After 30 years living abroad, Maggie and Greg Wilkinson returned to Toronto in 2010. To commemorate their homecoming, the couple decided to give back to their old-new city by establishing a fund with the Toronto Community Foundation (TCF). “It’s a big city with a lot going on, it’s hard to know who’s doing good work that you’d like to support,” Greg says, explaining the TCF made the process easier. Besides, as the second generation of community foundation supporters, with Maggie’s father a valuable TCF donor, turning to the Foundation seemed a logical choice.

One of the largest of Canada’s 178 community foundations, the TCF was established in 1981 and now holds over $255 million in assets. An independent public foundation, it works with donors to create endowments and invests in the city of Toronto through philanthropy and its city building initiatives. TCF’s Vital Toronto Fund is made up of three grant programs — Vital Ideas, Vital People and Vital Youth — all supporting solutions to issues identified in its annual Vital Signs Report.

Toward understanding, guidance and action

In determining the focus of their giving, the Wilkinsons turned to the report for guidance. “It was the very best way for us to quickly learn how the city is doing and where some of the opportunities are and some of the needs are,” says Greg, of a document that lends itself well to the TCF’s goal of establishing long-term sustainable solutions.

“Our mission is to connect philanthropy with community needs and opportunities,” explains President and CEO, Rahul K. Bhardwaj. To accomplish that mission Vital Signs is key as it offers a veritable snapshot of the city. “It’s a starting place for discussions within the city and communities, it gets us on the same page and offers an understanding of the emerging needs in Toronto,” he explains. Essentially, the report is core to the TCF’s strategic plan.

“When we put out Vital Signs every year, the first thing we say to ourselves is, ‘what will we do about it?’ offers Bhardwaj. “How can we find solutions that leverage what’s already going on and advance something in a new way?” The answer largely turns on the TCF’s multi-layered city building initiative. Several years ago, for example, when Vital Signs reported the city’s public spaces to be in decline, the TCF convened designers, planners, architects and others to come up with Arts on Track, the revitalization of the Museum Subway Station.

In the so-called ‘Summer of the Gun’ of 2006, the Foundation convened partnerships to provide youths with alternative after-school opportunities to become certified as coaches, lifeguards etc. Today 700 kids are certified as coaches, with 200 having found jobs thanks to their newfound skills.

Lending a hand to those lending a hand

Vital Signs also helps the organization focus on funding people working at providing solutions to emerging issues. “When we have organizations applying for grants, the first thing they have to do is show how they are advancing Toronto’s Vital Signs,” says Bhardwaj. “It’s the first filter for us.”

Just ask Julie Frost. Executive and artistic director of Arts for Children and Youth (AFCY), creating meaningful community arts engagement opportunities for youth, the organization inspires their creativity and imagination, allowing them to hone new skills, take on leadership roles and forge new, inspired connections with their community.

Along with building a sense of community and belonging — central to Vital Signs — AFCY also promotes youth employment and mentorship. Every program involves hiring a professional arts educator and emerging youth artist who work together in priority neighbourhoods, with the mentorship opportunity eventually giving youth a chance to lead programs down the road.

The organization has been fortunate to be a recipient of the TCF’s Vital Toronto Fund, receiving the Vital Idea, Vital People and various Vital Youth awards. And their recognition is magnified by having their profile listed in the Community Knowledge Centre (CKC), an online showcase of more than 200 community organizations — using print and video — working on solutions to issues identified in the Toronto’s Vital Signs Report.

The CKC has been an impactful opportunity for Frost. “It’s really made us think differently in the sense that we had to make ourselves more accessible and to really articulate a full organizational narrative,” she says. “It made us position ourselves and our thinking so that we can enable others to access us, make more inquiries and gain a better understanding about the underpinnings of our organization. It’s made us think about our strategies and how we can be better at communicating our story.”

