, Endswell and Renewal Partners Company (a charitable foundation and a private seed-capital investment company), as well as Renewal Land (social purpose real estate) and Play BIG (a gathering to catalyze wealth for change).

Renewal provided start-up capital and the back-office to launch Renewal Funds, an independent venture capital firm for outside investors, and, early stage funding for Social Venture Institute, a capacity building event for leaders serving the greater good.

These pages for the most part reveal a snapshot taken around 2010. A window into the early days, you’ll see that some organizations have rebranded themselves, and some people have changed careers. Many stories are alive and well. Enjoy the photos from times we were younger. The dates and details are shifting sands.

An experiment and an opportunity

“Renewal was an experiment that began when I decided to direct my inheritance to stimulate environmental and social change for the good of all.

“Though many of these leading-edge businesses are profitable and some have provided great returns, the objective—with both business and granting—has always been to support new ways of thinking that could make a better difference. Making a profit was never the focus. I value the stumbles and the unseen, yet heroic efforts and convictions just as much and maybe more. Financially successful or not, these individuals and their ideas and organizations have been guides through territory considered by most to be too treacherous or wide-eyed to consider as realistic investments for the first two decades. In fact they moved the ball down the field.

“They’ve brought us to this moment in time. A time that stretches through the history of this portfolio retrospective, when the imperative was visible on the horizon 30 years ago, imminent 20 years ago, looming a decade ago, and upon us with a ferocity right now, when we cannot delay any longer.

“This is no longer an experiment. These types of investments and grants are some of the keys to a viable future. Like myself, many individuals and institutions—with the financial capacity, and more resilience than most to weather ups and downs—can afford, literally, to leap into uncertain new territory.

“Imagine a course correction, refocusing on new definitions of what success might truly be. Let’s learn to listen better, and to deliver resources in profound new and generative ways to help grow a green and caring economy. If we’re courageous yet humble, nimble yet thoughtful, fierce yet inclusive it might just open new paths to a liveable future.” — Carol

Mission

In 1991, Carol Newell anonymously started putting the powerful tools of business and philanthropy to work in the creation of a triple bottom line economy. A few years later, this initiative became publicly known as Renewal. We provided investments, grants and collaborations (for entrepreneurs, investors and activists) in support of long-term societal solutions in British Columbia and beyond.

Vision

Renewal launched a focused plan in 1994 to influence and support a shift away from an economy that mandates maximum financial returns despite the planetary cost and replace it with an economy based on the health and well-being of communities; one in which safeguarding whole ecosystem health is seamlessly integrated into all economic activities. The goal is to influence our present choices and circumstances as we prioritize the long-term well-being of future generations.

Strategy

Employing a three-pronged approach of investment (Renewal Partners and in 2008 Renewal Funds) charitable grant making (Endswell Foundation and Tides Canada Foundation) and cross-sector collaboration, Renewal has leveraged capital to create a new model for change. At the core of our strategy is the belief that the many independent actors and organizations, across the for-profit and non-profit spectrum, will best gain strength through interdependent relationships of trust and respect. In our investments, grants and collaborations, Renewal has worked to create a new territory in which these new relationships are created and in which they can thrive.

Renewal has grounded and increased the leverage of its resources by focusing, primarily, on our region, British Columbia. By investing heavily in BC, we have built a strong base and can now extend our influence and collaborative value more broadly. We have also invested throughout North American networks as part of expanding our region’s access to resources and visibility.

Goal