PHILANTHROPIC CONTEST 2020
How would $100,000 help you get your activities back up and running, start a project or pursue your mission?
This year, we are focusing on resilience, innovation and hope.
iA Financial Group will donate $400,000 to different charities.
Reveal day is finally here!
Congratulations to the three big winners!
The other seven organizations will receive a donation of $10,000.
2020 winners
Fondation pour la prévention du suicide Accalmie
Project :
Let’s dare to prevent suicide
There has already been a 15% increase in requests for assistance over the past few weeks of the pandemic. The Accalmie Suicide Prevention Centre and Foundation need community support and backing to continue to break the silence, eradicate stigma, open new horizons and reduce anxiety. The amount will be used to make a difference in strengthening the human ties that people need and increasing social mobilization for suicide prevention. We will be better equipped to bring hope, working in the community with strategies adapted to vulnerable clients.
Mental/emotional health needs and psychosocial support needs are expected to increase significantly in the coming months and years. Consequently, we are looking to ensure the continuity of the essential crisis intervention services and suicide-related services we offer.
Charity’s missionFinancially support the Centre de prévention du suicide Accalmie (Accalmie Suicide Prevention Centre) to continue to offer professional and specialized support services to the public. Through over-the-phone intervention, housing, support for loved ones and bereaved persons, postvention and training. All with the goal of preventing suicide and reducing its impact. The Foundation’s mission is also to raise awareness in our community about the problem of suicide.
preventiondusuicide.comChildren’s Health Foundation
Project :
Caring for Caregivers
It is never easy to support your child through a serious health issue. The pandemic has made the experience more stressful by complicating the care environment. Children's Hospital, LHSC is re-imagining our Paediatric Family Resource Centre and taking it mobile to help families build resilience and hope. When a parent feels emotionally overwhelmed, our team will be at the bedside to lean on for support. When a family can't afford a prescribed drug because of economic hardship, our team will offer financial assistance. When COVID-19 symptoms temporarily prevent hospital access, our team will electronically connect families, and more. By supporting caregivers when they need it the most, we strengthen family resilience, foster hope and improve children’s health outcomes.
Charity’s missionChildren's Health Foundation proudly raises funds for Children's Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, offering advanced paediatric care in its service region of Western Ontario. Our mission is to deliver excellent and compassionate patient and family-centred care to children facing life-threatening or life-limiting health conditions. Our medical professionals have expertise in over 30 different medical specialities and staff are trained to meet the unique social, emotional and developmental needs of a paediatric population.
childhealth.caCrossroads for Women
Project :
Crossroads for Women
The rise in domestic violence, homelessness, addiction, and mental health has created a dire need for more secure housing in the greater Moncton area. Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen an increase in demand for our services and a lack of community resources. A generous donation of $100,000 would allow Crossroads for Women to expand and improve our current transition house by updating our food storage system and adding additional beds to our already existing infrastructure. As the largest domestic violence shelter in Atlantic Canada, we need your help to expand our reach.
Charity’s missionSince 1981 Crossroads for Women has been empowering and assisting survivors of violence by providing education, resources, emergency shelter, counseling and crisis intervention 24/7 for southeastern New Brunswick. Crossroads for Women is the only domestic violence and sexual assault shelter in southeastern New Brunswick, and the largest shelter of its kind in the Atlantic region, offering a total of 38 beds to women and children fleeing domestic violence.
crossroadsforwomen.caAn additional donation of $30,000
We asked iA employees to vote for the project that inspires them the most, out of the ten organizations selected. The following organization will receive an additional donation of $30,000
Fondation de la prévention du suicide Accalmie
Project :
Let’s dare to prevent suicide
The seven winners of a $10,000 donation
The race was close. Congratulations to all these charities. We thank them for their participation and the quality of their submissions. We wish them the very best.
Project : Futures for At-Risk Youth
A $100,000 gift ensures that our Crisis Program is fully operational upon the completion of the project expansion in Spring 2022. With the enhanced facilities and new programming being offered, operating expenses are projected to increase by 5% per year over the next three years and it is vital we meet the growing needs so no youth are turned away due to lack of capacity. Alongside 21 additional beds, your donation will ensure fully operational, brand new special-purpose spaces such as a gymnasium, art room, study hall, counselling rooms, and quiet and resting rooms. In the short term, we provide immediate relief for youth currently in crisis who are either at-risk or are experiencing homelessness. Along with safe, supported housing, young people receive food, clothing, hygiene supplies, and access to wraparound care to support their emotional well-being.
Charity’s mission
Covenant House Vancouver exists to serve the needs of homeless and at-risk youth ages 16–24 who have either willingly fled physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, who have been forced from their homes or who have aged out of foster care. All of our services are offered with genuine compassion and acceptance, with the knowledge that trust is the foundation for a successful transition away from street life.
www.covenanthousebc.orgProject : DASCHWorks
The goal of DASCHWorks is to support individuals with intellectual disabilities in developing the skills needed to secure successful, competitive employment that will further promote inclusion and engagement within our world. The DASCHWorks program consists of three components: Vocational assessment/profiling, Pre-employment skills development, and Technical skills development. DASCHWorks plans to expand to include a fourth area of Community and Employment Support. A $100,000 donation would support us in expanding DASCHWorks into the fourth area of Community and Employment Support: a critical component of creating lasting partnerships with organizations through activities that support both individuals and companies.
We are there to support youth, recent graduates, and adults with intellectual disabilities who share an interest in developing their vocational and technical skills, preparing them to secure and maintain competitive employment positions in the community.
