Message from Our Chair

The heroes of our Foundation are the grantees who have continued to carry out their respective missions in this very difficult time. Whether providing care to the most vulnerable, educating and encouraging leadership in children and young adults, or continuing the exploration to find answers through science, our grantees have persevered and proved their exceptional value.

Every investment we make through the Foundation is an investment in improving our society, and as in business, we consider our value and impacts daily. As we look at what has been achieved in the 20/21 fiscal year, we see real advancement which is highlighted in this annual report. We also recognize that grantees have struggled with new challenges and need more and new resources to remain strong and successful.

This year reinforced the culture of both collective and individual creativity in the Foundation, as we saw new projects initiated by family members and we came together to strengthen our legacy commitments. It is an honour for me to continue to sit around a table with family members and lead our efforts to bettering our communities. I look forward to another year where three generations of our family can explore and expand on vision and aspirations.

Shawna Goodman

Message from Our President

Ongoing dialogue with larger grantee partners – particularly Federation CJA and Centraide – allowed for information sharing and gauging the scope of need.

In Israel, responding to needs related to the pandemic, assistance was granted in providing basic necessities. Additionally, important and successful initiatives supported by the Foundation outside of the pandemic were launched.Many important programs saw substantial growth, including the Jewish Funders Network Family Philanthropy Center and the Excellence for Science Teaching program at Weizmann Institute.

In Montreal, family members continued to be active in leading the critical work of the McGill Goodman Cancer Research Centre and helping to transition to Institute status. Furthermore, a third year of funding for the Goodman Pediatric Formulation Centre was completed with a number of successes in availability of pharmaceuticals for kids. Active involvement with the Passport Project at Federation continued along with ongoing support of the CAPS program, which reduces barriers to Jewish education for middle income families. Family members further took it upon themselves to address two important social needs: the development of Summer Camps Israel and the start of a new project encouraging higher education for Israelis of Ethiopian descent.

All of these grants demonstrate the ever increasing creativity, compassion and dedication of the family.

Maxyne Finkelstein