​Connecting communities in Calgary and abroad to facilitate improved results 
​in ​international development
Introducing Help Bolivia to the Fig Tree Family
Building Brighter Futures with Health, Education and Lunch Programs (HELP)
Introducing Orbis to the Fig Tree Family
We are an international NGO that brings people together to fight avoidable blindness. With our network of partners, we mentor, train and inspire local eye care teams to fight blindness in their own communities. We believe that no one should live a life of unnecessary blindness, simply because of where they were born.
​
Changing the way the world sees
Subscribe to the Fig Tree Foundation Newsletter
CEO Announcement
July 3rd, 2019
Chief Executive Officer
​Appointment
The Fig Tree Foundation Board of Directors, after a lengthy and very competitive search process, is pleased to announce the appointment of Lesley MacKinnon in the role of Chief Executive Officer effective July 8th, 2019. 

Lesley joins the Fig Tree Foundation ten years into a social impact career featuring the Grameen Bank and Grameen Trust, Carleton University, Mount Royal University, and most recently United Way of Calgary and Area where for three years, she managed a portfolio of community investments supported by some of Calgary’s most committed high capacity philanthropists. She drives engagement, shared value relationships, and effective approaches to social impact.  With a diverse skill set including impact evaluation, program design, and business development, Lesley is thrilled to be responsible for taking Fig Tree Foundation to the next level. 
​
“It is a true privilege to join an organization that bridges the local and the global to ensure that international development initiatives originating in Calgary are achieving strong results that improve lives all over the world,” says Lesley. “Fig Tree’s focus on transforming international development presents so many opportunities for growth. My goal is to ensure Fig Tree Foundation is a partner of choice for local international development efforts and the Calgary community.”   

​We welcome Lesley to the Fig Tree family and look forward a great future working towards transforming international development in Calgary and beyond!
 

Who we are

At Fig Tree Foundation, we are dedicated to catalyzing great development through meaningful local collaboration and raising funds for Calgary-based international development organizations in order to co-create sustainable development projects. 
Our vision
Our vision is to improve the quality of international development initiatives originating from Calgary.
Our mission
At the heart of great international development are empowered persons who are enabled to pursue their dreams.  
Catalyzing Great Development
Our guiding principles
Sustainability
Effectiveness
Collaboration
Transparency
Fig Tree grants
Through our endowment fund, we are committed to supporting collaborative development projects and programs that demonstrate the best potential return on every dollar raised; as measured by the net positive impact on the lives of communities in need.
With a focus on four key Development Principles; sustainability, effectiveness, transparency and collaboration, our grants works to enable ethical international development. ​​
Roundtable network
Our Roundtable Network provides Calgary-based international non-governmental organizations with the opportunities to connect, collaborate and learn from each other, with the goal of reinforcing best practices in international development.
The Fig Tree Foundation does not implement projects on our own.  Instead, we work with Roundtable members already implementing projects in the field and the partners that they are working with. 
We accomplish this work through two streams