How major donors are helping improve neglected elder care

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The pandemic has been disastrous for elderly Canadians.

Support for the elderly has been delayed or derailed since the onset of COVID 19, leaving seniors neglected or isolated across Canada.

There is hope, however, as foundations like the Slaight Family Foundation and organizations like Canada Gives – which enables major donors to more easily set up and operate a family foundation using a donor advised fund (DAF) structure – are working to help the elderly thrive.

Gary Slaight, president and chief executive of the Slaight Family Foundation, and Denise Castonguay, founder and CEO of Canada Gives, explain how they are working to ensure that elderly Canadians continue to live their fullest lives despite the setback, and why they encourage family foundations to continue to invest in the senior segment of our population.

Gary Slaight, President and CEO of the Slaight Family Foundation

How was the Slaight Family Foundation established?

“My father and I created The Slaight Family Foundation in 2008 as a result of the sale of our business. It is important for our family to give back to society and to help those in need.”

What inspired you to create a $30 million Seniors Initiative in 2019 and what was the pandemic’s impact?

“Over the years we have worked with a number of community organizations and hospitals that cater to seniors and we were beginning to see gaps in the system and a huge increase in the number of emergency room visits by seniors due to lack of community support.

“We spoke to a variety of experts in elder care and determined this was an area where the Slaight Family Foundation could possibly assist in the development of new models of care or new programs that could be replicated in other parts of the country to help keep seniors in their own homes and communities and to develop different models of care instead of visiting the local hospital emergency department.

“$15 million of this initiative was provided to the United Way of Greater Toronto to create the Allan Slaight Seniors Fund, where groups could apply for assistance for new or enhanced seniors’ programs or services.

“The remaining funds were provided to Toronto hospitals to help them deal with seniors, as well as funding to four national organizations serving the elder population.

“All the initiatives are now well underway, but many were indeed affected by the pandemic. Several of the initiatives were focused at bringing seniors together in one place, so all those projects were either delayed or were adapted for online or phone programs. Some programs were significantly altered to address the growing isolation of seniors during COVID, and all the initiatives are in full operation now.”

How is that initiative evolving today?

“We receive annual update reports from each recipient to keep us advised on how the projects are progressing.

“For example, Baycrest At Home has expanded their online services to allow for virtual clinical consultations, online caregiver resources, social and recreation programs, as well as a suite of connected devices in the home that provide sensors, alerts and remote access to locks and cameras to improve security, monitoring and communications in the home of a senior living alone or when a caregiver is away.

“Women’s College Hospital is working on a partnership with Saint Elizabeth Health Care and long-term care facilities to develop new pathways for sick patients that avoid transfers to emergency departments.

“United Way Allan Slaight Seniors Fund is already seeing results such as at St. Leonard’s Place, where a new program has been created to help older men who have experienced homelessness, mental illness, addiction or involvement with the justice system with case management, mental health support, finances, long-term care planning and system navigation. Fifty seniors are enrolled to date and 75 per cent have reported an improvement in their feelings of stress, anxiety and depression.

“Egale is developing resources to bridge the gaps in knowledge and services for 2LGBTQI Seniors by first undertaking research on what the gaps are, developing competency training for elder service providers to address the needs of the 2LGBTQI seniors and then to implement a national awareness campaign on older 2LGBTQI people and their needs.

“These are just a few examples of the many initiatives that are underway.”

For readers who might be hesitant or uncertain about donating in this economic climate, why do you feel elder care is a worthy cause right now?

“It is so important to make sure we have the most advanced support and programs for our seniors. We are moving into an era where our large baby boomer population is now in seniors’ mode.

“Our hospitals and community organizations simply cannot handle the demand now, never mind when this cohort has all advanced to being seniors.

“If we want to change the system and make our senior years better for all, we need to invest in programs and services that can help keep us in our homes and communities and help our loved ones take care of us in our senior years.”

Denise Castonguay, Founder and CEO, Canada Gives

How was Canada Gives established and what is its mission?

“Canada Gives was founded to enable major donors to more easily set up and operate a family foundation using a donor advised fund (DAF) structure. … We help them move from being ad-hoc givers to real philanthropists. One of the most important features of a donor advised fund is that, as the underlying DAF sponsor, Canada Gives provides full administrative support for the family foundation, so these generous donors can focus their time and efforts on giving back.

How did the pandemic impact initiatives and donations?

“Prior to early-2020, we know that any and all larger donations given by family foundations toward elder care may have been impacted by the pandemic, with delays, etc.

“While it’s true that overall donations to the charitable sector have been trending down in recent years, we’ve seen the opposite here at Canada Gives.

“From the onset of the pandemic, our DAF “Foundation account” holders immediately responded. Throughout 2020 and 2021, most DAF donors were steering their generosity towards a range of COVID-related charitable causes, in particular front-line charities such as hospitals, mental health support services and food banks and we saw grants to the charitable sector increase threefold throughout the crisis.

“Having already established a Foundation account, both well-established and new DAF donor clients were able to pivot quickly to lend their support to organizations that needed their assistance the most. In other words, our philanthropists have given considerably more, not less, as soon as the pandemic arrived.”

Have things changed at this stage of the pandemic?

“Our focus has been – and remains – helping our philanthropists be as strategic as possible in their giving. Our Client Services team is available to conduct research into their areas of interest, to help them vet charities and identify charities that meet their real funding interests. As new foundation funders, we help them navigate the not-for-profit sector and introduce them to the many resources that well-established foundations have long employed, such as grant applications, encouraging multi-year commitments and stronger engagement with a core group of key charities.

“The charity research we provide includes areas such as elder care. Interestingly, we’re finding that many Canada Gives philanthropists want to become more actively engaged with the charitable organizations they support – not only giving money, but offering their time, as well – while often engaging the next generation of their family in their philanthropy.”

For readers who might be hesitant or uncertain about donating in this economic climate, why do you feel elder care is a worthy cause right now?

“I would say that, generally, elder care as a cause is under-serviced across the not-for- profit sector. Because so much support recently was directed towards front-line services, such as hospitals, food banks and social services (especially mental health care) throughout the pandemic, other areas attracted considerably less funding.

“The COVID-19 crisis only reinforced the need to channel funding towards the elder care sector to ensure high levels of support and infrastructure development.

“Our data show that our Foundation account holders did send more charitable grants to charities supporting elder care, but the bulk of their generosity went to front-line and acute care support. I think part of the reason is that many Canadians assume that provincial government funding for elder and long-term care is adequate. Therefore, they don’t realize there’s as great a need for financial support in that area.

“Supporting elder care now is as important as ever.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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