Philanthropy
Charities
Michael is a firm believer in the idea that we must be the change we wish to see in the world. Thus, Michael commits a significant amount of time, money, and whatever other resources he has, to help several organizations and non-profits achieve their goals to make the world better. Please help if you can.
The older I get, the more I reflect on WHY I want to do and less on WHAT I want to do. What is the legacy Michael Coleman is going to leave on this world? This likely all started after my wife and I had our first child and I started to see the world through a different lens.
Many years ago, I was given a life changing gift by the owner of a retail chain I was working for at the time. The owner, a self-made millionaire and incredible humanitarian, Kevin Jardine, gave us all a book called ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ by Stephen Covey. This was one of the moments or phases of my life where everything changed and I could never see the world in the same way again. This is the book that launched my fascination and study of human potential and I’d find many other inspirational reads and speakers over the following years. In fact, it is still one of my favorite pursuits today. After reading ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ and using it as a model for my life and entrepreneurial endeavors, I was fortune to discover Mr. Covey’s follow up book ‘The 8th Habit’. In this book, the core message can be simplified to Love it, Learn it, Live it… Leave a Legacy. It is here where I truly started thinking about ideas I’d heard before but never really put any effort into, such as ‘Leave this world better than it was when you got here.’
It is a beautiful phrase and easier to do than many of us think. To operate our lives and careers in an ethical and mindful way and to move forward with purpose, we can change the world for the better. Often without any more effort than it would take to pursue our lives and careers purely on a selfish level.
The more I was driven by this idea of ‘purpose’ the more I found myself attracting and being attracted by like-minded individuals. I quickly discovered there were numerous people with the same drive to live a life of purpose and over the years we’ve combined our efforts and resources and made a real difference. And we have found the more we change the world for the better? The hungrier we are to do more and get more people involved.
I have been fortunate to be involved in several charitable events and organizations as a result of my selfless and giving cast mates and friends from the series I worked on for 7 years. And they in turn have been gracious in helping me with my charitable ideas and events. Through the Stands organization I have worked with Lana Parrilla, Sean Maguire, Karen David, Beverley Elliott, Rebecca Mader, and numerous others for charities that have helped city’s that have experienced tragedy, organizations for women and children who’ve experienced traumatic things, wildlife being treated ethically and with compassion, and so many more things. Sean Maguire (aka ‘Robin Hood’) and Colin O’Donoghue (aka “Captain Hook’) also ran a campaign with their own craft beer, courtesy of Main Street Brewing, that rallied the collective social media resources and energies of our cast to do some good in this world for the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre here in Vancouver.
As someone who has experienced a couple of major medical challenges in my life including two nasty auto-immune diseases (Ulcerative Colitis and Guillain-Barré Syndrome) I have also been able to specifically give back to those organizations who helped me and my family personally.
I have become such an incredible advocate for this need to be of service I have made it a core element of the post-secondary school I founded in 2019, Story Institute. We have included various scholarship opportunities for our students that allow them tremendous discounts on their training if they invest as little as 1-hour a week on making the world a better place. In a world where it is growing increasingly easier to feel like we are doing our daily dose of good by retweeting or liking social media posts and memes, it is important for us all to remember to find time for boots on the ground efforts to truly be the change we wish to see in this world.
