Vancouver Foundation

F a l l 2 0 1 5 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l p a g e 1 1 "Vancouver Foundation has a terrific reputation, both obvi- ously as an enterprise in the charitable sector, but also just as a great board to be involved in," he says from his elegant office overlooking Canada Place. "So it was a real treat to be asked." McLean is routinely asked to join various community orga- nizations. He mostly says no. Not because he doesn't believe in giving back – on the con- trary, he considers philanthropy so important that he prefers giv- ing everything he's got to one cause at a time. "I think it's really important to focus and not spread your extracurricular self too thin. So I try to do one or two things at a time," he explains. McLean has previously served on the University of British Columbia Board of Governors and the Vancouver Police Board. In 2010, at age 36, he also became the youngest person to chair the Vancouver Board of Trade. He joined Vancouver Foundation's board in 2014, enticed by the opportunity to volunteer with Canada's largest community foundation, and impressed by the tremendous impact it has on charities across the province thanks to its approximately $1 billion in assets under management. When asked why he donates time and energy, rather than just money, McLean is clear on the rewards: "You get out what you put in. Actually, you get out more than you put in. I find investments of time and energy and talent – not just money – to organizations that could really use the help is tremendously rewarding," he says. When it comes to philanthropy, he models himself after his parents. While his father, a lawyer who began dabbling in real estate as a side business, always kept a full schedule, McLean remembers he always made time for community causes. "He felt that being an engaged citizen was really important, and he argu- ably didn't have the time to do it but he made it happen." McLean's mother, Brenda, has also kept philanthropy close to her heart. She is responsible for e McLean Group's McLean McCuaig Foundation and the decade-old Brenda and David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies at UBC. More recently, their son was instrumental in establishing the McLean Group Employee Fund at Vancouver Foundation. ese days, McLean's parents are still involved in the com- pany, but it's McLean and his younger brother Sacha who lead the way. Proving themselves to be as innovative as their parents, the brothers were recognized by Ernst & Young for the Entre- preneur of the Year Award in the category of entertainment and hospitality in 2014. Jason McLean was also named one of the city's "Top 40 under 40" by Business in Vancouver in 2010. While e McLean Group started out as a real estate invest- ment and development firm, its expansion into film production was a "happy accident," says McLean. With 30 acres of indus- trial land in Vancouver that they couldn't get permission to build residential towers on, it was necessary to think of alterna- tive uses for the land. In 1997, Sacha proposed renting out facil- ities to film companies. Today, e McLean Group owns Van- couver Film Studios, a production facility in East Vancouver with 12 sound stages. It also provides a full suite of services to the film industry, including aviation charters. But even as his professional life forges ahead, McLean will always make time for community causes. "It's about being an engaged citizen. It's about giving back. It's about supporting things that you care about that are impor- tant to you," he says. "And for those of us who have enjoyed a certain amount of success and good health and gotten so much from this community, it's also a responsibility."

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