Merger Creates Largest Non-profit Awards Program in Canada

Only Program in Canada to Measure Performance Against Peer Groups

Contact:

Helen McLean, Director of Operations
Donner Canadian Foundation
Telephone: (416) 920-6400, ext. 24, cel. (416) 712-7266

Release Date: 13 October 2000

TORONTO, ONTARIO — Two of Canada's most prominent private foundations, the Donner Canadian Foundation and the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation, announced today that their awards programs will be integrated beginning in 2001.

Commenting on the merger of the Donner Canadian Foundation Awards for Excellence in the Delivery of Social Services and the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation Award for Nonprofit Innovation, David Beatty, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation, stated that, "Today we have established Canada's largest, most generous, and what will inevitably be the country's most prominent awards program for non-profit organizations."

The Canadian Awards for Non-Profit Excellence will begin in 2001 with 11 awards totalling $90,000 and presented in categories ranging from services to seniors to childcare to education to innovation. It is the only program in Canada to recognize best practices among non-profits by using objective benchmarks to measure how well the organization uses its limited resources.

Allan Gotlieb, Chairman of the Donner Canadian Foundation, urged other Canadian foundations, corporations and philanthropists to join the new awards program. "It is my hope that with two strong, well-known foundations collaborating to recognize excellence, other funders will join us in making the awards program even larger and more comprehensive in the future."

As the program expands, it will include new service categories such as health & sickness, the environment and community development.

Later today, recipients of the current Donner and Drucker non-profit awards will be honoured in a ceremony hosted by Ontario Lieutenant Governor Hilary Weston at Queen's Park in Toronto. This is the last time that the awards will be offered under the separate umbrellas of the two foundations.

Among the aims of the new Canadian Awards for Non-Profit Excellence is to raise awareness of the accomplishments of voluntary organizations across Canada and to disseminate information on best practices. "At a time when so much is asked of our communities and voluntary organizations, it is crucial that we recognize and reward their achievements. That is what the Canadian Awards for Non-Profit Excellence are all about," added Mr. Gotlieb.

Applications for the new awards program will be available January 1, 2001. Information will be available on the Donner Canadian Foundation website at www.donnerfoundation.org and on the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation website at www.innovation-award.ca.

Background on the two Founding Foundations:

Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation
The Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation was established in 1993 by David Beatty OBE, Don Simpson, Dawn Ralph, and the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, New York. The Inspiration of the Foundation is Peter F. Drucker himself, the acknowledged father of modern management. It is the aim of the Peter F. Drucker Canadian Foundation to find the innovators, whether small or large and to recognize and celebrate their achievements while inspiring others to action.

Donner Canadian Foundation
The Donner Canadian Foundation was founded in 1950 by industrialist and philanthropist William H. Donner. Mr. Donner founded the International Cancer Research Foundation, through which he supported a great deal of early work in memory of his second son, whom he lost to lung cancer. In his later years, Mr. Donner turned his attention to Canada and supported the groundbreaking research of the Montreal Neurological Institute. In the mid-1960's it was decided that should focus on specific program interests, among these research on public policy. The Donner family chose Canada's centennial year, 1967, to embark on a course of professional grant-making that has contributed over $75 million to more than 600 projects across Canada. The Foundation's grant-making continues under the guidance of a Board of Governors composed of the Donner family and eminent Canadians from a variety of fields.

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