Their Story
The Kielburger story: thirty years of building
How two brothers from Thornhill, Ontario went from a kitchen table idea in 1995 to a global movement, a shelf of bestselling books, and the My Legacy Podcast.
30 Years
The partnership began in 1995, when 12-year-old Craig read a newspaper story about child labour and, with his older brother Marc, founded the children's charity Free The Children from the family home in Thornhill, Ontario. Over the next three decades the brothers built it into a global education and service movement, became New York Times bestselling authors, and shared stages with presidents, laureates, and, more importantly they would say, millions of young people. Thirty years on, they are still working side by side.
30 years
working side by side
1M+ people
reached by the movement they built
2×
Members of the Order of Canada
The Arc
For roughly twenty five years, the organization the Kielburgers founded as Free The Children grew into a global movement, working alongside more than a million people on education, clean water, health, and opportunity in communities around the world. It became one of the most recognizable youth-driven causes of its generation, and the brothers built a reputation as people who could turn an idea into action at scale.
The ideas behind that work carry directly into what they do today through Legacy+: that people of any age can take meaningful action, that storytelling moves audiences in ways statistics do not, and that purpose can be built into the structure of an organization rather than bolted on. The vehicle evolved; the underlying interest in helping mission-driven people succeed did not.
Authorship has been a constant. As New York Times bestselling authors, the brothers have written and co-written more than a dozen books on activism, social entrepreneurship, and living a purpose-driven life. Their most recent, What Is My Legacy?, written with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, extends into the My Legacy Podcast and a question three decades in the making: not what can I build, but what lasts, and what is it for.
In 1995, twelve year old Craig Kielburger opened the newspaper looking for the comics and found a story about Iqbal Masih, a former child labourer his own age from Pakistan who had become an activist. Craig brought the article to his class, gathered a small group of friends, and with his older brother Marc founded Free The Children from the family home in Thornhill, Ontario. The premise was radical for its time: that children could fight for children, and that young people did not need to wait to be adults to take action on the issues they cared about.
What began as petitions and school presentations grew into an international development and youth empowerment organization. Over the following decades the movement worked alongside more than a million people on education, clean water, health, and economic opportunity, building schools and supporting communities across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. At home it filled stadiums with young people at We Day, an annual youth empowerment event that made service something to celebrate.
Alongside the charity, the brothers co-founded Me to We, a social enterprise built on the idea that everyday choices, from the products people buy to the trips they take, could fund development work. The concept became a bestselling book of the same name, and writing became a constant thread of the partnership. Between them the brothers have written or co-written more than a dozen titles, including Free the Children, Me to We, The World Needs Your Kid, WEconomy, and the youth action guides Take Action and Take More Action.
Their work brought early and sustained recognition. Both brothers were named Members of the Order of Canada, both are inductees of Canada's Walk of Fame, and their books reached the New York Times bestseller list. They shared stages with world leaders and Nobel laureates, and, more importantly they would say, with millions of young people deciding what to do with their energy.
Today the brothers co-lead Legacy+, a foundry of strategists, designers, and storytellers that helps mission-driven organizations and leaders build their work and tell it well. In 2025 they published What Is My Legacy? with Martin Luther King III and Arndrea Waters King, with a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and the four co-host the My Legacy Podcast and nationally syndicated radio show.
Marc's personal focus has turned to longevity, wellbeing, and fulfillment. Craig's has turned to connection, social entrepreneurship, and family. Thirty years after a newspaper story changed the direction of two lives, the question driving the work has matured with them: not what can we build, but what lasts, and what is it for.
