Jean Augustine Centre

“We had the privilege of working with Monica Da Ponte from Shift and Build Consulting to develop a comprehensive financial resiliency program and train-the-trainer curriculum for the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment. Monica’s deep expertise in financial education and outstanding consulting skills resulted in a highly effective program that equips both young women and our staff with the tools to foster lasting financial stability.

Monica was incredibly responsive throughout the process, attentively incorporating ideas and feedback from our team as well as insights from our youth during the pilot phase. Her thoughtful adjustments ensured the program was tailored to the specific needs of our community. Monica’s ability to integrate this feedback while expertly managing the project timeline and deliverables allowed us to launch the program on schedule without compromising quality.

The train-the-trainer curriculum Monica developed has empowered our staff with the skills and confidence to lead the program independently, ensuring its long-term sustainability. Her ability to break down complex financial concepts into practical, real-world lessons that are youth-friendly and engaging has made a significant impact on both our staff and participants.

We highly recommend Monica Da Ponte and Shift and Build Consulting for their professionalism, collaborative approach, and dedication to creating meaningful, transformative solutions."

~Carrie Burd, Executive Director (Interim)
Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women’s Empowerment

As a leader in the engagement and empowering of young girls, the Jean Augustine Centre recognized the systemic nature of financial insecurity as well as the opportunity to build resiliency early on through capacity building and habit formation. Given this, the Centre brought on Shift & Build to design, develop, and pilot a financial resiliency program tailored to young girls. The completed program focused on building knowledge, habits, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a gamified environment to incent the practice of money management and behaviour change. The scope of work also included the development of a Train the Trainer Manual for ongoing program delivery.

This work was very exciting given the potential impact on young women and the opportunity to build on previous research and work founding the financial resiliency program Strive. Overall, it was inspirational to work with the Jean Augustine Centre team and the young women they support.

HP Canada

“Monica’s keen insight into systems change and thinking is unparalled. She is able to get to the heart of the issue quickly, evaluate the solutions and then put the hard work into making them happen. She collaborates, encourages and provides the right amount of support to get projects and programs up and running effectively and efficiently."

~Frances Edmonds
Head of Sustainability, HP Canada

As a leader in sustainability, HP Canada is working to catalyze the advancement of sustainable procurement.

Shift & Build has partnered with and supported HP in this journey since 2016. Key initiatives have included research to understand the core challenges and opportunities, the development of a strategy to advance sustainable procurement at scale, program design, as well as support to engage key partners and implement the strategy.

It is a genuine pleasure to partner with HP, a committed and passionate leader in sustainability.

Yonge Street Misson

“It was a pleasure working with Monica from Shift & Build creating a Wealth Creation Strategy for YSM.

What truly stood out was her dedication to understanding our needs and to getting us to the finish line. Monica facilitated multiple sessions with grace and expertise, ensuring that our team was engaged and on track throughout the process while also conducting thorough research and tying it with her existing knowledge. Monica’s professionalism, dedication, creativity, adaptability, and ability to uncover and address our needs have been instrumental in shaping our strategic direction.

The final result, a comprehensive wealth creation strategy, exceeded our expectations. Thanks to Monica's research, analysis, and expertise, we have a plan that will significantly impact YSM’s ability
to support budding and existing entrepreneurs from low-income communities.

We highly recommend her services to anyone seeking expert guidance and support. Thank you, Monica, for your outstanding work!"

~Paula Garcia,
Director, Community Development
Yonge Street Mission

Yonge Street Mission (YSM) is a development agency and social services leader with a bold vision of collaborating to end chronic poverty in Toronto by 2036. To support this vision, YSM has invested heavily in efforts to better understand poverty, the nature of existing systemic issues, support and employment services as well as possible pathways to strategically address chronic poverty. Recognizing an interest in, and potential role for entrepreneurship in community wealth creation, YSM commissioned Shift & Build. The focus of the initiative was to explore how we might build an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial wealth creation and contributes to YSM’s efforts to end chronic poverty. The scope of work included analyzing existing efforts and knowledge, conducting research, exploring client journeys towards wealth creation, drafting a strategy and hosting working sessions with the YSM team to refine and secure a consensus on the strategy.

Overall, it was inspiring to work on this project with the YSM team. It is inspiring to see the team's commitment to ending chronic poverty and strategic investment in thinking about pathways for meaningful impact.

Canadian Business for Social Responsibility (CBSR)

“Thanks to Monica's expertise and dedication, we now have a Theory of Change that serves as a blueprint for our organization's future charitable foundation endeavours. I highly recommend Monica to anyone seeking a consultant who is knowledgeable of system change leavers and collective impact. Monica has the innate ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and concisely. Her contributions have been foundational in shaping our organization's path forward, and we are immensely grateful for her support."

~Julia Zeeman,
Program Director, Canadian Business for Social Responsibility

Canadian Business for Social (CBSR), is an association of over 75 businesses working to co-create a sustainable future. CBSR has a vision of a sustainable, prosperous and socially just future in a generation. Recognizing an opportunity to accelerate this vision and a need to engage a broader group of funders and champions, CBSR is embarking on a journey to re-launch its Foundation. Shift & Build was brought on to support this work and develop a Theory of Change (TOC) and a plan for the Foundation re-launch. This work involved an analysis of research and efforts to date, a series of interviews with key stakeholders, the facilitation of strategic discussions to illuminate an impact oriented TOC, and stakeholder engagement meetings to secure feedback on the TOC.

Overall, it was inspiring to work on this project with the CBSR team who is committed to driving sustainability leadership and is strategically investing in thinking about how we might create an ecosystem that catalyzes businesses to co-create a sustainable, prosperous and socially just future in a generation.

Violence Against Women Network

Violence Against Women Network

“Monica has been amazing to work with. Her ability to zone in on the real issues, her understanding, easy going nature, and flexibility made my work as the Network Coordinator trying to oversee a strategic planning process much easier and less stressful. I would highly recommend her for any visioning or strategic planning process. "

~Judit Alcalde
Toronto Violence Against Women Shelter Network Coordinator

The Violence Against Women Network (VAWN) works to strengthen Toronto's gender based violence shelter system which includes 14 shelters. With significant efforts coordinating sector collaboration, housing and best practices, VAWN brought on Shift & Build to support its strategic planning efforts. This work included leading the establishment of goals, design of discussion exercises, as well as facilitation of a full day of the retreat for Shelter Executive Directors and Managers. After the retreat, Shift & Build synthesized key insights and developed recommendations on priority areas of work.

It was rewarding and uplifting to have the opportunity to work with VAWN. I know this effort will help VAWN continue to increase the positive and critically important impact of Toronto's shelter system.