Strengthening Support for Changemakers: What’s Next for Innoweave
October 2, 2025
Two years ago, when Innoweave joined MakeWay, none of us could have imagined just how much uncertainty and change would shape the non-profit sector and the communities it serves. Today, the challenges are greater than ever, with high rates of burnout, rising demands for services, and the weight of social, political, and environmental crises. But so too is the determination of changemakers to come together, build community, and create a safe, thriving society.
The investments we’ve been making to rethink how Innoweave supports changemakers to deepen impact and sustain their work feel timelier and more necessary than ever. Today, we’re excited to reintroduce you to Innoweave, give you a behind-the-scenes look at what we’ve been working on, and share a few examples of the changes you can expect in the next year.
A Thoughtful Process of Transformation
Innoweave was created more than a decade ago to help changemakers strengthen their leadership and increase their impact by offering grants that supported coaching in social innovation practices, such as measuring impact, developing social enterprises, and building strategic clarity. Since then, the program has supported hundreds of organizations—from Gander to Haida Gwaii—with thousands of hours of coaching.
Over the years, Innoweave has become a cornerstone of capacity-strengthening support in the social purpose sector. At the same time, we recognized the need to evolve: to better reflect the realities many in the sector face, improve equitable access to our resources, and respond to calls for support that is more flexible, responsive, and relational—not one size-fits-all.
While Innoweave’s tools have been valuable for many, we’ve recognized the need for a more flexible approach that draws on a range of methods, adapts to diverse cultural and community contexts, and creates space for leaders navigating constant change.
That’s why Innoweave has been on a thoughtful journey of adaptation. We’ve been honouring more than a decade of learning, impact, and trusted support, while also exploring how to combine Innoweave’s strengths with MakeWay’s tools and network, relationship-based approach, and commitment to equity.
This work has included integrating Innoweave’s dedicated staff and processes into MakeWay; having in-depth and wide-ranging conversations about the program’s value and future; renewing longstanding relationships and building new ones; and piloting fresh approaches with small groups to test and learn as we go.
The process hasn’t always been easy. While we were proud to support over 50 coaching engagements in 2024–25, we paused new applications this year to give full attention to adapting and improving the program. We deeply appreciate your patience as we prepare to welcome you into an evolved Innoweave—one that we hope will meet changemakers where they are and help them flourish.
What You Need to Know
We’re beginning to roll out a refreshed approach that builds on Innoweave’s legacy social innovation toolkit while introducing a new vision for support that is more nimble, flexible, and relational; takes a holistic view of capacity-strengthening that includes changemaker wellbeing; and offers more opportunities for collaboration.
We’re also evolving to provide support and build community for participants between formal coaching engagements, ensuring changemakers have guidance, care, and peer support as they navigate increasingly complex challenges.
Some of these changes will appear in the next funding round, while others will unfold gradually over time. Alongside this, MakeWay is partnering with coaches and community practitioners to co-create complementary programs and resources that help fill gaps in leadership and wellbeing support across the sector.
When Applications Will Open
There will be an open call for applications in Spring 2026. While this is later than we had hoped, it gives us the time we need behind the scenes to ensure a smooth application experience. We’ll be in touch in the new year with more details.
What to Expect in the Next Funding Round
- From Rigid Streams to Tailored Learning: We’re moving away from offering coaching based on fixed content “streams” toward flexible, co-created pathways that adapt to each participant’s needs and the unique context of their work. There will still be focus areas to help guide applications and coaching, but within these areas there will be much more flexibility to tailor coaching to your needs.
- Modular Coaching Journeys: We’ll be offering coaching engagements of different lengths so participants can choose an approach that fits their availability, capacity, and goals. We’re also testing ways to break up coaching journeys—offering smaller grants that can be renewed for new coaching phases, creating regular touchpoints between participants, coaches, and MakeWay staff that help us collectively track progress, encourage ongoing learning, and allow support to adapt as circumstances change.
- More Accessible Applications: Our redesigned intake process will use plain language and focus on understanding your needs and context rather than alignment with a specific “stream” of content. This will create multiple entry points and widen the scope of who Innoweave can benefit.
- Smoother Online Experience: Our new application portal will simplify application submission, review, and reporting, making the process clearer and more consistent for both applicants and coaches.
We deeply appreciate your continued enthusiasm for Innoweave, your feedback on our offerings, and your patience as we build a program designed to serve the sector in new ways.
If you have questions or ideas that you would like to share as we continue refining Innoweave, please reach out to us by emailing info@innoweave.ca—we’d be happy to hear from you!