Mitchell Kutney (born May 27, 1985) is an Ottawa-based nonprofit

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

ger.

Background

Mitchell Kutney was born in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington, officially the City of Burlington, is a city and List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipality in Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton Region at the west end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Can ...

and completed his undergraduate degree in

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

and his Masters in

Public Policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a Group decision-making, decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to Problem solving, solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conceptio ...

and Administration at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

Career

Kutney has been referenced as an "esteemed social sector thinker," particularly in the domain of

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, millennial giving and

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

. He began his career by spearheading an immigrant youth program in partnership with the

and the

City of Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core of the Ottawa–Gatinea ...

known a
Youth Futures
This was a successful program, and was subsequently recognized by the

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC; , CRSH), often colloquially pronounced 'shirk' (), is a Canadian federal research-funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary research and training in the humani ...

(SSHRC) to serve as a potential best-practice for Ontario. After completing his Masters, Kutney co-founded

JustChange JustChange is a local giving circle of philanthropists that provides small grants for "initiatives proposed by individuals or organizations that produce positive outcomes for the community whether from a social, environmental or economic (equity ...

Inc., a network of donors who support local, community-based projects. As of 2023, Kutney currently works for the Government of Canada.

Blogging

Kutney is a blogger and progressive pundit. In 2014, Kutney criticized provincial attempts by the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

to impose artificial limits on executive compensation within the charitable sector, stating, "compensation should be based on what the job entails, the level of difficulty, and what qualifications you need, not some arcane notion about the morality of the sector in which the leaders are situated." No limits have been imposed to date. He has also defended the importance of "the personal touch" in engaging young people in politics. Kutney's work has led to interviews with ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' and

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

on the future of sustainable business models, and how social business can contribute to making the city a more fun and exciting place to live. He was also the first blogger to reveal

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

's smallenfreuden viral campaign in Toronto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kutney, Mitchell 1985 births Living people Canadian male bloggers Businesspeople from Ontario People from Burlington, Ontario Writers from Ontario