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Toronto, ON · Private foundation

The Lawson Foundation

THE LAWSON FOUNDATION is a canadian family foundation that invests in and engages with ideas people and organizations that contribute to the healthy development of children and youth.

C$5.0M
Granted FY2024still arriving
132
Grants FY2024still arriving
—
Regions reached
C$250k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02The needRead
03Your edgeRead
04Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01FY2024 · 132 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under C$10k45 grants · C$183k
  • C$10k–50k49 grants · C$769k
  • C$50k–250k35 grants · C$3.3M
  • C$250k+3 grants · C$750k
C$15,000
Median grant
—
Regions reached
C$152M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
The Daymark FoundationC$250,000
Fondation des YMCA du Québec / YMCASC$250,000
Take Me Outside Fitness and Outdoor EducationC$250,000
Environment Funders CanadaC$200,000
The Starfish Environmental SocietyC$190,000
Individual grant recipientC$180,000
Indigenous Diabetes Health CircleC$175,000
Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba Inc.C$138,334
Foundation for Environmental StewardshipC$130,000
People's Food Institute/L'Institut Pour UneC$103,334
KAHNAWÀ:KE SCHOOLS DIABETES PREVENTION PROGRAMC$100,000
Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario ResearchC$100,000
Growing Chefs! Ontario SocietyC$100,000
Canadian UNICEF Committee - Comite UNICEF CanadaC$100,000
Université de MontréalC$100,000
02The need
02

Do your dollars go where the need is?

Where your grant dollars land — at home and around the world.

Your giving at home — 80% of grant dollars (C$27M). The 20% that went abroad (C$6.5M) is mapped below.

Which regions your grants reach

Ontario
C$12M
British Columbia
C$4.2M
Quebec
C$2.3M
Manitoba
C$1.5M
Alberta
C$671k
Newfoundland and Labrador
C$430k
Northwest Territories
C$365k
Nova Scotia
C$293k
Saskatchewan
C$265k
New Brunswick
C$181k

Beyond home — 20% of all-years giving (C$6.5M)

0 countries, by the recipient’s country on the filing.

grant dollars sentlessmore

International giving is mapped by the recipient’s country from the same T3010 filings; comparable need data isn’t available at that grain.

03Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

59%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
C$20M · 116 repeat orgsC$13M to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +55% since the first grant, against +28% for the ones you funded once.

116 repeat relationships — 68 still active in FY2024, 48 since wound down; 42 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

116
210

Total granted

C$20M
C$12M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+55%
+28%

Still filing today

93%
83%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 68% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; C$1.6M went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’20’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.”

Backed again, and grew

  • UO
    University of British Columbia
    6× · 2017–2024 · C$1.2M · revenue +55%
  • CU
    Canadian UNICEF Committee
    6× · 2017–2024 · C$825k · revenue +129%
  • CA
    CHILD AND NATURE ALLIANCE OF CANADA
    6× · 2017–2024 · C$748k · revenue +82% · 36% of their budget

Funded once

  • AP
    AS PER ATTACHED
    one grant, 2018 · C$5.2M
  • LD
    L'institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santé McGgraduated
    one grant, 2017 · C$281k · revenue +103%
  • CF
    Community Food Centres Canadagraduated
    2× · 2017–2021 · C$275k · revenue ×12 · 28% of their budget

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent CRA filings.

04Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matches that aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Mental Health Research Canada/Recherche En Sante Mentale Canada

Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC) is a national charitable organization that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Canadians by advancing mental health knowledge. Our vision is to create a Canada with better mental health for all…

—
2
Leap Pecaut Centre for Social Impact

LEAP Pecaut Centre for Social Impact initiates and leads multi-sector collaborations to tackle some of society’s biggest problems in education employment and health. Over five years taking their needs and stages of development into…

—
3
International Development Research Centre

Created by Parliament in 1970 IDRC has been committed in supporting research in developing countries undertaken by the people of those countries for their own development. IDRC has five areas of focus: Climate-Resilient Food Systems Global…

—
4
Mental Health Commission of Canada / Commission de la santé mentale du Canada

The mental health commission of canada (mhcc) shines a light on mental health and works to improve the lives of people who experience mental health problems and illnesses (as well as their families and caregivers). mhcc convenes…

—
5
Healthbridge Foundation of Canada

HealthBridge works with partners world-wide to improve health and health equity through research policy and action in the following programming areas: Food and Nutrition: combating hunger and malnutrition and improving food security;…

—
6
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research - Institut canadien des recherches avancées

CIFAR’s research programs are at the heart of its operations designed to push the boundaries of knowledge and create long-term societal impact. Currently CIFAR supports 15 research programs across diverse fields from artificial…

—
7
Vancouver Foundation

Vancouver Foundation leverages the generosity of donors towards projects initiatives and organizations working to create meaningful and lasting impact on our communities. We continued delivering a number of grant programs and initiatives…

—
8
Ovarian Cancer Canada/Cancer De L'ovaire Canada

Research: Investing in pan-Canadian and patient-centered research across the full continuum of ovarian cancer from prevention to diagnosis to treatment to survivorship. Our research investments are enabling discoveries by establishing and…

—
9
United Nations Association in Canada

United Nations Association in Canada engages citizens and decision makers at every level of Canadian society. It invests across generations bringing empathy-based educational resources and opportunities on health citizen education…

—
10
The Resilience Institute

The organization develops educational programs & conducts active participatory research on climate change & sustainability. Priority program areas include developing the capacity of Indigenous Communities to adapt to climate impacts &…

—
11
Physical and Health Education Canada

Physical and Health Education Canada (PHE Canada) champions healthy active kids by working to ensure all children and youth have equitable access to the benefits of quality physical and health education (PHE) programming and healthy…

—
12
Uhn Foundation

We raise fund for research education and the enhancement of patient care at Toronto General and Western hospitals as well as Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and Michener Institute of Education at UHN. Together with our donors we are…

—

For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Child Welfare League of Canada and the most unlike its peers is ItinÉRance ZÉRo. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

03the grantee network

356 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2024.

