2002 Award Recipients

Mr. Steve Thomas, CFRE

Steve Thomas has led the fundraising profession in Canada in two significant ways. He has set the benchmarks for direct response fundraising programs and he has tirelessly developed and promoted the fundraising profession.

Steve began his fundraising career at Oxfam Canada in 1973 where he learned direct mail fundraising by doing it. He went on to Humber College as Director of Development from 1975-77 and then to the New Democratic Party (NDP) where he was the first professional fundraiser. At both Humber College and at the NDP Steve was successful in other types of fundraising but his first love was always direct response fundraising.

In September 1980, Steve set up Canada's first direct response fundraising agency, Stephen Thomas Associates, and there he pioneered programs for such clients as Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, the Schizophrenia Society, Scouts Canada, the St. Boniface Hospital and Sunnybrook Hospital.

Steve has given an extraordinary amount of time and energy to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP). He served on the Board from 1995-2001 and was the President in 1998 and 1999. He was one of the founders of the AFP Congress in 1995: with his Co-founders he has seen this event grow to one of the most influential and successful annual fundraising conferences in the world.

Often called and just as often generously accepted, Steve has shared his expertise with colleagues on the national and international scene. He has spoken at fundraising conferences across Canada and in the USA, Britain, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand. He has mentored many of Canada's leading fundraisers and is always willing to share his knowledge with those who are willing to learn.

He has found time to coach high school basketball and a community baseball team, to act as Chair of the University of Western Ontario (his alma mater) '5 Annual Fund, to run for the New Democratic Party and to sit on the Board of the Trillium Foundation for four years.

Steve Thomas believes that people must share their good fortune with others, that no one who can should refuse to help out, and that everyone can make a contribution. And Steve contributes more than most.