Collective Impact
The potential for greater impact is what fuels us every day.
We run a donor education program to disrupt traditional philanthropic practices including flowing more money to smaller, local and equity-focused organizations; use an action-oriented and equity-focused research agenda; and strive to responsibly invest more of our assets every year.
Here we list our annual granting results and share some new metrics that will serve as our baselines and motivators.
GRANTS ARE MADE IN TWO KEY WAYS:
Fundholders grant from funds they’ve established with us
Toronto Foundation grants from our discretionary funds guided by Toronto’s Vital Signs Report research
In 2021, Toronto Foundation made 2,143 grants to 912 charities, totaling
$21.2 million
OUR IMPACT: WHAT THE NUMBERS TELL US
Grants by region
$0M
TORONTO
$0M
REST OF ONTARIO
$0M
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
$0M
REST OF CANADA
$0M
INTERNATIONALGrants by type
$21.2M in Total Grants
Grants & Distributions
$32.7M in Total Grants & Distributions
2,143 grants to 912 charities
10% of eligible assets disbursed*
These numbers are from January 1 – December 31, 2021.
*We exceeded both the Government of Canada’s 3.5% disbursement quota and proposed increase to 5%.
SHIFTING FUNDING TO SMALLER CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS - THAT TYPICALLY GET THE LEAST
Consider this: Hospitals, universities and colleges only represent 1% of charitable organizations and yet represent about 66% of the total revenues of the entire charitable sector.*
We enable fundholders to continue supporting these familiar causes while also encouraging them to diversify their philanthropy to support the high-impact work happening at local organizations.
*Source http://sectorsource.ca/research-and-impact/sector-impact
**Nine-month fiscal period, as Toronto Foundation changed its year-end on December 31, 2020
***$10.9M emergency pandemic funding from the federal government and others (Emergency Community Response Fund and Better Toronto Coalition)
For years we’ve applied an equity lens to granting, but didn’t further refine our giving for historically and persistently underserved groups. That all changed in 2020 when we introduced the Black and Indigenous Futures Fund.
The Fund is one response to our shared acknowledgement of systemic inequality and in particular, racism that permeates all aspects of society — including philanthropy. Racial injustice has particularly affected Black and Indigenous communities and warrants actionable and meaningful responses. You can read more about the fund, our pilot with granting to non-qualified donees and the collective impact we realized with our fundholders here.
We want to be more transparent about our goal to consistently increase the flow of money to Indigenous and Black communities. Here we’re sharing the percentage of total and discretionary funding that went to these groups in 2021. While these numbers are above the norm in philanthropy, we know they are far too low and are actively working to increase them.
*537.6% increase from our 2019-2020 pre-COVID baseline.
**Donor- and foundation-led funding combined.
*370.6% increase from our 2019-2020 pre-COVID baseline.
**Donor- and foundation-led funding combined.
THE CONNECTION E-NEWSLETTER
Read the latest news, stories and insights on the city's needs and opportunities; organizations working on solutions; and how to get involved with your philanthropy.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY