Our History

Heartwood House is an Ottawa-based charitable organization (879671618RR0001) whose mission it to strengthen charitable and non-profit organizations through fostering collaboration and partnerships, while providing an affordable, accessible space, in a welcoming environment, to empower its member organizations to effectively serve people who are marginalized, living in poverty, and in need of education, mental health physical, or recreational support.

Key Historical Time Periods

  • 2001: Incorporated on March 12, 2001, Heartwood House was born from the vision of offering a collaborative environment for small charities and non-profit organizations to be stronger and better together under one roof. Heartwood House obtained its charitable status in September 2001.

  • 2001–2012 (Chapel Street): Heartwood House opened its doors on September 1, 2001, renting 26,000 square feet of space inside Congregation Beth Shalom’s building on Chapel Street in Sandy Hill, where it continued its services until December 2012. During this time, the Heartwood House community grew to 18 small charities under one roof. Heartwood House also negotiated a successful partnership with the City of Ottawa for the management of the OC Transpo Lost and Found, which continued until November 2024.

  • 2012–Present (McArthur Avenue): The owner of the Chapel Street property sold it to developers in 2012. With a necessity to leave the Chapel Street location by the end of December 2012, Heartwood House received a grant to fund the $875,000 down payment for a $2.85 million property located in Vanier; a 26,000-square-foot former Giant Tiger department store, warehouse and retail shops at 404 McArthur Avenue. The property was bought in partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Partnership (UUFO) who are the 12.5% owners and Heartwood House the 87.5% owners of the property.

Current Operations

Today, Heartwood House is home to 22 charitable and non-profit organizations.

Heartwood House runs a community thrift shop featuring unclaimed items from the OC Transpo Lost & Found, as well as the Everybody Wins! electronics recycling program. Heartwood House is a recognized and successful small charity, with no government funding. It raises funds to offset operations through its own initiatives providing a safe, secure, accessible and welcoming home base for its community of charitable and non-profit organizations, to work together under one roof. Better together!

 
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Registered Charity # 879671618RR0001

 

Our Mission

Heartwood House serves the residents of Ottawa who are marginalized, living in poverty, and/or in need of educational, mental health, emotional, physical, economic, employment, training or recreational support through collaboration and the development of formal and informal partnerships within the greater community by providing affordable, accessible space and resources for non-profit and charitable organizations to enable them to maximize their services.