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This Giving Tuesday, it’s time for Torontonians to give back! In the spirit of Thanksgiving, people worldwide are encouraged to celebrate generosity and to give back in whatever ways they can (for example, through donations or volunteering) as part of a global movement dubbed ‘GivingTuesday’. It falls on the Tuesday following the American Thanksgiving and serves as a charitable alternative to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
This global generosity movement was established over a decade ago in 2012 by the United Nations Foundation and the 92nd Street Y Community Center in New York City, and has since spread to more than 80 countries. In 2013, ‘GivingTuesday’ was launched in Canada via the CanadaHelps charity, GIV3, and several other founding partners.
In addition to volunteering at a charity or donating money, you could support a local business, a community initiative, or even just show an act of kindness to a neighbor in need.
If you need some direction on how to help out, here’s a list of Toronto charities that you can donate to or volunteer your time with (and, of course, you don’t have to limit your support to one day):
Giving Tuesday: If you’re passionate about food insecurity in Toronto…
Food insecurity affected about one in four (24.9%) Toronto households in 2023, particularly those with low incomes, on social assistance, racialized groups, one-parent households, and those living with a disability. Here are a few local organizations combatting food insecurity:
Daily Bread Food Bank
This charity aims to eliminate food insecurity and advocate for solutions to end poverty. You can join their team of volunteers (e.g., volunteers support the community by coming to their distribution centre at 191 New Toronto Street in Etobicoke to sort and pack food donations that are distributed to the charity’s member agency network). There are also volunteer roles in kitchen assistance, administration, and special events. You can even donate food or money.
Second Harvest
This charity is Canada’s largest food rescue organization, connecting 4400 food donors and 7500 non-profits with healthy surplus food! You can get involved by donating food (they primarily target businesses with surplus food) or funds (a donation of $25 can help create 75 meals while a donation of $500 can contribute toward 1500 meals).
North York Harvest Food Bank
This is the primary food bank for northern Toronto, serving over 25,000 people each month. You can support the food bank via one-time or monthly donations, sorting and distributing food at local food spaces, or even volunteering as a charity Bingo ambassador!
Food Share
FoodShare Toronto is a food justice organization that advocates for the right to food and works to dismantle systemic barriers to food access, especially for marginalized communities such as Black, Indigenous, and low-income people. By supporting community-led initiatives like urban farms, subsidized produce markets, and community kitchens.
Giving Tuesday: For those interested in combating homelessness in Toronto…
There are more than 12,000+ people in Toronto who are homeless on any given night (when looking at shelter and overnight service data). Here are a few notable organizations helping the homeless across the city, providing anything from shelter and food services to job training and health services.
The Scott Mission
For more than 80 years, the Mission has been helping people face hunger and homelessness, offering practical, emotional, and spiritual support (i.e., through a men’s shelter, via nutritious meals, and food and clothing banks). You can get involved by applying to volunteer in the kitchen (assist with basic food preparation and cleaning), distribution (i.e., sorting, portioning, and packaging produce and non-perishable items to be given out at food banks), or even at a shelter (provide patrons with toiletries and towels for a shower, assist residences in the laundry room, help with drinks and snacks, etc.).
Covenant House
This is the largest agency in Canada that serves youth who are homeless, trafficked, or at risk. Volunteers support the organization with diverse jobs ranging from data entry and hosting youth activities to helping out at special events.
Homes First Society
Provides housing and social programs for the chronically homeless. The agency currently houses over 2,500 individuals (including seniors, adults, and families) each night and operates 26 properties across the city, everything from emergency shelters to apartment buildings offering long-term supportive housing. You can help via donations (cash or gently used items), purchasing essential items for residents across their housing sites, or by volunteering.
Giving Tuesday: Help protect wildlife and the environment in Toronto…
In recent decades, Toronto has made gains in protecting, restoring, and enhancing the natural environment, as well as providing safe havens for wild plants and animals. Here are a few Toronto-based charities focused on these issues:
Toronto Wildlife Centre
The Centre provides education and expert advice about wildlife situations, and provides medical care to sick, injured, and orphaned wild animals! Once healthy, these animals are then released back into the wild (6,275 patients were admitted this year alone). You can help by providing a cash donation (contributions provide medical care, enclosures, and nutritious food for thousands of animals every year) or by volunteering at a Toronto Wildlife Centre (learn a new skill or give back with an existing skill like accounting, event planning, or even carpentry). If you love animals, you can even volunteer to provide care (e.g., by monitoring, feeding, and weighing) to upwards of 300 wild animals at Downsview Park during the busy spring and summer seasons.
Ontario Nature
Based in Toronto, this charity protects wild species and wild spaces through education, conservation, and public engagement. Volunteer as a nature reserve steward to inventory species and document threats to the natural habitat. Stewards act as the “eyes on the ground” for the nature reserves team, helping to conserve unique and diverse natural habitats.
Toronto Environmental Alliance
The Alliance’s members are leaders of the movement for a sustainable Toronto — they advocate for greener policies across the city and provide resources for sustainable living. People are invited to take action via more proactive means, e.g., contacting city hall to ensure that tenants are safe during extreme heat events or encouraging Toronto high-rises to become zero-waste buildings.
