Michael Ruge is a multi-faceted business owner, consultant, and philanthropist based in Vancouver Island, Canada. Michael and his wife of 35 years, Elly, are active in dozens of local, national and international charities. To date, their work has taken them all over the world, including South and Central America, as well as India, where they participated in “Polio Plus” immunizations. In fact, Michael helped to organize approximately 94,000 volunteers that immunized 86 million children in India within two weeks.
Over the years, Michael and Elly have volunteered with or donated to charities such as the Rotary Club, R.E.W.A.R.D.S., Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Covenant House, Nature Federation, Cancer Society, Alzheimer Society of Canada, and AIDS Canada, among others. One of Michael’s most rewarding philanthropic endeavours has been his work with Unitis, which provides 100 dollar loans from microfinance institutions to hard-working, self-employed women in underdeveloped countries. These small loans have a giant snowball effect on the women and their families, and they are able to begin building improving their quality of life rapidly.
While he would love to be able to give more often, Michael Ruge believes that the smallest bit helps, so when he can give more he does in a heartbeat. However, he also understands that sometimes the greatest gift of all is giving someone your time. As such, he is passionate about promoting volunteerism both locally and abroad.
Professionally, Michael possesses over three decades of experience providing consulting services to a variety of industries and is considered one of the world’s leading experts in records storage and self-storage. He is the Founder and President of All Ways Solutions, established in 1983, and Eco Self Storage, established more recently in 2009. Both businesses provide consulting services, though All Ways Solutions caters to a myriad of industries, and Eco Self Storage specifically helps people develop self-storage facilities.
Michael Ruge’s expertise and experience have resulted in dozens of invitations to industry-specific conferences, as well as multiple book publications, such as Ask About Gold, his latest release. He is the go-to guy for individuals looking to start a business without a clue how to do so and is known to be one of the truest jack of all trades.
To learn more about Michael and his philanthropic endeavours, make sure to stop by his blog!
Recent Blogs by Michael Ruge
Mistakes To Avoid When Starting Your Philanthropic Journey
Philanthropy is a journey that can be immensely rewarding but also very challenging. There is no one way to begin your journey into philanthropy, but there are surely mistakes to avoid so the process can be smoother for you. Let’s look at different things to stay away...
Philanthropy Trends: 2021
The purpose of philanthropy, much like charity, is to improve the overall well-being of humankind. The two concepts differ in their methods and motivations. Philanthropy is focused on long-term, lasting, strategic solutions through solving existing social problems and preventing future ones from occurring. Numerous pledges and gifts over several years are components of a philanthropic endeavor. On the contrary, charity focuses on providing immediate relief to people in emergencies, either through Acts of God or other tragedies. Charity’s goal is to ease pain and suffering in the short-term by providing emergency resources.
Qualities That Define Success in Philanthropy
Business, in general, comes with very obvious markers for how to define success. Profit margins, production amount, sales revenue-- companies utilize these and countless other metrics to determine how much success a business is finding. However, businesses also have a...
Prominent Canadian Philanthropies
As we approach the holiday season, many will want to lend a helping hand by donating or volunteering in philanthropy organizations. When we help others, we can shape other’s lives in ways that can help them. This can give you a sense of self-dignity that provides us...
Canadian Organizations Doing the Most
While Canada is home to some of the nicest people, it is also home to a large group of baby boomers who inherited a significant bit of wealth through business creation. Along with this business creation, it walks hand in hand with a heavy focus on philanthropy. With...