Collective liberation, one London Saturday at a time.
We help people in London, Ontario live more sustainable and connected lives. The vision is bigger than the city. The work starts here.
The Institute for Community Sustainability is a London, Ontario nonprofit. We grew out of Reimagine Co, a package-free grocery store that opened in London in 2018, and carried that work into community programs built on reuse, repair, shared resources and shared power. Today we run the London Repair Café and the Thing Library, we helped found Earthfest, we built Open Council, and we host Canada's first chapter of the GreenPill Network. The same conviction runs through all of it.
Vision, mission, values
Our 2025 to 2030 strategic plan names a vision most organizations wouldn't say out loud: collective liberation, a world where people live in peace and harmony with each other and nature. Our mission is the everyday version of it. To help people live more sustainable and connected lives.
The values we hold each other to:
- Equity, diversity and inclusivity
- Community resilience and solidarity
- Radical love and imagination
- Sustainability and land stewardship
- Trust and accountability
- Self-awareness and reflexivity
- Humility, honesty and courage
ThreePathways
Our plan organizes everything we do around three pathways to change. We developed them with the community, through focus groups, conversations at Earthfest 2024 and a survey of residents. Every program we run, and every one we test, advances at least one.
- Shifting mindsetsToward sustainability and stewardship. From treating nature as property to treating it as inseparable from human wellbeing.
- Building relationshipsMeaningful, interdependent, across difference. The opposite of the hyper-individualism that makes the climate crisis impossible to solve together.
- Rights and basic needsFor everyone. Food, dignity, voice, belonging. The resources often already exist. The work is in how they get distributed.
How we work
We keep the programs simple, replicable and grounded. Repair takes the time it takes. The Thing Library lends what people actually need. Learning circles are short and practical. We measure success by whether neighbours come back.
We also sit at an intersection most organizations choose between. On a Saturday our fixers are repairing a toaster. On a weeknight our team is voting on a community proposal through an on-chain multisig. We see these as one project, not two. The repair table is where the climate work is real. The governance work is real too. Both ladder up to the same theory of change.
Sharing skills and reducing waste is, in itself, a kind of politics.
Who has trusted us
We're supported by funders and partners who don't give money lightly.
- The City of London, whose own waste diversion plan names tool libraries and educational initiatives as ways to cut waste
- The Ontario Trillium Foundation, partner on the Reimagining Power research project
- London Community Foundation, Libro Credit Union and ECO Canada
- The Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario
- And a wide London network, including the London Environmental Network, Pillar Nonprofit Network, ReForest London, Urban Roots and Climate Action London
Leadership and governance
Co-founder and President: Heenal Rajani.
ICS is governed by a board of directors. We're deliberately working to share leadership more widely, growing the board and formalizing volunteer roles, so the organization doesn't depend on one or two people carrying everything.
We're a London, Ontario incorporated not-for-profit. We're not a registered charity and we don't issue tax receipts. For grants and gifts that need charitable status, we partner with registered charities through fiscal sponsorship. We treat that as a strength. It lets us move quickly, stay lean and keep our focus on the work.
Want the full picture?
Our 2025 to 2030 strategic plan lays out the vision, the pathways and where we're headed. We're happy to share it.