Our Vision & Mission
Our Vision
Through highly valued services, CANsign helps its clients’ campaigns achieve positive social and environmental outcomes.
Our Mission
CANsign collaborates to share its expertise in delivering low cost and effective design, print and dispatch services, based on trust and shared values.
Our Early Beginnings
Our Early Beginnings
A yellow sign campaign called ‘Show Our Colours’, grew from the ashes of the unprecedented fires that wreaked havoc on the NSW South Coast in January 2020. South Coast residents, many of them farmers, took to painting their front gates yellow and emblazoning them with the words “We want climate action”. The Australian Conservation Foundation ran with the campaign. It went viral.
Founding member of CANsign and Show Our Colours campaigner Jack Egan and his partner lost their home in North Rosedale on New Year’s Eve.
A new campaign, with the hash tag #CANgate, then started from the realisation that a lot more people would also want to ‘Show their Colours’ in solidarity. What was needed was readily available, pre-made, stand-out yellow Climate Action Now signage.
Started in February 2020 the CANgate group successfully piloted the design, printing, sale and distribution of yellow “We Want Climate Action” signs visible on farm and front fences, main street shopfronts in small villages near Canberra, and around on the NSW south coast.
In November the Australian National Museum visited North Rosedale to collect Jack’s aluminium tinny, partially melted by the New Year’s Eve inferno and also painted yellow.
In October 2020 ‘CANgate became the Not for Profit ‘CANsign’.
In 2022 we helped distribute thousands of CAN signs nationally, in the lead up to the Federal Election working with the Climate Action Network of Australia (CANA).
Today we are helping other environment groups, many CANA member groups, to be successful with their campaigns. With our volunteer base, depots and outlets, we have helped dispatch around 400,000 signs/stickers.
Our Team
Jed Johnson
President
Jed, with the help of his wife Liz, runs a NSW sheep grazing property north of Canberra and they holiday at Moruya on the south coast of NSW. They also ran a successful ICT company in Canberra for 30 years which was active in all Federal Agencies, Victorian and NSW State Governments. An RFS volunteer for 36 years, Jed sold the IT business in August 2021 and now helps run CANsign. Jed manages the Gundaroo CANsign depot with the help of his gifted volunteers, including Liz. Jed and Liz have 2 children and 5 grandchildren.
Iain Fyfe
VICE PRESIDENT, Supplier & Marketing Manager
Iain joined CANsign in mid-2020 inspired by the innovative determination of what was then the CANgate team. Iain is now retired after a career in the ICT industry. He is a volunteer leader in the Australian Conservation Foundation and is frequently active with the likes of Fridays for Future and 350. Iain has five children and five grandchildren and is passionate about heightening community awareness and engagement to address the climate and biodiversity crises.
Jack Egan
SECRETARY
Founding member of CANsign and prolific climate action campaigner Jack Egan and his partner lost their home in North Rosedale on New Year’s Eve 2019, sparking the idea for Climate Action Now signs which he started with Jed in 2020. He is also a member of Bushfire Survivors, SECA and 350 Eurobodalla. He has 2 children and one new granddaughter.
Neha Thakkar
Public Officer and Treasurer
Neha joined CANsign in 2021 as a Finance Officer and now serves as the Treasurer & Public Officer. Neha moved to Australia in 2011 and has more than 15 years of experience in International Marketing, Banking and customer facing roles. She volunteers for multiple community and environmental organisations while juggling her full-time parental duties and part-time Accounting studies.
David McDonald
Depot Manager,
POLICY & TECHNICAL SUPPORT
David joined the CANsign committee in January 2021 and manages the depot located at Wamboin in the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council area. He is a social scientist with a lengthy track record in criminal justice and public health research and policy & program evaluation. David is heavily involved with local community-level environmental, and social capital strengthening, for-purpose organisations.
David assists CANsign with Policy development and specialist IT support, with a specialty in helping clients gain feedback on their campaigns using Survey Analytics.
Lorraine Chabrat
Client Manager
Lorraine joined the team in March 2023. French native, Lorraine recently became an Australian citizen, and is based in Melbourne.
Lorraine has extensive experience in business development and customer management. She is passionate about the environment. She has volunteered in many different small environmental organisations and is loving her work at CANsign.
Partners/Collaborators
Here is a selection of some of our key Partners and Collaborators
