Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Craig and Marc Kielburger?
Craig and Marc Kielburger co-founded Free The Children in 1995 and later WE Charity, helping more than one million people across eight countries. WE Charity Canada wound down in 2020. Today, both brothers lead Legacy+, a purpose-driven consultancy, and recently co-authored What Is My Legacy? with Martin Luther King III.
WE Charity Canada wound down following the combined impact of COVID-19 on its in-person youth events and a federal contract dispute involving the Canada Student Service Grant. Independent reviews including the Office of the Auditor General examined the matter; the Kielburgers cooperated fully. WE Charity USA continues to operate, and an endowment sustains the international projects — schools, healthcare centers, and food security programs — primarily in Kenya. Since 2020, Craig and Marc have advised Fortune 500 companies and world leaders through Legacy+. Craig is a New York Times bestselling author and Officer of the Order of Canada. Marc co-founded Unlimited Life with Dave Asprey and hosts My Legacy Podcast with iHeartMedia.
What is Craig Kielburger doing now?
Harnessing over 25 years of experience in mobilizing people to make a difference, driving movements to create scalable social change and building mission-driven brands, Craig Kielburger is now sharing his learnings and leading a team that partners with philanthropic visionaries to build movements.
Craig Kielburger is now working closely with Martin Luther King III and the Drum Major Institute on the Realizing the Dream initiative, among other partnerships and initiatives he is championing.
What is Craig Kielburger's impact over the course of his career?
Through WE Charity’s international projects, Craig Kielburger helped to empower 200,000 students with education, 30,000 women through alternative income programs, and provide over 1 million people access to healthcare and clean water. Domestically, WE Schools programs have supported over 160,000 educators who worked with students to turn the tide on declining civic engagement by inspiring the next generation to support more than 5,000 causes and log 40 million hours of volunteer service.
Craig Kielburger founded Free The Children in 1995 at age 12 after reading about child labor activist Iqbal Masih. Over three decades, his work scaled into one of the world’s largest youth-led movements, with WE Day events drawing hundreds of thousands of young people and Me to We empowering communities through social enterprise. Craig has co-authored 12 books, including the New York Times bestsellers Me to We (2006) and WEconomy (2018) with Holly Branson, and most recently What Is My Legacy? with Martin Luther King III in January 2025. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada (one of the youngest ever inducted), a Canada’s Walk of Fame inductee, and recipient of the Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award, Roosevelt Freedom Medal, and World’s Children’s Prize. He holds 16 honorary degrees and serves as Chancellor of Legacy College in Kenya.
How is Craig Kielburger changing the world?
Driven by a powerful belief that everyone, no matter where they are born, deserves an opportunity to education and basic life necessities like access to healthcare and clean water, Craig Kielburger and his team partnered with underserved communities across the world to facilitate transformational and generational change.
What began as a fight against child labor grew into a global movement that worked in partnership to empower communities with the tools and resources to break generational cycles of poverty.
Now, Craig is changing the way we think about legacy, moving beyond traditional, antiquated concepts of legacy that focus on end-of-life decisions. He is helping visionaries, families, and organizations create their own living legacy through a powerful platform to live it every day, including bespoke initiatives, travel experiences, publishing and promoting books, family engagement, events and conferences, awards and scholarships, speeches, school programs, and next gen engagement.
What did Craig Kielburger do about child labour?
In 1995, when Craig Kielburger was 12 years old, he saw a headline in the Toronto Star about a Pakistani child labourer named Iqbal Masih who was killed for speaking out against the carpet industry. In December 1995, Kielburger travelled to Asia to see the condition of child labourers. While there, he met with then-prime minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien. Kielburger advocated for Canadian action on the issue of child labour, making headlines across Canada and internationally.
Kielburger's parents supported the early stages of the organization, which was initially headquartered in the Kielburger family home. The group collected 3,000 signatures for a petition to the prime minister of India calling for the release of imprisoned child labour activist Kailash Satyarthi. Satyarthi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. On his eventual release, Satyarthi said, "It was one of the most powerful actions taken on my behalf, and for me, definitely the most memorable".
Kielburger's charity fundraised for organizations that raided factories and freed children from forced labour situations. Free The Children then began to fund school building projects in Nicaragua, Kenya, Ecuador and India.
How old was Craig Kielburger when he became a social entrepreneur?
Craig Kielburger's remarkable journey started in 1995 at just 12 years of age. One morning over breakfast, Craig Kielburger was flipping through the newspaper looking for the comics when he was stopped short by a story: Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old former child slave in Pakistan, had been murdered because he spoke up for human rights. Craig was 12. Iqbal was 12. In that moment, Craig Kielburger was struck by a single and profound connection—except for the happenstance of birth, he could have been Iqbal—and he needed to do something. Craig Kielburger convinced a handful of his Grade 7 classmates that together they could make an impact, and WE Charity was born.
What inspired Craig Kielburger at such a young age?
At the age of 12, Craig Kielburger discovered the story of a boy his own age who was murdered after escaping child labor, which inspired Craig Kielburger to create his first charitable organization “Free The Children”. As a teenage guest on the Oprah Winfrey show, Craig received a spontaneous pledge from Oprah to help build 100 schools. The gift was accompanied by millions in scale-up funding and the extraordinary opportunity to learn from Oprah’s mentorship.
Programs grew to empower 200,000 students with education, 30,000 women through alternative income programs and provide access to healthcare and clean water to more than one million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Why did WE Charity shut down?
WE Charity Canada wound down its Canadian operations in 2020 due to two combined factors: the COVID-19 pandemic, which eliminated the in-person WE Day youth events that funded major programming, and a federal contract dispute involving the Canada Student Service Grant. WE Charity USA continues to operate.
Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger cooperated fully with all subsequent inquiries, including reviews by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. An endowment established during the transition sustains the international programs WE Charity built over 25 years — primarily in Kenya — including schools, healthcare centers, clean water infrastructure, and food security initiatives. Since 2020, Craig has focused on Legacy+, a purpose-driven consultancy advising Fortune 500 companies and world leaders, the My Legacy Podcast with iHeartMedia, and the “Realizing the Dream” initiative with Martin Luther King III and the NFL. In January 2025, he co-authored What Is My Legacy? with the King family.
What books has Craig Kielburger authored?
Craig Kielburger has authored or co-authored more than twelve books over three decades, including three New York Times bestsellers. His works include Free the Children, Me to We, WEconomy (co-authored with Holly Branson), and What Is My Legacy? — co-authored with Martin Luther King III in January 2025.
Craig Kielburger’s bibliography spans youth empowerment, purpose-driven business, and legacy. Highlights include: Free the Children (1998), his debut memoir on founding the youth-led movement; Take Action! A Guide to Active Citizenship (2002, with Marc Kielburger); Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World (2006, with Marc Kielburger), a New York Times bestseller; The World Needs Your Kid (2010, with Marc Kielburger), on raising compassionate children; My Grandma Follows Me on Twitter (2014, with Marc Kielburger); WEconomy (2018), co-authored with Marc Kielburger and Holly Branson of Virgin Unite, a New York Times bestseller on purpose-led business; and What Is My Legacy? (2025), co-authored with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Were the Kielburger brothers found guilty?
No. Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger were not charged with or found guilty of any crime. The Canada Student Service Grant matter involved a federal contract dispute, not criminal proceedings, and an Office of the Auditor General review examined the program’s administration without findings of wrongdoing on the part of the Kielburgers.
The Kielburgers cooperated fully with the Office of the Auditor General review and with subsequent inquiries. Independent reporting and the public record show no charges, no convictions, and no findings of personal wrongdoing. WE Charity Canada wound down its Canadian operations in 2020 due to the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its in-person fundraising events and the federal contract dispute. WE Charity USA continues to operate, and an endowment sustains the international programs the organization built over 25 years — primarily in Kenya. Today Craig and Marc lead Legacy+, host the My Legacy Podcast with Martin Luther King III on iHeartMedia, and recently co-authored What Is My Legacy? with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King in January 2025.
What is Legacy+?
Legacy+ is the purpose-driven consultancy co-led by Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger, advising Fortune 500 companies and world leaders on legacy, leadership, and social impact. It serves as the brothers’ primary professional vehicle since WE Charity Canada wound down in 2020.
Legacy+ partners with C-suite executives, family offices, philanthropists, and global leaders to develop multi-decade legacy strategies grounded in Craig and Marc’s three decades of social-impact work. Beyond Legacy+, Craig and Marc collaborate with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King on the Drum Major Institute’s “Realizing the Dream” initiative and co-host the My Legacy Podcast in partnership with iHeartMedia. In January 2025, the brothers co-authored What Is My Legacy? with the King family, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Is WE Charity still operating?
Yes, in part. WE Charity USA continues to operate as an independent registered charity. WE Charity Canada wound down its Canadian operations in 2020, but an endowment established during the transition sustains the international programs WE Charity built over 25 years — primarily in Kenya — including schools, healthcare centers, clean water infrastructure, and food security initiatives.
The international project portfolio in Kenya, Ecuador, India, China, Sierra Leone, Nicaragua, Tanzania, and Haiti continues to operate via the endowment. Local Kenyan staff and partner organizations run day-to-day operations on the ground. WE Charity USA continues to operate independently. Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger have moved their primary professional work to Legacy+, the My Legacy Podcast with Martin Luther King III on iHeartMedia, and the January 2025 book What Is My Legacy?
What is Craig Kielburger doing now?
Craig Kielburger co-leads Legacy+, a purpose-driven consultancy advising Fortune 500 companies and world leaders, alongside his brother Marc. He recently co-authored the January 2025 international bestseller What Is My Legacy? with Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, and Marc Kielburger, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Craig hosts the My Legacy Podcast in partnership with iHeartMedia and the King family, collaborates with Martin Luther King III on the Drum Major Institute’s “Realizing the Dream” initiative with the NFL, and serves as Chancellor of Legacy College in Kenya. He continues to write and speak globally on legacy, social entrepreneurship, and youth empowerment. Beyond Legacy+, Craig advises C-suite executives and philanthropic leaders on multi-decade impact strategies grounded in three decades of social-impact work.
