This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Ontario Trillium Foundation. To mark the occasion, The Philanthropist Journal examines the impact the foundation has had on grantees, the non-profit sector, and Ontario communities.
There is an urgent need to improve access to critical internet resources in underserved communities across Canada, but the digital equity gap can not be bridged by the private sector and governments alone. There is a clear role for philanthropy, too, in addressing these challenges, and a new how-to guide offers a blueprint.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation was formed in 1982 to provide grants to social service organizations in Ontario communities. Funded by the Ontario government, it began with a $15-million budget that has since grown to more than $100 million in funding across the non-profit sector. The Philanthropist Journal digs into the changes and challenges experienced by OTF on its 40th anniversary.
La Fondation Trillium de l’Ontario a été créée en 1982 afin d’octroyer des subventions à des organismes de services sociaux dans les communautés de l’Ontario. Financée par le gouvernement de l’Ontario, elle a commencé avec un budget de 15 millions $ qui est passé depuis à plus de 100 millions $ de financement dans le secteur sans but lucratif. À l’occasion du 40e anniversaire de la FTO, The Philanthropist Journal se penche sur les changements et les défis qu’a connus la FTO.
Changing the way people think about an issue is a precondition to mobilizing action on it. But which organizations have institutionalized narrative change practices as a strategic priority, and how is that playing out day-to-day? How many non-profits are doing the deep listening necessary to understand how audiences perceive their issues, and developing strategic messaging that can shift the conversation?
Canada’s charitable sector has a unique opportunity to help shape the leadership practices and related discourse about sustainable and responsible investment, argue contributors Chad Park and Greg Elliott. In doing so, it can leverage the sector’s significant invested assets to help meaningfully address some of today’s most pressing challenges, they write.
Grassroots organizations are an integral part of the non-profit sector, responding to community needs when governments and established organizations fail to do so. This profile, the second in a series, looks at a microlending program launched from one woman’s desire to live “in a town that still functions.”
A driving force behind the newly minted Definity Insurance Foundation was a determination to create a “responsive and relevant foundation that meets the needs of the people we’re serving” and to address the root causes of inequity.