Each one resolved to its own CRA returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2024, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 356 of the 368 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

20
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
104
Early backer (in before they grew)
349/356
Grantees still filing
269/356
Grew since you first funded

Showing your 200 largest grantees by grant value.

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%C$100kC$1.0MC$10MC$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetUniversity of British Columbia — C$1,201,250 over 6y, 0.0% of budgetCanadian UNICEF Committee — C$825,250 over 6y, 0.8% of budgetCHILD AND NATURE ALLIANCE OF CANADA — C$748,000 over 6y, 36% of budgetIMAGINE CANADA — C$720,140 over 5y, 6.0% of budgetINDIGENOUS DIABETES HEALTH CIRCLE — C$655,000 over 3y, 12% of budgetFonds du Regroupement des Centres de la Petite Enfance de la — C$628,000 over 5y, 49% of budgetDIABETES CANADA — C$590,000 over 4y, 0.7% of budgetChildren's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute — C$565,000 over 5y, 0.8% of budgetRAVEN INDIGENOUS IMPACT FOUNDATION — C$516,000 over 5y, 17% of budgetThe Starfish Environmental Society — C$510,000 over 5y, 38% of budgetOkanagan College — C$485,000 over 4y, 0.2% of budgetMAKEWAY FOUNDATION — C$480,000 over 5y, 0.9% of budgetYMCA of Southwestern Ontario — C$434,302 over 3y, 0.3% of budgetThe Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced — C$425,000 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetPeople's Food Institute/L'Institut Pour Une — C$417,502 over 4y, 36% of budgetCHILDREN'S HOSPITAL FOUNDATION OF MANITOBA INC. — C$415,002 over 3y, 1.0% of budgetMA'MO'WEH WII'SOO'KA'TIWIN — C$400,000 over 3y, 34% of budgetO`BRIEN FAM FOUNDATION — C$395,000 over 5y, 75% of budgetLa Fondation de l'Université Laval — C$385,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetPILLAR NONPROFIT NETWORK — C$352,732 over 6y, 11% of budgetPHILANTHROPIC FOUNDATIONS CANADA — C$335,000 over 5y, 7.3% of budgetFoundation for Environmental Stewardship — C$320,000 over 4y, 9.3% of budgetGoverning Council of the University of Toronto — C$311,500 over 4y, 0.0% of budgetLONDON COMMULNITY FOUNDATION — C$311,000 over 4y, 2.1% of budgetNIKANIHK OHCI FOUNDATION — C$300,000 over 3y, 41% of budgetUNIVERSITÉ DE MONTRÉAL — C$300,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetThe Muttart Foundation — C$300,000 over 2y, 9.7% of budgetThe Social Research and Demonstration Corporation — C$299,000 over 4y, 3.2% of budgetTORONTO ASSOCIATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES — C$297,500 over 5y, 14% of budgetL'institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santé McG — C$281,200 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCommunity Food Centres Canada — C$275,000 over 2y, 28% of budgetTake Me Outside Fitness and Outdoor Education — C$265,000 over 2y, 29% of budgetEnvironment Funders Canada — C$250,000 over 6y, 4.6% of budgetThe Daymark Foundation — C$250,000 over 1y, 8.9% of budgetFondation des YMCA du Québec / YMCAS — C$250,000 over 1y, 8.7% of budgetUniversity of Manitoba — C$240,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetOutward Bound Canada — C$235,500 over 4y, 3.2% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF CANADA — C$225,000 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetEarth Day Canada — C$200,000 over 1y, 18% of budgetABC LIFE LITERACY CANADA — C$191,168 over 3y, 2.6% of budgetNor'west Co-Op Community Health Centre — C$190,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetL'Arche London — C$155,000 over 2y, 8.4% of budgetLondon Public Library Board — C$150,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetCommunity Ownership Solutions — C$150,000 over 1y, 89% of budgetSTUDENTS ON ICE FOUNDATION — C$141,000 over 1y, 6.6% of budgetLONDON REGIONAL CHILDREN'S MUSEUM — C$133,417 over 3y, 7.3% of budgetManitoba Food Charter Inc. — C$125,000 over 3y, 7.2% of budgetFondation Nouveaux Sentiers / New Pathways Foundation — C$110,000 over 2y, 6.1% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

London Community Foun…Westminster College F…Mowbray and Doris Sif…United Way Elgin Midd…The Jack and Barbara …The Agape Foundation …The Walter J Blackbur…The Crochet Club of L…LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVI…The London Police Ass…Smith Family Foundati…Kiwanis Forest City W…
London Community FoundationON36.4× affinity81 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: London Community Foundation · Westminster College Foundation · Mowbray and Doris Sifton Family Foundation · United Way Elgin Middlesex · The Jack and Barbara Hay Foundation · The Agape Foundation of London · The Walter J Blackburn Foundation · The Crochet Club of London · LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES (London) · The London Police Association Charity Fund · Smith Family Foundation · Kiwanis Forest City Welfare Trust

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from the Canada Revenue Agency’s published T3010 data — your own annual information return and the multi-year returns of the 368 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year) — each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program description on its T3010; we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without a BN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your T3010 annual information return for the fiscal period ending 2024-12-31, as published by the Canada Revenue Agency in 2024. Amounts are Canadian dollars, as filed and never converted. Registered as a private foundation under foundations.

Source object 119241727:2024-12-31 · View the T3010 on the CRA register

Play a game based on Lawson’s filings →