A word from FGM – December 2024

Throughout 2024, the Foundation of Greater Montréal team has continued to advance our vision of impact philanthropy, while keeping the strength of our network and our community’s diverse needs at the core of our actions. Here are some highlights from this year, and a look towards what will keep us busy in 2025.

FGM ranked 11th on the Top 50 Equitable Funders list for Canada, published by Future of Good and QuakeLab. We are touched by this recognition of our efforts to transform philanthropy, particularly when it comes to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We aim to continue refining our distribution practices and strengthen our high-trust relationships with our community. While much work remains, this acknowledgement makes us proud.

We have also continued to cement our application of FGM’s Responsible Investment Strategy. As part of this process, we are re-evaluating our financial investments to best align them with our goals and values as a community foundation, as well as to improve our practices. Impact investing remains a priority, and we have been steadily working on it, including through the establishment of a subcommittee dedicated to integrating this strategy into the FGM Investment Fund’s portfolio.

Serving our communities

In 2024, we published a new edition in our Vital Signs of Greater Montreal series of reports. This latest edition focuses on the persistent territorial inequities in our region. It highlights the need to take action to build more resilient and just neighbourhoods that foster the health and well-being of everyone who lives in them. These issues are also reflected in the Indicateurs Vitaux du Grand Montréal (Vital Indicators for Greater Montreal) platform, an interactive tool created in collaboration with the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (available in French only).

We have also developed unique new partnerships with other community foundations in Quebec, including Philanthropie Laurentides and Outaouais Philanthropy, providing them with access to FGM’s resources and expertise in investments and fund management. Such collaborations come naturally as we share the same mission: to put the philanthropic resources of our regions to use in service of our communities.

In closing, the Foundation’s 25th anniversary is coming up, and we have begun to plan it. I’d also like to mention that FGM has already moved into new offices, giving us a brighter and more open workplace to celebrate our first quarter-century. A visibility campaign and a revamped event program are also in the works; be on the look out for them in 2025! Finally, next year’s edition of Vital Signs is already in development and will focus on the philanthropy of Black communities in Quebec.

2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the Foundation of Greater Montréal. We look forward to embarking on it with you—after a little well-deserved rest. Until then, take care. See you next year!

Coming soon

Collective Fund for Climate and Ecological Transition

The 2025 edition of the Fund will be launched in January, to support the resilience, power to act and transformational capacity of communities in the face of climate change and for environmental justice.
Karel Mayrand
President and CEO
Foundation of Greater Montréal