commitment to equity

Between 2018 and 2019 Toronto Foundation adopted this vision and purpose:

• Vision: A city of informed, engaged philanthropists, accelerating meaningful change for all.
• Purpose: We aim to create a more fair and just society where everyone can thrive by mobilizing those with resources and the will to partner with others.

These embody the new philanthropy, which focuses on co-creating a society that fights exclusion and marginalization, creates a sense of wellbeing and belonging, and promotes trust. Guided by this vision and purpose, Toronto Foundation undertook a holistic review in 2021 with the help of our DEI consultant, Mending the Chasm, to address anti-racism/oppression and to uncover and address bias in program delivery, policies, human resource practices and governance structures. That review resulted in the creation of our DEI policy. 

For years we’ve hosted a donor education program to disrupt traditional philanthropic practices including flowing more money to smaller, local and equity-focused organizations; used an action-oriented and equity-focused research agenda; and worked to responsibly invest more of our assets every year. Online we share the evolution of our collective impact through granting and socially responsible investing assets and make accessible all past research publications. Through our biennial, deeper Toronto’s Vital Signs Research we regularly track levels of hate in the city, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, anti-Black racism and other forms of discrimination experienced by Indigenous communities and equity-deserving groups

Along the way we’ve learned new approaches to listening to one another, sharing and embracing ideas from all levels of the organization, and that it’s important to celebrate milestones (we're proud to have been named one of 2024's Top Equitable Funders). We have a long way to go in transforming our organization and contributing to true systemic change, but we’re also proud of the initial steps we’ve taken so far.