2002 Award Recipients

Mr. John Tory

John Tory is believed to be the only volunteer in the city who has concurrently chaired two major campaigns - the St. Michael's Hospital Research/Capital Campaign for $40 million and the United Way of Greater Toronto's 2001 Campaign with a goal of $74.8 million. Not only has he chaired both campaigns as a fundraiser, he has served on the Board of Trustees of both organizations. He is an extraordinary volunteer and is always generous with his time, his leadership and his expertise.

At the St. Michael's Hospital Foundation, John Tory co-chaired the Urban Angel Campaign which exceeded its $20 million goal by $2 million. This campaign saw a "first" in hospital foundation fundraising when the physicians responded with 100% participation. The current $40 million Research/Capital Campaign has already reached over $36 million because John Tory, working together with his Co-Chair, John Hunkin, has the ability to attract and lead dedicated volunteers. He assists others with their calls and always thanks everyone for their efforts to meet the campaign goals. He leads by example and has committed a bequest to the Hospital in addition to making leadership gifts to both the Urban Angel Campaign and the Research/Capital Campaign.

John Tory led the United Way of Greater Toronto's 2001 Campaign, one of the most difficult in the organization's history because of the economic and world events of last fall. His extraordinary leadership and unreserved commitment led the United Way to achieve its largest annual goal ever, $75.5 million. His strategic thinking, respect for fellow volunteers and staff, accessibility and humour sustained everyone in this most difficult ot campaigns. He recruited volunteer corporate leaders, made countless calls to donors to confirm their gifts, participated in United Way press conferences and community fundraising events, and always thanked those who worked with him to make the campaign a success. He and his wife, Barbara Hackett, were among the inaugural group of the United Way's most generous donors.

He appreciates the complexities of people and politics. His concern about doing the right things for the right reasons makes John Tory a remarkable role model for other volunteers.

The President and CEO of Rogers Cable Inc., John Tory is also a Director of Cara Operations Limited, Charter Communications, Enbridge Consumers Gas, Rogers Media Inc., and the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Club.

He is currently Chairman of the Canadian Cable Television Association.

John Tory was nominated by the United Way of Greater Toronto and the St. Michael's Hospital Foundation.

John H. Tory's speech at the AFP Awards Luncheon

May 29, 2002
Metro Toronto Convention Centre

I want to begin by thanking Gord Nixon for his kind words of introduction.

I am very flattered to have received this recognition. I am receiving it thanks to the initiative taken by two of the greatest fundraising professionals anywhere: Susan McIsaac at the United Way and Alayne Metrick at St. Michael's Hospital.

They know, as do others present, of my strong belief in the important role played by fundraising professionals.

In my own case, just looking at the most recent two campaigns I have been involved with, success would not have been possible without help on a number of fronts.

I have mentioned professional fundraisers. Then of course there are all of the other volunteers who made up the teams at both St. Mike's and the United Way, led, in the case of St. Mikes by my co chair John Hunkin and at the United Way by my deputy chair last year, Gord Nixon.

While they may not consider themselves volunteers, I want to make special mention of two other people, my assistant of some 11 years, Maripe Perez, who has been an indispensable part of all of my fundraising activities and my wife of 24 years, Barbara Hackett, who has been a partner to me in all of these ventures and has put up with many absences from home.

And of course, there are the donors. Obviously you couldn't do much without them, and that is one of the reasons the honour being bestowed on Ted and Loretta Rogers today is so richly deserved.

Ted and Loretta have done many things for Barbara and me…,one that is particularly relevant today is the fact that he said yes when I was vice chair of the campaign for Osgoode Hall Law School and went to ask him to donate a quarter of a million dollars to set up a scholarship in honour of his late step father John W. Graham.

That was the largest amount of money I had ever asked anyone for….they made the call pleasant and eventually the Rogers said yes as they have so many times.

The benefit: not just the scholarship program which is thriving today….but I am now quite prepared to ask anyone for any amount of money. I am totally fearless, and Ted and Loretta helped make that happen.

I know this is not an occasion for long speeches. May I just say this,

I begin from the premise that example has a lot to do with whether you feel inclined to volunteer your time.

In my own case, I had two grandmothers, Jean Tory and Helen Bacon Hemmings who were volunteers extraordinaire, and who were recognized as such.

In my immediate family, while I have learned an immense amount about judgment and balance and many other things from my father, it is my mother who has been and continues to be the volunteer extraordinaire. Thus, I am hopeful that the example by both Barbara and me will leave an impression on our children… and there are already encouraging signs.

But in the end, you don't do these things in most cases because your parents did, or because someone told you it was the right thing to do.

You do it because you care, because you have a bit of passion about something.

I had a passion about Canadian institutions dying out and about the unique game of Canadian football and that's what motivated me to volunteer my time to the CFL.

Today, I continue to have a passion, perhaps accompanied by a concern, about the state of our communities and the unique set of values that has permitted those communities to be strong.

I think what differentiates us as Canadians is that set of values we hold in common…and don't celebrate half enough.

What makes Toronto a great city and Canada a great country isn't so much, in my view, how wealthy we are or how many tall buildings we have: its how we have chosen to live together…people from all faiths, colours and creeds living in peace and sharing a genuine concern about one another. I think it is that value set and the resulting strength of our communities that has made us a magnet for investment, without which we surely can't sustain our quality of life.

I sense our blessed situation is somewhat at risk…there are some signs of decay… and we must address that decay and that risk early… yes, with our money as donors….but even more importantly with passion and caring as volunteers. It’s important to give our money to keep our communities strong but it's even more important to give something of ourselves.

And so, I will continue with this work…. which really doesn't seem like work at all …I suppose because it stems from a passion.

Thank you very much for this honour.