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In 2019, Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, along with 18 other local organizations, joined the Toronto Foundation’s Women’s Trust Collective as an anchor partner. The Trust Collective is an innovative and collaborative program that brings women in philanthropy together to respond to the unique needs of women being served by organizations that are important to them. As a community foundation and registered charity the Toronto Foundation works to strengthen the city of Toronto by pooling together philanthropic dollars and facilitating charitable donations in ways that promote maximum community impact. The Trust Collective operates on the understanding that when these needs are examined and addressed on a deeper level, organizations are better equipped to help vulnerable women build better lives for themselves. By bringing together a group of organizations and donors, we can support more women and girls and build capacity within the sector for stronger collaboration in the future.
Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada recognizes that women disproportionately live in poverty and deal with issues surrounding housing, childcare, employment instability, and food security that can ultimately contribute to their family becoming involved in the child welfare system. Through participation in the Trust Collective, we seek to learn about how we can work together to affect change for the vulnerable populations we serve.
Thanks to donors like Rose McInerney, who has joined the Women’s Trust Collective on behalf of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada, money is invested into supporting women and girls, with $4.5 million going to local organizations immediately, all while influential women come together to share ideas, lived experiences, learning, and recommendations for building a brighter future for those in need.
A conversation with Rose McInerney:
What is it about the work and mission of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada that resonates with you?
“[My husband and I] have been blessed with access to so many opportunities that many children and families lack. Aware of the disparity, we have been life-long supporters of programming that addresses vulnerable youth so Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada was the perfect fit.
The Foundation family is engaged in grass roots community programming that creates interactive feedback loops which allow for constant improvement as well as the ability to identify and address ongoing changes and challenges to the needs of young people and collective groups that are marginalized without assistance.”
Why did you decide to join the Women’s Trust Collective?
“The Women’s Trust Collective provides a focused opportunity to direct in a collective, interactive way. When I learned of the Collective, I loved the idea of organic responsiveness, a wider breadth of participating organizations and a learning curve – for me as a donor but also for participating organizations who have access to a larger think-tank of ideas, resources, people and inspiration to continue to re-frame how best to serve their community mission. Collaboration that encourages shared resources and learning in a philanthropic area, one that is often so competitive given limited resources and the drive to capture donors, creates a better win-win situation for all stakeholders.”
What do you see Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada gaining from this initiative?
Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada is a major player in serving the Toronto community and the needs of children and families. I think there is an opportunity to lead and also to share information and to create a partner approach to problem solving. Collaboration is number one and I am so proud to be a member of the Foundation. For me, they are the most established and trustworthy foundation in Toronto. Having personally experienced the difference one person can make in providing a role model to our youth, I believe that Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada serves the community with research and on-the-front lines services that government agencies are hard pressed to deliver.
