Me to We is a for-profit company selling lifestyle products, leadership training and travel experience. Me to We was founded in 2008 by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. Half of Me to We's profits are donated to We Charity to support its operating costs, while the remainder is reinvested back into the company.
History
Following the founding of We Charity in 1995, Craig and Marc Kielburger launched a program called "Leaders Today", to offer leadership training to young people and volunteer trips to developing communities served by their charity. In 2008, the Kielburgers launched the for-profit company Me to We, which continued the trips program, and added the sale of socially conscious retail items. In 2015, Me to We received certification as a B Corporation. The company has been criticized for blending corporate promotion with its activist goals. Leadership has also been profiled for their "aggressive responses to criticism", with tight control over media presence and a history of lawsuits. In 2018 Canadian news siteCanadaland reported that Me to We had business connections to several companies known to use child labour. The Canadaland report noted that the Me to We label partnered with Hershey's, and that the chocolate company has been criticized for its child labour practices; Canadaland directly noted in its story that the Me to We logo was present the packaging of chocolate partially sourced to child labour in West Africa. Me to We was also criticized for its partnership with Unilever, a major purchaser of palm oil produced with child labour. Me to We denied its products were sourced to child labour, and noted that it vetted its partners.
Me to We Artisans was founded in 2009 by CEO Roxanne Joyal. Women employed by Me to We Artisans are paid more than they normally make for their products, and are also provided with training on financial literacy. As a result, many are able to invest part of their income in small businesses and the education of their children. YouTube personalityLilly Singh designed and promoted a line of beaded bracelets called "#GirlLove Rafikis", as part of her campaign to end "girl on girl hate."
WE Charity contract controversy
In 2020, the company was criticized after it was announced that We Charity would be in charge of distributing $900 million in federal student grants provided by the government of Canada. This proposal came under fire after CBC reported that Me to We had paid members of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's family for speaking engagements, raising a potential conflict of interest as Trudeau had pushed for the grant program to go ahead. The program was ended before it began, and Trudeau issued an apology for not recusing himself. We Charity's involvement in the grant program was also criticized by several Canadian non-profits and charities. Based on the Kielburger brothers' testimony at the House of Commons finance committee, over $500,000 were paid by the WE organization to Justin Trudeau's mother, brother and wife. Invited by Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis to address the misconception about the whole story, Craig Kielburger also defended WE Charity and its programs. Concerns have been raised about the blurred lines between We Charity and Me to We. These blurred lines include both organizations having the same Chief Financial Officer. According to Charity Intelligence, a Canadian registered charity, that assesses over 750 Canadian charities, in 2019 We Charity transferred 8% of its revenue to Me to We, a magnitude of revenue transferred from a charity to a related for-profit company that Charity Intelligence's general manager described as "unique" among charities. Charity Intelligence also noted that, as a for profit companyprivately owned by the Kielburgers, Me to We is not bound by disclosure requirements. We Charity's response to these concerns is that over a 5 year period preceding 2020, even after excluding the value of services and in kind contributions, Me to We contributed a net of $1.3 million more than it received from We Charity.
