DONATEwomen & gender-diverse people served
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MISSION
GOOD TO BE GOOD is an intersectional, community-wide nonprofit dedicated to serving and empowering women and gender-diverse people from marginalized communities. Our mission is to build a kind, more connected, and equal world.
As a grassroots organization, we provide social and community services, advocacy, and integrated programs, aimed at co-creating meaningful progress that support women and advance gender equity.
Our community-driven work centres the voices, rights, and lived experiences of women and gender-diverse people—especially those impacted by systemic inequities such as violence, poverty, and discrimination.
VISION
Guided by the principles of intersectional feminism and the values of social justice and interconnectedness—we boldly envision a future that is radically equitable, compassionate, and sustainable.
In solidarity, we are committed to uplifting and liberating women. Together, we harness our collective power to challenge injustice and expand a world that truly values all life.
TOWARDS THE HORIZON OF EQUITY
Serving and empowering communities across Canada—including Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta—GOOD TO BE GOOD is dedicated to advancing equality and protecting the rights and opportunities of women and gender-diverse people.
We offer a growing range of accessible, inclusive programs, supportive services, and advocacy initiatives to help address the needs and barriers faced by women from marginalized and underserved communities. Our work provides people with the support, resources, and opportunities to connect, grow, stay safe, and advocate for their rights—driving collective progress toward gender equity.
Since 2016, we’ve supported over 1,000 women and gender-diverse individuals across Canada, distributing more than 350,900 essential resources to those impacted by social isolation, gender-based violence, discrimination, and systemic barriers.
Our efforts are grounded in advancing social and economic opportunities, meeting basic needs, and amplifying the voices and aspirations of the communities we serve. Through rights-based advocacy and community-led action, we’re working toward a more just and equitable future—one that benefits everyone.
We continue to strengthen our commitment by driving grassroots interventions and community-informed solutions—designed for women, by women. We believe those most affected by injustice are best positioned to lead change. By meeting people where they are, we co-create strategies that build power, protect rights, and nurture connected, equitable communities.
vital supports & essentials distributed
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At GOOD TO BE GOOD, we are committed to supporting individuals most impacted by systemic inequities. As an equity-driven nonprofit, we prioritize women, non-binary, and gender-diverse people (18+) from historically marginalized, equity-denied, underserved, or under-resourced communities across Canada.
This includes people who identify as:
- Indigenous, Black, racialized
- 2SLGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit
- Survivors of gender-based, structural, or intimate violence
- Refugees, newcomers, and immigrants
- Low-income, impacted by income inequality, or experiencing poverty
- Living with visible or invisible disabilities
- Experiencing isolation, discrimination, or mental health challenges
Our priority communities include those who face exclusion from full participation in social, economic, political, and cultural life due to real or perceived aspects of their identity. We recognize that marginalization can occur on individual, community, and systemic levels—and that many people experience overlapping barriers.
We are committed to addressing these barriers through trauma-informed, intersectional, and accessible support. This means:
- Reducing participation barriers
- Offering reasonable accommodations
- Responding to lived experience
- Centring equity in all aspects of our work
WHO WE SERVE:
Our programs and services are available to women, non-binary, and gender-diverse people (18+) living in Canada who are part of communities that have been historically marginalized, underserved, or denied equity.
We welcome individuals seeking support who have been impacted by systemic inequality or who face barriers related to poverty, violence, discrimination, isolation, or exclusion.
Support is offered through inclusive, peer-based programs and community-led initiatives—designed to meet participants where they are with care, dignity, and respect.
Each program may have its own focus or eligibility, but all of our work is rooted in care, dignity, and a commitment to equity. Learn more here.
WE PRIORITIZE WHAT WE KNOW IS POSSIBLE:
- Women and gender-diverse people deserve to live free from violence, discrimination, and injustice.
- We work to address the systemic barriers that uphold inequality—building solutions rooted in compassion, justice, and equity.
- We believe in a future where women and gender-diverse people, especially those with intersecting identities and lived experiences, are cared for, invested in, and able to live safe, thriving lives with access to their human rights and opportunities.
Why women and gender diverse people?
The fight for gender justice is universal.
Women and gender-diverse people from underserved or historically marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by unjust systems rooted in patriarchy, racism, colonialism, and other forms of oppression—and are often the first to be left behind. These systemic forces create compounding barriers—limiting access to healthcare, housing, legal support, education, decent work, and safety. These challenges are not isolated; they intersect, deepen inequalities, and constrain agency, freedom, and choice.
