Tents set up by the homeless are seen in Moss Park in downtown Toronto on Sept. 23, 2020.Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press
The organizers: staff and volunteers at Fred Victor
The pitch: raising $100,000
The cause: to provide shelter and services for homeless people in Toronto
Like many Canadian charities, Fred Victor has seen demand for its services soar during the pandemic. But as the COVID-19 outbreak drags on, interest among donors is beginning to wane.
The Toronto-based charity offers a wide range of services for homeless people including affordable housing, a meal program, job training and counselling. And every year it needs to raise $3.5-million in donations.
Throughout 2020 and 2021, gifts to the charity increased by around 25 per cent, according to Marie MacCormack, Fred Victor’s vice-president of philanthropy. That increase in giving helped to largely offset the charity’s rising costs. But fundraising has become far less certain heading into 2022.
“I’m not sensing the same amount of compassion and enthusiasm that we had last year,” Ms. MacCormack said.
The charity is holding one of its major annual fundraisers on Feb. 16 and organizers hope to raise $100,000. The event, called Share the Love, is being held online because of pandemic restrictions and it includes a dinner and drinks delivered to all ticket buyers’ homes. The gala is being held by actor and comedian Jessica Holmes and there will be presentations from the charity’s staff.
Ms. MacCormack said organizers are concerned that donors have become less interested in online dinners. “I think in the early days of the pandemic, people were very supportive and enthusiastic about online events to keep the charities that they love, and the causes they support, going,” she said. “I sense that the enthusiasm for that is dwindling.”
Ms. MacCormack added that demand for the charity’s shelter services is showing no sign of slowing down and likely won’t for a while given how many lives the pandemic has upended. “We believe that you can’t deal with the other things that created the deficit in your life until you have housing,” she said.
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