16 | BC B U S I N E SS NOVEM B ER/ D ECEM B ER 2025
You're four and a half years
on the job. How's it going?
I have the best job in B.C. I get to champion
kids, be a partner with a really complex
health system, work with extraordinary
people—visionaries who are bringing ideas
to life so kids can have better outcomes. How
could you not love that?
Your foundation is the top
charity in B.C. by revenue—can
you break that down?
We have about $650 million invested, so we
generate income from that. We have a lottery
that nets about $15 million annually. And we
raise about $80-plus million a year—roughly
20 percent from corporations, 45 percent
from individuals and the balance from about
Mighty Kids,
Mighty
Mission
After Malcolm Berry's infant daughter
passed away from blood cancer two
decades ago, it inspired him to switch
gears from teaching to fundraising for
children's hospitals. Now president and
CEO of BC Children's Hospital Foundation,
the province's top-earning charity, he
understands that modern philanthropy is
about more than fundraising—it's about
creating brand advocates and building
ecosystems of empathy. In a candid sit
down, Berry opens up about his ambitious
plans to position B.C. as a global pediatric
care leader.—By Darcy Matheson
| THE CONVERSATION
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100,000 people making gifts of $100 a year
or $20 a month. The common alignment is
belief and purpose: belief in B.C. children,
belief in the power of what could be.
The Crystal Ball is one of your
biggest fundraisers, having
raised more than $59 million
since 1986. This year you're
fundraising for a new 3T MRI
for B.C.'s only pediatric research
MRI site (a $10M cost). Why is
this so important?
This will be one of the highest fidelity MRI
tools for kids in the country. We're going
to be able to use children's brain scans
to understand the impact of anxiety and
depression in the moment, to then inform
protocols to best care for kids. It will
transform the way that we can treat mental
health.
You spearheaded the "Small Is
Mighty" campaign that features
some of the hospital's youngest
patients. It's so visually impactful—
to show how even small donations
can fund research and technology
for B.C. kids. How did that
come about?
We wanted a brand platform upon which
campaigns sit. "Small Is Mighty" is the
external rallying cry for our internal rallying
cry, "power the possible." Whether you're a
monthly donor making a $20 gift or you're
seed-funding innovation in the lab—microbes
in a Petri dish—these things are small, but
they are mighty.
How often do families
who've been through the
hospital become donors?
Probably more than we realize. Everybody
has a story. What we underappreciate is
the healing power of giving. I've been there
where you can't control your child's blood
tests or results. But you can control pro-
viding a mechanism for yourself or your
community to be part of the healing journey.
You're an avid North Shore
biker and you have said both
that it's really grounding and
