Ethics Resources Committee - 4th Annual Panel

Date: Monday, May 7, 2018
Time: 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
Location: Arcadian Loft 4 & 5, Simpson Tower - 9th Floor
401 Bay Street, Toronto (map)
Cost: Free!

Panel Theme

This year’s ethics panel is inspired by leadership in relations, relating, and relationships. In particular, leadership involved in cultivating, sustaining, and growing relationships, and in embedding those relationships into the fabric of the organization.

Fundraisers are ethical stewards who establish high levels of trust with donors and inspire support for their organization. Our industry is a fluid one—the average tenure of a fundraiser ranges from 18 months to 4 years depending on which study you read. As leaders, how do we ensure that donor relationships are honoured and stewarded in our operations?

This means that donor relations involves much more than we might have imagined…donor retention can enhance the lifetime value of a donor by 200%, yet so often our business decisions favour new donor acquisition. This is exactly the point where leadership and relationships meet. Our behaviors as fundraising leaders should reinforce the importance of ethical governance in creating organization-wide systems aligned with our values and our reputation of trustworthiness to all organizational stakeholders. After all, donor relations and stewardship have fiduciary implications.

We will explore the below questions and more during this thought-provoking session about the intersection between leadership, ethics, and relationships.

  • Are you a leader who creates an ethically inspired culture of philanthropy, even if under pressure to manage a culture of “asking”?
  • Does your leadership truly build mutually supportive relationships or are they based on trying to achieve a budget goal?
  • What are the ethical implications of nurturing and sustaining relationships?

Click on the speakers' photos below to read their bios.

Through the generosity of TD, attendance is complimentary.

Please note that registration for this event is now closed - thank you!

Speakers
Sharon Avery

President & CEO

Toronto Foundation

Sharon Avery is President & CEO of Toronto Foundation, one of Canada’s leading community foundations and a Toronto city-building institution. Ms. Avery has built a 19-year career as a high energy fundraiser and passionate communicator. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was the Chief Development Officer at UNICEF Canada for 8 years. There, Sharon led a pivotal fundraising campaign recruiting women philanthropists across Canada to embark on a four-year educational journey on maternal, newborn and child health in the developing world. Sharon has also held senior roles at SickKids Foundation, Save the Children Canada and Tim Horton Children's Foundation. She is a dynamic public speaker on a mission to bring philanthropy to the task of building a more resilient Toronto.

Helen Burstyn, C.M.

Chair

Waterfront Toronto

Helen Burstyn has enjoyed a 35-year career in government, business, academia, broadcasting and community service.   

She is currently the Chair of Waterfront Toronto and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University.  She also chairs Evergreen and The Walrus Foundation, as well as serving on the board of a number of organizations, including: the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the Toronto Public Library Foundation, the Canadian Opera Company, Luminato, Prime Ministers Row, the Koffler Centre for the Arts, Growing North and The Pecaut Centre for Social Impact (LEAP), an organization she also co-founded.

Helen spent much of her professional career in the Ontario Public Service, serving as the Chair of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Senior Advisor to the Premier, Special Advisor and co-founder of the Office for Social Enterprise, Co-Chair (with Minister Eric Hoskins) of the Partnership Project, the province’s advisory body on the not-for-profit and voluntary sectors, and Deputy Secretary of the Premier’s Council.  

Helen served for nine years as a Trustee of CAMH and is a past-president of the Canadian Club of Toronto, co-founder and past-president of Gilda's Club Greater Toronto, and a founding member of Equal Voice. She was also the co-host of Toronto Files on RogersTV, a weekly community affairs program focusing on the people and issues that matter to the city. 

In 2017, Helen was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her leadership of charitable and public institutions in arts and culture, education, health, and the environment.  She is also the recipient of the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Community Leadership and the Ontario Citizenship Award for Volunteer Service. 

Helen is the author of Eleven Out of Ten: The Life and Work of David Pecaut, a memoir about her late husband. She is the mother of four daughters and four granddaughters, and is a longtime Toronto resident.    

Ted Garrard

CEO

SickKids Foundation

Ted Garrard is Chief Executive Officer of SickKids Foundation which supports one of the world’s leading centres for pediatric care, research and learning – the Hospital for Sick Children. The Foundation raises more than $140 million in cash annually, has endowments valued at $1.1 billion, and is the largest non-governmental funder of children’s health in Canada.  On October 27, 2017, the Foundation launched the largest fundraising campaign in Canadian healthcare history with a goal of raising $1.3 billion by 2022.  Prior to joining the Foundation Ted served as Vice-President, External at The University of Western Ontario from 1996-2009, where he led campaigns that raised more than $600 million.  He also spent 13 years at United Way of Toronto in a variety of roles including leading all fundraising operations.  Ted is Chair of the Canadian Children’s Hospital Foundations (CCHF), Chair of the Woodmark Group (an association of the top 25 children’s hospitals in North America), a past director of Children’s Miracle Network, past Chair of Imagine Canada, Past Chair of United Way of London-Middlesex, a past director of United Way/Centraide Canada, and a past director of the Canadian Council for Advancement in Education.  He received the Association of Fundraising Professional’s Outstanding Fundraising Executive Award in 1997, was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 1998, and in 2014 was named Outstanding Communicator by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). 

Jo-Anne Ryan

Vice President, Philanthropy and Executive Director

TD Wealth and Private Giving Foundation

Jo-Anne develops strategies to help clients incorporate philanthropy in their overall financial and estate plans. She has also led TD's research efforts around Women and Philanthropy since 2014.

She is the architect and Executive Director of the Private Giving Foundation, the first donor advised-fund to be launched by a financial institution in Canada. Jo-Anne is a volunteer with the Canadian Association of Gift Planners GTA (CAGP), formerly a board member and currently a member of the government relations committee. Jo-Anne is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Toronto and an active volunteer on several gift planning committees for charities.

She is a sought after media spokesperson and public speaker on philanthropic trends and the charitable landscape in Canada. She is also the Vice Chair of the Board for Bishops University Foundation and is a member of the advisory board at Carleton University's Master in Philanthropy and Non-profit Leadership program - the only one of its kind in Canada.