#Tech4SickKids
Erin Bury, CEO and Co-Founder of Willful, and Fatima Zaidi, Founder and CEO of Quill, joined forces in 2021, becoming the co-chairs of the Tech4SickKids. This initiative was initially launched in 2017 by Jodi Kovitz and Salim Teja with the goal of raising $25 million to go towards: driving the hospital’s Artificial Intelligence in Medicine for Kids initiative, building an emergency room equipped to use tech and AI to deliver better health outcomes for kids. Their efforts have seen over $8.25M donated to #Tech4SickKids, with over 600 donors, multiple Upside Foundation exits and more than 50 companies pledging their Upside to SickKids. The equity pledges made towards #tech4sickkids have seen a significant momentum in recent years - with donations generated from several liquidity events including Wattpad, LevelJump and Inkbox.
A Common Mission
Fatima and Erin have leveraged their expertise to further engage the tech and innovation community. They launched the “employer matching programs” which encourages tech companies and their employees to join together in supporting this movement. So far, tech startups such as Ecobee, Impression Ventures, TribalScale, and Uberflip have signed on to the program and will match their employees’ donations to SickKids.
In November 2021, the council raised $50,000 in its inaugural e-auction. Some of the prizes were a meet and greet with Hootsuite founder and executive chair Ryan Holmes, which sold for $630, and a year-long pizza subscription from General Assembly that is valued at $600 but sold for $950.
In Summer 2022, Tech4SickKids hosted its first Founders Dinner Night: Scaling with Purpose, bringing together an exclusive group of 10 seed and Series A-stage founders at a roundtable, to discuss embedding social responsibility into their business.
These Founders and Upside Members have set the standard for building a successful business that has strong values and a commitment to their community.
About Quill and Fatima Zaidi
Quill is an award-winning podcast hosting platform that supports their clients to produce an extremely impactful podcast connecting them with a global audience. Founder Fatima Zaidi wears many hats outside of her role as CEO at Quill Inc. She is also a member of the National Speakers Bureau, where she provides her expertise on the world of media and tech trends. Additionally, as a commentator for BNN Bloomberg, Fatima leads discussions about the obstacles that female and BIPOC founders face in entrepreneurship.
About Willful and Erin Bury
Willful has made will creation easy and accessible for Canadians through their platform, as it breaks down the estate planning process into simple steps. Founder and CEO Erin Bury was named one of Bay Street Bull’s “2021 Women of the Year”. Additionally, she is a startup advisor, a seasoned marketer and former technology journalist.
Learn more about Tech4SickKids here
Raised80s
Charities: New Leaf Foundation, Tree Canada, Girls E-Mentorship and Tree Canada