How It All Began
At the beginning of 2020, when Avi met his old friend Ashok, who had recently moved to Toronto after successfully selling his start-up in Singapore, they got talking about a challenge Avi was facing.
In his own experience, Avi found it difficult to come by opportunities where he could serve a non-profit through his skills. Since Avi is a designer by profession (and passion!), it made sense to start something for the design community. With his previous experience working pro-bono with charities in India and being on the board of one here in Toronto, he knew that there's definitely potential in the idea.
Just as they were on the verge of completing a survey that validated their hypothesis, Canada went into a lockdown due to COVID-19 and the world as we knew it changed for the foreseeable future.
COVID-19 had a devastating effect on organizations driving positive social and environmental change. At a point, 1 in 10 was using personal funds to keep their organizations afloat. This acted as a catalyst to launch an initiative to help non-profits.
In June 2020, PAY IT FWD was launched on Slack where a community of volunteers could pick up design projects posted by charities and work on them for free. As of today, we are a community of over 750 members consisting of designers with different skills and non-profits supporting various causes. We have completed multiple design, video and content-related projects for the non-profits and continue to work on more every week.
We have recently embarked on more strategic design projects. The first one that we’re most excited about is our partnership with Studio.89 (a non-profit that aims to provide an online opportunity for youth within the Peel Region) to create and teach a Graphic Design course so the youth can create their own digitized art, and embark into the professional Art World. The designers will spend time at PAY IT FWD and work on active projects helping the non-profits in the community- truly carrying forward our philosophy of Paying it Forward.
The second initiative is that of Ambassadors- a group of motivated expert designers who are available to consult with non-profit organizations for design strategies that go beyond task-based projects.
We have ambitious goals for 2026: to grow our community, deliver more meaningful projects, and establish PAY IT FWD as the go-to platform for designers and creatives who want to use their talents for social good.
As part of this vision, we’re reimagining PAY IT FWD for the AI age—a platform where talented volunteers are intelligently matched with the right nonprofit opportunities, not left to chance. A platform where discovering and applying for meaningful projects is simple and accessible. Where every contribution helps build a visible portfolio, creates lasting impact, and strengthens a thriving community that stays connected between projects.
Our goal is simple: make it easier than ever for creative professionals to give back, grow their skills, and create meaningful change through design.
ID - 1355097-4
Email - hey@payitfwd.design
Address - 1379 Boulder Creek Crescent, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada