A message from our President and CEO

Dear shareholders, customers and communities,

Year after year, our TELUS team works with passion and purpose to create remarkable outcomes in the communities where we live, work and serve around the world. In alignment with our annual general meeting of shareholders, I would like to share with you a sampling of the many ways our global team consistently demonstrates our unparalleled leadership in social capitalism.

Continuing our tradition of giving back through volunteerism and philanthropy 

Our TELUS team members, retirees, family and friends around the world volunteered 1.5 million hours, globally, in 2023. This level of volunteerism is unmatched by any other company on the planet. Since 2000, your organisation has devoted $1.7 billion, including 2.2 million days of volunteerism, as showcased in the following video.

Thanks to the incredible actions and generosity of our TELUS family, 2023 was our most giving year ever, with more than 80,000 participants in 260 communities, across 32 countries, participating in our 18th annual TELUS Days of Giving. Watch the video below to learn more about our global TELUS Days of Giving. 

We extended the geographical reach of five TELUS Community Boards in Alberta and Ontario, and our support now extends to over 13.3 million Albertans and Ontarians. Our 20 Community Boards globally – including our soon-to-be-announced Board in London, UK – exemplify an innovative approach to charitable giving; one that puts decision-making in the hands of local leaders who know their communities best. Since launching our first-ever Community Board in Edmonton in 2005, our TELUS Community Boards in Canada and around the world – including our first Community Board in the United States – have contributed $110 million to nearly 10,000 grassroots programmes, positively impacting 25 million youth.

We have made meaningful progress towards reconciliation by doubling our commitment to the TELUS Indigenous Communities Fund, raising the investment to $2 million through 2028, and allocating 14 grants to Indigenous-led organisations across Canada, totalling $300,000. Since inception, the Fund has granted $575,000 to nearly 30 community programmes.

Empowering our next generation of leaders

In October 2023, we launched our $50 million TELUS Student Bursary, which is the largest bursary fund in Canada. Indeed, in the 2023-2024 academic year alone, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation® (the Foundation) awarded $2 million to more than 400 students in financial need, as we work diligently to ensure that every person in Canada who wants an education will get one; their potential will not be undermined by their financial or social circumstances. Please watch the video below to hear deeply inspiring stories directly from three of our incredible bursary recipients.

Including TELUS student bursaries, along with grants to 550 charitable and community organisations, TELUS Friendly Future Foundation contributed a total of $11 million of support in 2023. The Foundation was established in 2018 through an unprecedented $120 million gift from TELUS – the largest donation made by a publicly traded Canadian company in history and one of the largest ever in North America – and builds on the meaningful work being done by our nearly 20 TELUS Community Boards around the world. Olivia’s story below is a heartfelt example of the Foundation’s important impact.

We celebrated 10 years of helping people stay safe and secure online through TELUS Wise®, as we collectively navigate an exciting, but frequently frightening, digital world. As technology continues to evolve, we marked the milestone with the launch of our TELUS Wise Responsible AI online workshop for youth. In 2023 alone, we supported 116,500 individuals, globally, through our TELUS Wise workshops and events. Since inception, your company has brought vital TELUS Wise training, tools and resources to more than 740,000 of our most vulnerable citizens, including youth and seniors, as illustrated in the following video.

Expanding our support for our communities and citizens globally

During our annual TELUS Days of Giving in 2023, our TELUS International Guatemala team members helped to build a new school in Guatemala City. Impressively, over the past 15 years, our team has invested more than $2.8 million to build 13 new schools and refurbish two others in Guatemala City, benefiting more than 6,500 students, combined. In fact, our TELUS team has built more schools in Guatemala than any other organisation. In Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, alone we have invested $313,000 to build 22 new classrooms, supporting 3,300 students. To see the important and heartfelt difference our team is making, please watch the video below.

By partnering with Habitat for Humanity in Romania, we delivered a transformative housing project, whereby 100 TELUS International volunteers built a quadruplex that will ensure four low-income families have a place to call home. The video below demonstrates the vital impact these efforts are having on the lives of so many.

In Manila, Philippines, we partnered with the Brigada Eskwela programme for the 9th year to transform the Lakan Dula High School. Nearly 1,100 TELUS International team members volunteered to paint classrooms, hallways and staircases, benefitting over 5,000 students, as highlighted in the uplifting video below.

In 2023, we enabled $12.6 million in support of global humanitarian and emergency relief efforts, including helping Canadians through the most devastating wildfire season in our history, as illustrated in the poignant video below. In addition, our team provided much-needed assistance to those impacted by tragic earthquakes and humanitarian crises. Since 2000, we have contributed over $185 million in emergency and humanitarian relief.

Supporting even more at-risk citizens through our Connecting for Good programmes

Your company added 8,500 households to our Internet for Good programme in 2023. Since the programme’s inception, we have provided low-cost, high-speed internet and digital literacy training and tools to more than 57,600 households – including Kim’s – empowering 182,400 low-income Canadian families, seniors, persons with disabilities, government-assisted refugees and youth.

Our team was proud to support an additional 8,600 youth aging out of foster care, low-income seniors, Indigenous women experiencing violence, government-assisted refugees, as well as other marginalised individuals, through Mobility for Good, as showcased through the powerful video below. Your company has provided free or low-cost mobile phones and data plans to more than 53,700 individuals since launching the programme, enabling them to gain confidence and independence, whilst staying connected.

Our organisation also extended our Internet for Good and Mobility for Good programmes to government-assisted refugees. I encourage you to watch the video below to see how we are helping more than 6,200 newcomers to Canada stay connected with loved ones in their home country as they begin their new lives in Canada.

Through our Health for Good mobile health clinics programme, our team enabled more than 56,000 patient visits for vulnerable people, many of whom are experiencing homelessness. In 2023, we introduced a second mobile health clinic in Victoria in partnership with Cool Aid, as well as launched a new clinic in Montreal, in collaboration with Old Brewery Mission. Since the inception of Health for Good, we have supported 215,000 patient visits in 25 communities, improving health outcomes for those in-need. Please take a moment to see the incredible difference our mobile clinics are making.

Your company empowered more than 2,300 people with disabilities to live more connected, independent lives through Tech for Good education, assistive technology and accessibility discounts. Since inception, we have helped over 9,600 differently abled people access their mobile devices, including Lorne, whose heartfelt story is below.

Investing in social purpose organisations that share our values

Through our TELUS Pollinator Fund – launched with an initial commitment of $100 million, making it one of the largest social impact funds in the world – we are investing in purpose-driven companies driving social and environmental change. In 2023, we welcomed a number of new investee companies to our Pollinator family, including Dryad, Climate Robotics and Plentify. Since inception, our Pollinator Fund has committed $50 million across 30 socially innovative companies; with 40 per cent being led by women and 50 per cent by Indigenous or racialised founders.

Our Pollinator Fund is investing in companies that are addressing the impact of wildfires, which is particularly critical as the world continues to experience the alarming effects of climate change. Notably, Pollinator has invested in Dryad, a company that leverages IoT networks to enable ultra-early wildfire detection. Similarly, Flash Forest uses drones to reforest post-wildfire areas that are deemed unsafe for human tree planters. I encourage you to watch the video below to see why Flash Forest was named one of Canada’s 50 Most Impactful Companies by Glory Professional magazine.

Importantly, our team is empowering female entrepreneurs through Pollinator, by investing in women-led companies, such as erthos, which creates plant-based alternatives to single-use plastic items, as highlighted in the video below; Gotcare, which works to make home healthcare more accessible; and Virtual Gurus, which matches businesses with virtual assistants on a flexible monthly subscription. These innovative small businesses have been named to the Globe and Mail Report on Business’ annual list of Canada's Top Growing Companies. In addition, Gotcare co-founders Chenny Xia and Carol MacDonald earned a place in the 2023 C100 Fellows Cohort – an elite list of startup founders selected from amongst hundreds of nominees across the Canadian tech ecosystem.   

Furthermore, we are delivering on our commitment to care for the environment through Pollinator’s investment in Mycocycle. Knowing that the construction industry generates an estimated 30 per cent of all waste produced worldwide, and up to 40 per cent of our planet’s carbon emissions, Mycocycle found inspiration in the way organic matter decomposes on the forest floor. With support from Pollinator, Mycocycle is training fungi to consume construction waste, leaving behind a biomaterial that can be reused in a variety of applications. Take a look at how this fantastic innovation is helping to make the future friendly.

Caring for the planet our children will inherit

By reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51 per cent since 2010, your company is reinforcing our leadership in sustainability. By 2025, TELUS’ goal is to procure 100 per cent of electricity requirements from renewable or low-emitting sources; and by 2030 or sooner, to improve energy efficiency by 50 per cent over 2019 levels. See how TELUS is dedicated to being nature positive through our innovative technology and the virtual connectivity we enable.

Your organisation is reinforcing our commitment to climate action by planting more than 11 million plants and trees with the support of our partners, as well as TELUS Environmental Solutions, an arm of TELUS that partners with like-minded organisations to offer a range of climate solutions designed to make positive social and environmental impacts in Canada and across the globe.

TELUS is leading the way in the circular economy, surpassing a cumulative 15 million devices being diverted from landfills by repairing, repurposing and recycling technology to create a more sustainable future.

Earning global recognition for our leadership in social capitalism

Earning global recognition for brand resonance and affinity

Thanking our TELUS family for their extraordinary efforts

Please click here to learn more about how TELUS is the most giving company on the planet. 

I am exceedingly proud of our entire TELUS family for the many ways in which we make a meaningful difference, together, in the lives of our fellow citizens around the world. This passion, generosity and caring is the heart of who we are and what we stand for as an organisation… and it is truly without parallel on a global basis.   

With deep appreciation,

Darren Entwistle
Proud member of the TELUS team for more than two decades