Organizations receive Vital Toronto Fund grants

TORONTO, June 22, 2009 – Today, along with Mayor David Miller, the Toronto Community Foundation celebrated 26 high-impact community organizations and leaders at its annual Vital Toronto event. The event was hosted by Matt Galloway of CBC’s Metro Morning. Mayor Miller also discussed the scholarship fund in memory of his mother at the Community Foundation.

Three grant programs are fueled by the organization’s Vital Toronto Fund – a community endowment used to contribute to and partner on targeted strategies tackling quality of life issues identified in the Community Foundations’ annual Toronto’s Vitals Signs® Report.

1. Vital Ideas invests in Toronto’s most high-impact organizations by providing capacity building grants to further expand or replicate programs with successful track records in other areas of Toronto.
2. Vital People is a leadership grant that assists Toronto’s exceptional community leaders in the not-for-profit sector to grow through professional development and further magnify their impact.
3. Vital Youth supports free high-quality sports and recreation programs to help develop the leadership skills of youth from Toronto’s more vulnerable neighbourhoods.

“We use our Vital Signs Report as a blueprint for investment to transform lives, communities and our city,” said Rahul K. Bhardwaj, President & CEO, Toronto Community Foundation.

“Our solution-focused strategy relies on partnerships with community organizations and individuals such as those recognized today. They are working on innovative and creative solutions and represent the steps towards a more vital Toronto that we should be proud of.”

A complete list of the recipients is available at www.tcf.ca.

Toronto Community Foundation

Community vitality has been our purpose, promise, and passion since 1981, when we started connecting donors to community needs and opportunities. Home to over 300 funds, we help people invest in Toronto, making it the best place to live, work, learn and grow.

We monitor the quality of life in our city, identifying its strengths and weaknesses through our Toronto’s Vital Signs® report. We provide the leadership and guidance to bring people together from all parts of our community. We exist for Toronto - for now and for always.

Since 1981, the Community Foundation has granted in excess of $70 million to hundreds of charitable organizations. In 2009 alone, it brought together and leveraged the resources of the more than 300 funds under our helm to invest $8.2 million in more than 450 community organizations working on innovative solutions to city challenges.