Report on Community Giving
A message from the Publisher
We are pleased to present our 16th annual Report on Community Giving, a public accounting to our readers on how the Toronto Star contributed financially to our community in 2014.
Since it was founded in 1892, the Star has worked to be more than just a newspaper, endeavouring to be an integral part in the growth and development of the city and surrounding regions.
For the past 122 years, the Star has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of the less fortunate in our neighbourhoods, championing such programs as a minimum wage, affordable housing, unemployment insurance and universal medicare.
Joseph E. Atkinson, the Star’s legendary founder, set a mission for the Star: Humanity above all. We have pursued that mission since the day we first appeared on the streets of Toronto. During his 50 years as Publisher, Joseph Atkinson made the improvement in the lives of underprivileged children the goal of not only himself, but of this newspaper. In doing so, he established two of Toronto’s oldest and most successful charities: The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund, which collects donations from readers to send tens of thousands of deserving children to summer camp, and The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund, which provides a gift at Christmas for 45,000 children in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax and Pickering.
As well as supporting our own charities, the Star and its employees remain strong supporters of the United Way, and proud supporters of several other charitable programs and organizations in the Toronto area. With the generous support of our readers, we believe we can help in a small way to improve the lives of many of our neighbours, especially children.
On behalf of all of the Star’s employees, I would like to thank our readers for helping us give back to our communities. The combination of financial donations from our readers, our staff and the Star’s own corporate giving provided more than $3.35-million to worthy causes in 2014.
Importantly, the money donated by our readers to the Toronto Star charities was spent directly on the children. The Star paid for administrative costs related to the operation of both the Fresh Air and Santa Claus Fund charities.
I invite you to read and enjoy our Report on Community Giving for 2014.
JOHN CRUICKSHANK
PUBLISHER
Giving children an outside chance
The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund began in 1901 during one of the worst summer heat waves on record. Joseph Atkinson appealed to Star readers to help children of the poor escape the sweltering city heat by providing funds for picnics, excursions and vacations at camps. Star readers responded generously that year as they have every year for more than a century. In the 1930s, the emphasis switched to camps in the country where needy children could spend two or three weeks running in the woods, swimming in a lake or learning to paddle a canoe. Today, the fund helps children with debilitating illnesses, developmental and physical disabilities and those from low-income families get the chance to create some summertime memories at camp. Last summer, thanks to the generosity of Star readers, The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund exceeded its $650,000 fundraising goal and helped send 25,000 children to 104 day and residential camps.
Gifts to children and families at Christmas
The genesis of The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund charity, established in 1906, relates back to a vivid memory from former Toronto Star publisher Joseph Atkinson’s youth.
One day, young Joseph was watching other children skate on a pond. A lady approached and asked him why he wasn’t skating. When she heard his sad tale of being too poor to afford skates, she bought him his first pair for Christmas. Atkinson never forgot the warmth and generosity of that stranger. Years later, he told the stories of other needy children in the pages of the Toronto Star and asked readers to contribute money to help buy Christmas gifts for them. The gifts of fruit, candy, socks and mitts were distributed through Toronto’s Little Trinity Church. Today, bright gift boxes are filled with a warm shirt, socks, mitts and hat, a book, small toy, candy and dental hygiene items. The gifts are still delivered to children’s homes by volunteers, just as they were in 1906. In 2014, the Toronto Star and sister papers, The Mississauga News, Brampton Guardian and Ajax-Pickering News Advertiser, surpassed their goal of $1.6 million and provided a gift box at Christmas to 45,000 needy children in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Ajax and Pickering. For the seventh consecutive year, The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund also assisted 12,000 families with a gift of fresh produce and basic food staples in December through the Daily Bread Food Bank and affiliated food banks across Toronto, Peel and Durham regions.
Toronto Star reporters write daily articles about the plight of needy children in Toronto to encourage readers to contribute to the funds during each campaign. One hundred per cent of the money donated by our readers in 2014 went directly to benefit the children. The Toronto Star paid all administrative costs. Donations are acknowledged in the Star and income tax receipts are mailed to donors following each campaign.
How to give: To donate, please make your cheque payable to The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund or The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund and mail to: Toronto Star, One Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario M5E 1E6. To donate by VISA, American Express, Discover or MasterCard, please call 416-869-4847.
To donate online, please visit: thestar.com/freshairfund – or – thestar.com/santaclausfund
Star reaches out to our community
The Toronto Star helped establish the United Way of Greater Toronto in 1956 and was one of the founding workplace campaigns. The newspaper contributes annually to the United Way’s fundraising efforts with extensive editorial coverage and promotion. The Toronto Star staff has contributed more than $11.5 million in cash donations through its successful employee campaigns over the past 58 years and also provides an annual corporate donation. In 2014, the Toronto Star and its employees gave more than $398,000 to the United Way of Greater Toronto. Over the years, the United Way has presented the coveted Joint Labour Management “Spirit Award” to the Toronto Star for its company campaigns.
Giving Guidelines
The Toronto Star has a long history of supporting the underprivileged. Knowing how important Christmas is to thousands of families in our community, we have supported Mission and Shelter programs during the holiday season. Scholarships and awards have also been provided to students enrolled in journalism education.
The Toronto Star has focused its efforts to assist in the following four areas of concern in the Toronto area that meet the following giving guidelines:
- Children – through the Star’s own children’s charities, The Toronto Star Fresh Air Fund and The Toronto Star Santa Claus Fund
- Poverty – supporting the United Way of Greater Toronto
- Journalism Education – providing scholarships at the college and university levels to help students continue their education in journalism
- Mission and Shelter programs during the holiday season
