#Tech4SickKids has launched its campaign with a new name and team of ambassadors from Canada’s tech sector to help drive support for Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).
#Tech+Biz4SickKids, as it is now called, aims to spur the Canadian innovation and corporate community to raise $1 million per year for SickKids. The funding will specifically be used to support the hospital’s Precision Child Health campaign, which aims to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prediction of children’s health issues.
Lauren Arnold, co-chair of #Tech+Biz4SickKids, told BetaKit the name change reflects the breadth of businesses the campaign is looking to galvanize.
To date, the campaign has raised over $8 million in donations.
“It was important to us, at #Tech+Biz4SickKids, to be inclusive to folks outside of just the tech and innovation space for this campaign and there are so many small business leaders in a variety of sectors that were excited to get involved,” Arnold said.
#Tech+Biz4SickKids is launching this year with an ambassador program, which already includes several leaders from Canada’s tech sector. According to #Tech+Biz4SickKids, these ambassadors are active supporters of the campaign and will continue to encourage the innovation ecosystem to support SickKids.
Among the lineup of ambassadors is Abdullah Snobar, executive director and CEO at the DMZ, podcaster and author Amber Mac, and Good Future’s Arati Sharma and Satish Kanwar (Good Future is the majority owner of BetaKit).
Throughout the year, #Tech+Biz4SickKids aims to add new ambassadors from the Canadian tech and corporate ecosystem.
“Our hope is that the new ambassador program elevates the incredibly innovative work being done at SickKids through the platforms of these technology and business leaders,” Arnold added.
#Tech4SickKids was founded in 2018, with a goal of modernizing SickKids. To date, the campaign has raised over $8 million in donations for SickKids.
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Initiatives supported by the campaign include driving the hospital’s Artificial Intelligence in Medicine for Kids initiative, a resource hub to lead AI projects, as well as building emergency rooms equipped to use tech and AI to deliver better health outcomes for kids.
The #Tech+Biz4SickKids council is led by co-chairs Arnold, who is also the co-founder of Category Communications, and Fatima Zaidi, CEO and founder of Quill. Previously, Willful CEO and co-founder Erin Bury and Zaidi co-chaired the council, and Bury remains a member of the council.
In addition to the ambassador program, #Tech+Biz4SickKids has also launched a program this year that recognizes founders, executives, and companies that support the campaign, called the Circle of Recognition.
Arnold said the program will spotlight accepted companies and founders in a variety of ways, including on the #Tech+Biz4SickKids website as well as through content opportunities with the campaign’s sponsors, event opportunities, and networking opportunities.
In order to be eligible, individuals or businesses must donate $5,000 to the campaign and meet several other requirements, such as pledging stock options and warrants to Canadian charities through the Upside Foundation, and setting up an employee donation matching program with SickKids.
Feature image courtesy Tech+Biz4SickKids.