Toronto Foundation named Canada’s most equitable funder
Sharon Avery, Toronto Foundation’s CEO. The foundation was named Canada’s most equitable funder in Future of Good’s new rankings project. Emily Doukogiannis
The new Future of Good and QuakeLab annual ranking assessed the country’s largest grantmakers on DEI performance, transparency and commitment to socially responsible investing.
he community foundation of Canada’s most populous city has been crowned the country’s most equitable funder, according to a new annual ranking created by Future of Good and QuakeLab.
“I’m gobsmacked,” said Sharon Avery, Toronto Foundation’s CEO. “We did not expect to be near the top. It’s wonderful.”
The ranking, released today, assessed the country’s 500 largest grantmakers based on seven categories, including foundations’ demonstrated action on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), transparency and funding practices.
In the ranking, the Toronto Foundation, a community foundation with about $760-million in assets, narrowly bested the Laidlaw Foundation, a Toronto-based family foundation, and the Calgary Foundation, one of Canada’s largest community foundations.
The top ranked corporate foundation was the Vancity Community Foundation, coming in sixth.
The motivation for the ranking was to celebrate the work of Canada’s most equitable philanthropic organizations and to inspire action among the rest, said Vinod Rajasekaran, Future of Good’s CEO.
“Imagine if Canada’s 500 largest funders were as equitable in their investing and granting as the Top 50,” he said.
In the research and analysis, the Toronto Foundation scored highly for its grant-making practices, including its use of unrestricted funding.
Rather than nitpicking how grantees use the money, the Toronto Foundation trusts grantees to know best how to help their communities, said Ms. Avery.
The foundation also got top marks for its commitment to socially responsible investing.
While many foundations invest their endowments traditionally, seeking to maximize financial returns, the Toronto Foundation has prioritized investing in companies pursuing both a profit and a social or environmental mission.
As of 2023, 31 per cent of the foundation’s assets were invested in a socially responsible way, and by 2030, Ms. Avery said they aim to reach 70 per cent.
To produce the ranking, Future of Good and QuakeLab analyzed data from Canada’s 500 largest corporate, community and family foundations by asset size, a group that collectively holds more than $85-billion in assets.
Institutions that primarily raise funds for one charity, such as hospital foundations, were excluded from the analysis.
Researchers then used publicly available information to screen and assess the resulting foundations against about 70 key performance indicators.
In the analysis, foundations got points for KPIs such as: making a public DEI statement, offering grant funding for more than one year, and publicly stating the origin story of the foundation’s wealth.
They also ascended the ranks if they acknowledged Canada’s colonial history and accepted grant applications in languages beyond English and French.
Rebecca Darwent, a philanthropy consultant and co-founder of the Foundation for Black Communities, said the ranking provided a valuable baseline for understanding the practices of Canada’s largest grantmakers.
“In the philanthropic sector, where we put our money and our investments matters,” she said. “If we want to centre equity in a meaningful way, we have to understand where our starting point is.”
Ms. Darwent said the ranking is also timely, spurring foundations to continue to focus on their equity practices now that the limelight has shifted from DEI.
“It would be a missed opportunity if we see this conversation lose traction or become a fad,” she said. “I really see this data as a call to action for us all.”
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