Sure enough, the CKC is fundamental to the work at the TCF. “It consolidates solutions and shares that knowledge with the public and donors to help them with their strategic philanthropy,” explains Bhardwaj. In fact, having their profile up on the site led to AFCY’s recent donation from a production agency impressed by their work.

CKC has proven helpful for the Wilkinsons too. Once they had a better sense of the issues facing Toronto, as enumerated in the Vital Signs Report, the question became to which organization they should direct their funds. The TCF pointed them to the Community Knowledge Centre. After narrowing down their search to areas close to their heart — youth, arts and culture, homelessness — they fell upon SKETCH, an organization that provides a creative outlet for homeless youth. “It seemed like a nice combination of programs,” says Maggie.

Currently discussing where to target next year’s funds, the couple is eagerly anticipating the release of the 2012 Vital Signs Report. “The timing is great for us,” Greg explains.

And the report says….

So what does the report tell us about the state of Canada’s largest city? A blend of progress, opportunity and indisputable challenges, Toronto seems to stand at a crossroads. On the one hand, data indicates that by the end of 2011, Toronto’s economic momentum was at its highest level in ten years, with 189 high-rise developments under construction at the start of 2012 (versus 97 the year before) and personal bankruptcies at their lowest since 2000.

On the green front, Toronto has been fortunate to receive a significant portion of the $20 billion private sector investment in Ontario’s green energy strategy, with approximately 1,000 “green” organizations and businesses generating 20,000 jobs, injecting $2 billion in the economy. The city ranked 15th in liveability (out of 51 global cities) on the Mercer Quality of Living Survey (the same spot it held last year and one ahead of its ranking in 2010). That may have something to do with the fact that the overall number of crimes dropped for the fifth straight year, with 97% of residents described feeling safe in their neighbourhoods. And the city seems to be welcoming immigrants at insatiable numbers: 85,000 will be joining the city in 2012 and by 2031 almost 80% of folks calling Toronto home will be immigrants or their offspring.

On the other hand, the city into which they’ll be settling is facing some very real challenges. Sobering stats include our unemployment rate – about 1 in 10 people in 2012 – representing a rate one-third higher than the country’s. Statistics Canada puts it at 8.6% while the national rate sits at 7.3%, like the year before. Toronto’s GDP growth falls behind that of the rest of the region and of the country by almost one percentage point.

Then there’s the income gap. It’s growing. Toronto is Canada’s least equitable metropolitan region, the only one to receive a C grade on income distribution on the 2012 Toronto Board of Trade’s Scorecard on Prosperity, slipping from 16th to 24th spot. What’s more, the report states by 2025, almost 60% of Toronto neighbourhoods could be low-income. University of Toronto researchers predict a “virtual disappearance of middle-income neighbourhoods by 2025 (from 66% in 1970 to 20% of Toronto’s neighbourhoods in 2025). The starkest change will be in the proportion of very high- and very low-income neighbourhoods.”

Next steps

So there you have it. This year’s Vital Signs Report indicates a veritable mishmash of growth and possibility amidst definitive challenges for the city’s diverse and ever-growing population. For the city’s esteemed Foundation, challenges are nothing new. What’s important is to remain focused on long-term sustainability. “We’re on the journey with organizations to help build their capacity to deliver over time,” explains Bhardwaj. “This isn’t a remedial exercise, it’s a transformative one. It’s at the heart of philanthropy.”

As for fundholders like the Wilkinsons, they remain eager to do what they can to help those working at solutions to the city’s challenges. To sift through the overwhelming list, they will turn yet again to the Vital Signs Report. “I think it’ll be a good tool for us every year because you can lose touch with the city in a hurry,” says Maggie. Indeed, but thanks to the TCF, Julie Frost and the Wilkinsons, losing touch with Toronto’s beating heart is made all the more difficult.

Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance journalist, producer and communications consultant living in Toronto. She is president of Elle Communications and co-founder of SEE Change Magazine and can be reached at: info@ellecommunications.ca.

Photos (from top) Courtesy of Toronto Community Foundation. All photos used with permission.

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