Community Stories

Who gets the harvest? Fall begins in less than a month, but the evenings have already cooled. Photos of apple picking have started to fill our social media timelines. As we break out the decorative gourds for our dining tables we are grateful for our access to the fruitful Green Belt. The Foodland Ontario logo is

  Over the last few months we’ve been making some changes at Toronto Foundation. You may be curious about what we’ve been up to, and we think it’s time to pull back the curtain! You’ll already know from our announcement last month that we have quite a few staff changes and promotions. You can read about those

  Small & Mighty – Our First CityViews Tour From the desk of Sharon Avery   In my eight years at UNICEF Canada, I travelled with donors to many far-off locations so they could see for themselves the great work many small but mighty organizations are doing to truly change people’s lives. Toronto Foundation presented

Welcome to our new Board Chair   If you’ve been following our communications over the last while, you’ll notice there’s a lot going on at Toronto Foundation. Tomorrow, on June 13th, we say goodbye to our Board Chair John Barford and send him off with trumpets and our gratitude for his 10 years on our board.

Change from the Inside: Powerful Institutions and Equity This year we’re being intentional about using equity as a lens for everything we do. In addition to the series of learning journeys we’re creating for our fundholders, we’re using equity to look inwards too. A part of that is our signing of the philanthropic community’s Declaration

What, if anything, does Canada 150+ mean to young people? In times of political uncertainty and social tension, the arts deliver a strong voice for the people, voices of both dissent and unity. In our current climate, the themes of Canada’s 150th – belonging, inclusion, connection and reconciliation – are more important than ever. The

For Barb and Peter Halsall the excitement of philanthropy is helping get a project off the ground that tackles an issue in a fresh way. Youth Empowering Parents (YEP), led by Agazi Afewerki, does just that. Inspired by a Vital Ideas grant, the Halsalls stepped in with a multi-year gift of money and time. With this

As immigrants from Russia 30 years ago, Dmitri and Vera Rubisov faced the not uncommon challenges of adapting and thriving in a new place. After ups and downs, raising a family (Lena and Anton) and building successful careers, today they are planting seeds for a better future for everyone through the Rubisov Family Foundation at Toronto

Martin Ship and Don Kinder began their relationship with Toronto Foundation as members of the Legacy Society, committing a portion of their estate. They soon realized that their legacy could be built during their lifetimes too. So together, they have established the Don Kinder & Martin Ship Fund at Toronto Foundation to help shape the

Toronto Foundation is pleased to announced the establishment of the Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack Fund.  The Fund is focused on cross-cultural education to support healing and recovery. The Fund will foster new relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples, while strengthening the voices and work of groups already making a difference. Learn more here.