Sunday Worship, Now Live & Online

Amanda Burrows, MA CFRE

Amanda is a community-builder. As Executive Director of First United, she leads a front line and systems change organization in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside… one of the country’s most complex and low-income urban neighbourhoods … with a vision rooted in dignity, belonging, and justice. Under her leadership, First United is building a $94 million Indigenous social housing development, alongside wraparound services and social infrastructure that support community safety, healing and health. The work bridges policy, philanthropy, and organizing, driven by the belief that people closest to systemic harms must be central to building solutions. She has 20 years of experience strengthening non-profits and building capacity in social impact sectors. She has played a key role in community-led initiatives, including DTES Response, a grassroots network mobilized during COVID-19 to protect those most at risk. She is on the Advisory Committee for the Ken Lyotier Fund, the DTES Community Land Trust Coalition, and the Board of Directors of Vancouver Opera, where she brings a commitment to equity and inclusion in cultural institutions.

She has a masters in Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and an art history degree from the University of Victoria. I am a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), have my Public Leadership Credential (PLC) from the Harvard Kennedy School and just completed a certificate in Economics in Public Policy from the London School of Economics.