About Us
Empowering People. Launching Ideas.
At Rise, we empower individuals with mental health and addiction challenges across Canada to become entrepreneurs and transform their lives.
Why? Because mental health significantly impacts a person’s personal, professional and financial well-being. In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental health challenge or illness and face significant workplace stigma and barriers to employment because of it. People with mental health challenges experience levels of unemployment as high as 90%.
Entrepreneurship is a powerful way to take control.
Through flexible financing, training, mentorship, and other tailored supports, we enable individuals to learn the skills and access the capital they need to build a small business for meaningful employment, economic empowerment and personal well-being.
Our mission
To empower Canadians with mental health and addiction challenges to achieve greater economic and social inclusion.
Our vision
To strengthen communities by unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of all Canadians with mental health and addiction challenges.
Our values
We centre all our work in care, empowerment and inclusion.
Our Impact
Rise was established by the Rotman Family in 2010 as a joint initiative with the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Since day one, we've empowered thousands of individuals and small businesses across Canada through flexible loans, inclusive training programs, and the support of hundreds of volunteers.
individuals empowered as entrepreneurs
loaned to clients
loans disbursed
volunteers
Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that our Toronto headquarters operate on Land that is the traditional territory of many Nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. It is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities and is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit.
As a national organization, we also recognize that our work takes place on the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island. We honour their enduring presence, deep connection to the land, and longstanding contributions to this place we now call Canada.
Rise is committed to reflecting on our relationship with all Indigenous peoples and the ongoing impacts of colonization and to working in partnership with Indigenous communities toward reconciliation, equity, and justice.
