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Better Toronto Coalition

Insights to drive an equitable recovery

The impacts of COVID-19 have not been equal. There is now well-documented evidence that already marginalized communities including racialized, low-income, women, seniors and younger Torontonians have been hardest hit by the health and financial fallouts which are ongoing and compounding.

The Better Toronto Coalition (BTC) was created to:

Learn from the frontline organizations supporting residents through the crisis;
Equip fundholders and other Torontonians to quickly respond through grants and donations

As we focus on an equitable recovery, these insights, centred on the perspectives of lived experience and experts have significant relevance. Explore this hub of content to learn and inform your philanthropy and community involvement.

Webinars

10 informative sessions with 30+ nonprofit and grassroots leaders who are on the frontlines of the pandemic. Hear their insights and recommendations on how to address inequality during COVID and beyond.

Resilience and Reconciliation: COVID & Indigenous Toronto (June 25)
(Guest Moderator: Lindsay (Swooping Hawk) Kretschmer of TASSC)

Lindsay (Swooping Hawk) Kretschmer, Executive Director, Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC)
Suzanne Brunelle, Senator, Toronto & York Region Métis Council
Andrea Chrisjohn, Board Designate, Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre
Keith McCrady, Executive Director, 2-Spirited People of the 1st Nations
Bryan Winters, Executive Director, Toronto Inuit Association

The Environment and a Greener, More Equal Recovery (June 11)

Tanya Chung-Tiam-Fook, Senior Lead of Indigenous Engagement, Evergreen, and Future Cities Canada
Emmay Mah, Executive Director, Toronto Environmental Alliance
Steve Moran, National Coordinator, Green Economy Network
Michael de Pencier Lead Director, GrandTrees Climate Solutions & Director, Trees for Life Urban Tree Coalition, and Highway of Heroes Tree Campaign

Arts, Culture and Social Cohesion (May 28)

Ajeev Bhatia, Manager, Community/Policy Connections, Centre for Connected Communities⁣⁣⁣ (C3)
Zahra Ebrahim, Chair, Park People / Amis des parcs⁣
Claire Hopkinson, M.S.M., Director and CEO, Toronto Arts Council⁣
Utcha Sawyers, Executive Director, Boys & Girls Club of East Scarborough⁣

Precarious Housing, Homelessness & COVID-19 (May 14)

Mark Aston, Executive Director of Covenant House, and Chair of the Toronto Alliance to End Homelessness
Abigail Bond, Executive Director, Housing Secretariat at the City of Toronto
Steve Teekens, Executive Director of Na-Me-Res; and Chair of the Toronto Indigenous Community Advisory Board
Ene Underwood, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area.

Mental Health & COVID-19 (April 30)

Charlene Avalos, Manager of Holistic Healing Services, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
Kaitlyn Axelrod, Program and Outreach Coordinator, Sheena’s Place
Kwame McKenzie, Director of Health Equity, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) & CEO, Wellesley Institute
Robert Ridge, Executive Director, Distress Centres of Greater Toronto

Race, Newcomers & COVID-19 (April 16)

Helene Gayle, President & CEO, Chicago Community Trust
Sam Chaise, Executive Director, Christie Refugee Welcome Centre
Debbie Douglas, Executive Director, Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
Anna Victoria Wong, Executive Director, Community Family Services of Ontario

The growing crisis of women’s safety (April 9)

Deepa Mattoo, Executive Director, Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
Heather McGregor, CEO, YWCA Toronto
Pamela Hart, Executive Director, Native Women’s Resource Centre Toronto

The pressing issues facing local nonprofits and their clients (part 2) (April 2)

Ekua Asabea Blair, CEO, The Massey Centre for Women
Shelley Nicholls, Executive Director, Sistering
Bill Sinclair, Executive Director, St. Stephen’s Community House with The Neighbourhood Group

The pressing issues facing local nonprofits and their clients (part 1) (March 26)

Susan Bender, Manager of Toronto Drop-In Network
Leticia Deawuo, Director, Black Creek Community Farm
Neil Hetherington, CEO, Daily Bread Food Bank
Lindsay Kretschmer, Executive Director, Toronto Aboriginal Support Services Council (TASSC)

Overview of the challenges the sector is facing to date during COVID-19 (March 19)

Bruce MacDonald, President & CEO, Imagine Canada
Teresa Vasilopoulos, Executive Director, WoodGreen Foundation

Research Briefs

Analysis for philanthropists and the nonprofit sector on what we’re seeing as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, what we might see in the future and what it could mean for our city.

Insights from the Sector

Planning for recovery needs to include community leaders

What it means to be 2-Spirited People of the First Nations

Cultural connections are essential for Métis

Climate change disproportionately affects Indigenous peoples

What happens to families and communities in a virtual world

The arts sector will take the longest to recover post-COVID

New opportunities can emerge in the post-COVID recovery

Being far from their territories, urban Inuit need access to different supports

Collective consciousness is vital for an equitable recovery

What is the Better Toronto Coalition

A campaign that actively ran from March-June 2020 to inform and activate the community including fundholders and donors to respond to the city’s urgent needs during the pandemic. These insights, centred on the perspectives of lived experience and experts working in our communities, continue to have significant relevance. The campaign consisted of:

10 webinars with 30+ leaders from a broad range of nonprofits and grassroots organizations working on the front lines of the pandemic.
Research briefs providing analysis for philanthropists and the nonprofit sector on what we’re seeing as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, what we might see in the future, and what it could mean for our city.
Encouraging fundholders to make their own grants to the organizations that shared their stories and urgent needs during the webinar series – which they did in record numbers!
The Better Toronto Coalition Fund - a central fund for fundholders and other donors who wanted to pool their donations and give collectively. 198 grants were made to organizations doing critical work in communities across the city. A list of the organizations we granted to is featured below.

Together we raised $3.3 million to be granted into the community.

Better Toronto Coalition Fund and Grant Recipients

The BTC fund was created as a central fund for fundholders and other donors who wanted to pool their donations and give collectively. With generous contributions from fundholders, other donors and Vancity Community Investment Bank, we raised $3.3 million to grant into the community.

A broad range of organizations were supported with unrestricted grants. A total of 198 grants were made prioritizing smaller and medium-sized nonprofits that are tackling inequality and serving marginalized communities in the city.