Charity’s mission
The mission of DASCH Inc. is to provide meaningful residential, vocational and leisure programs within the community to persons with intellectual disabilities by fulfilling their individual, physical, emotional, social and educational needs.
www.dasch.mb.caProject : Back to School
Back to School has two set objectives:
1. Financially support 5,000 students to help curb motivation loss and school dropout as a result of COVID-19.
2. Send a message of hope and motivation to young people to encourage them to continue schooling, despite the pandemic.
In concrete terms, $100,000 would help more than 150 students across Quebec. The money would be used for a variety of purposes, including : - Tuition, purchasing school supplies or computer equipment, purchasing appropriate clothing, enrolment in school and extracurricular activities and daycare services, tutoring/mentoring services.
Various experts concur that not attending classes in person, not having the necessary support for students with learning disabilities, and uncertainty about how the pandemic will unfold could increase the dropout rate from 5% to 15%, or up to 50,000 more dropouts this year.
More than ever before, Éducaide will continue its activities in this context to increase the graduation rate in Quebec.
Charity’s mission
Our mission: “Together let’s reward staying in school”
Through its various programs to encourage continued schooling, Éducaide provides financial support to young people from less privileged backgrounds to encourage them to stay at school, so they can achieve their professional dreams and reach their full potential. This is all summed up in one key phrase: “Together let’s reward staying in school!”
Project : Women's Recovery Program
This donation would go towards private counselling costs for up to 75 women, including group counselling. Karis works with women that have faced many challenges in their lives, including significant childhood, intergenerational and often recurring trauma. Although these women have much strength, they are frequently hampered by the ongoing effects of trauma. Many times, women with histories of trauma are easily triggered to re-live the trauma, trapping them in a cycle of substance use. By providing residential recovery-focused programming, counselling and support, we are working to help women achieve long-term sobriety, health and mental wellness. Karis participants are vulnerable, at-risk expectant women, women with babies or toddlers, women working towards reunification with their children and single women with no dependents, living in poverty, homeless or at-risk of homelessness.
Charity’s mission
Karis Support Society contributes to genuine social transformation in the Okanagan Valley by providing a safe home, support through recovery and life skills development for women struggling with life altering addictions and mental health conditions. Karis' mandate is to empower and equip individuals with skills so that they can successfully transition back into society.
karis-society.orgProject : Warm-Up Project
We believe that every child should be properly clothed and fed and these basic amenities are not afforded to many who live in remote First Nation communities. Through our Warm-Up Project, we collect clothing and food donations that are then packaged and delivered to the communities that we serve. Community members are able to assist us in identifying which families would most benefit from the deliveries. Fostering our mission to ease the cost of living for northern children and families, our key demographic includes families with children under the age of 12 who are living in extreme poverty. We work in coordination with the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority and therefore are committed to working with the 33 First Nations in the area. Thanks to this donation, approximately 1,000 children will be receiving adequate cold-weather clothing and food.
Charity’s mission
To improve the quality of life for First Nations Children in remote northwestern Ontario, while meeting their immediate physical needs for food, clothing, and basic amenities.
mikinakoos.comProject : Angels for Children
When COVID struck, NAN pivoted. Using Zoom, volunteer Nanny Angels continued meeting with children virtually, providing fun activities, routines and answering questions about cancer, death and dying. NAN provides its program to children ages 16 and under whose moms have cancer, are in palliative care or have died. When children learn mom has cancer, they become anxious and are at-risk and ask if they caused the cancer and if they can cure it. Without support, they will develop emotional and psychological scars.
Request is for all three aspects: food has been the greatest issue. We send free meals to moms who are immuno-compromised, exhausted and needy. NAN started a Homework-Club providing children with a Homework Angel to support schoolwork. We created Sunday Fun Times, a box filled with activities sent to families weekly. NAN continues its main program, the Nanny Angel Program for Children, that gives children tools to cope with their moms' cancer via highly trained volunteer Nanny Angels and a professional Child Life Specialist.
Charity’s mission
The Nanny Angel Network is the only organization in Canada providing a free in-home support program for at-risk children whose moms have cancer, are in palliative care or have died. Using highly skilled volunteer Nanny Angels, we work to lessen the impact of cancer on families and give children the tools to cope. We ensure moms with cancer do not have to choose between looking after their children and getting well.
nannyangelnetwork.comProject : Lost in Translation
This project will extend primary and acute care to linguistically, socially and geographically isolated Albertans. It will expand existing virtual healthcare infrastructure to serve new Canadians and Indigenous communities in two ways: establishing a virtual primary care and cultural support service for remote Indigenous communities, and disseminating medical translation services across Alberta.
This program addresses burdens that Indigenous communities and non-English-speaking Albertans face in receiving medical care because of social, geographic and/or linguistic isolation. Indigenous peoples and non-English speakers are disproportionately impacted by challenges associated with a lack of access to care and the requisite languages to deliver this care.
This program will directly benefit diverse Indigenous communities throughout Alberta. It will provide cultural support for these communities through a virtual health model for delivering primary care. The program is also working to develop identified translation and interpretation services for Indigenous languages and dialects that are currently underserved or not served at all.
This program will also expand translation and interpretation services for other non-English-speaking Canadians.
Charity’s mission
The University Hospital Foundation works to advance the health of Albertans by connecting generosity to support innovation and excellence at the University of Alberta Hospital, the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, and the Kaye Edmonton Clinic. We are also committed to improving the access to and the quality of care for those living in remote and rural communities.
www.universityhospitalfoundation.ab.ca