Too often, women and gender-diverse people are excluded from decisions that affect their lives—in homes, workplaces, communities, and governments. During crises, they are among the first to experience health and safety disparities, economic instability, and systemic neglect—especially when support systems fail to meet their specific needs. As caregivers, frontline workers, and community leaders, they hold up our communities, yet remain under-supported in recovery, funding, and justice.
Advancing gender equity is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty, build safer and prosperous communities, and create lasting social, political, and economic benefits. It means addressing the root causes of inequality, dismantling oppressive systems, and ensuring everyone has access to the tools, resources, support, communities, and opportunities they need to thrive.
At GOOD TO BE GOOD, we fight for and alongside women and gender-diverse people because equity for those most marginalized uplifts us all. The road to equality is long, but each step forward brings us closer to the future we all know is possible.
At GOOD TO BE GOOD, our work is rooted in a people-first, feminist, and intersectional approach that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Our approach and framework involves designing and delivering programs and services that are community-centred, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive. Our commitment to gender equity means we focus on addressing systemic barriers while responding to the urgent and practical needs of our communities.
We use both short-term and long-term strategies that tackle root causes of inequity while supporting individuals in their day-to-day lives. We ask: Whose voices are missing? Who holds power? What would change if those closest to the issues were also closest to the solutions?
Our work is guided by the following principles:
Trauma-informed and healing-centered
Strengths-based and care-oriented
Feminist, pro-choice, and gender-responsive
Anti-oppressive, culturally responsive, and accessible
Collaborative and participatory
We actively aim to work alongside our communities. This means valuing lived experience, centring participants as experts of their own lives, and creating pathways to shift and share power. Through continuous reflection and feedback, we remain responsive and accountable to the people we serve.
As long as injustice has existed, women have resisted it. We proudly stand on the shoulders of the many who came before us—and remain inspired by those who continue to show up, speak out, and dream forward.
At GOOD TO BE GOOD, justice and equity are at the heart of everything we do.
We believe ending gender discrimination means addressing its root causes—like racism, poverty, ableism, xenophobia, homophobia, and other intersecting injustices that disproportionately impact women and gender-diverse people.
Our work is grounded in anti-oppressive, trauma-informed, and intersectional practices. We aim not just to provide resources—but to affirm dignity, agency, and rights.
We challenge systems of power, centre lived experience, and strive to reflect the diverse communities we serve. From policy to practice, we are committed to ethical, equity-focused decision-making that moves us toward meaningful, lasting change.
Learn about all of our organizational values here.
WE ARE ALL CONNECTED
A letter from GOOD TO BE GOOD’s Executive Director
How can we envision a place worth going so we may do the work of reimagining equitable connected communities? How can we make hope a constant presence and honour our true nature of interconnectedness to improve conditions for those who have not yet experienced it?
When we cultivate a sense of solidarity, with the hope of building an equal and compassionate world, we inadvertently discover the great paradox that underpins what it means to be human—in our power lies the discovery of inherent togetherness and a way to arrive at our shared humanity. By growing our ‘good’ to others, we not only support them; we also care for ourselves and the future of our place, actively participating in its transformation and dismantling the colonial, patriarchal status quo of zero-sum thinking.
We are all interconnected: our struggles are linked, and our freedom goes without another. Life doesn’t start or end with any one person. Big picture, our lives are circular. By deeply recognizing this truth, we can work to improve our world—one we know and wish to inhabit is within reach.
Shoulder to shoulder, a just and kind world requires us to actively use our collective power through simple yet bold acts: embodying kinship, building in numbers, upholding humanity, and remaining awake to the interdependence of life. We need to find strength and hope in one another, work collaboratively to hold the line in movements, and build meaningful relationships. We must think about everyone involved so no one gets left behind—and do away from systems and social ideologies that hurt us by moving toward spaces that hold us. The very systems we’re fighting against live within us, too. Thus, our humanity insists that we must do this together—to interrupt injustice without mirroring it—because everything worthwhile is done this way.
While we’re here, we got to make it our work!
May you say no more to injustices placed against women and girls. May you find the possibilities to turn to one another, even those who confront these injustices in the raw. May you harness the forces of radical care and love. May you build the expansive communities to belong and be equal.
Let it land in your heart again and again that good, in all of its form, exists—it’s us who makes this possible.
– Char San Pedro
Founder of GOOD TO BE GOOD and Gender Equity Advocate
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Thank you for joining us in the movement of building a gender-equitable and kind world for all.
