Making a difference in eye health: Donald K. Johnson
Having experienced vision problems, former BMO exec invested $50 million in namesake institute
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These days, philanthropists aren’t just handing out dollars; instead, they want to “make a difference” by investing significant personal time and, increasingly, gifts labelled as “transformational,” like the Peter Gilgan Foundation’s recent $105 million gift to Trillium Health Partners Foundation in Mississauga, Ont.
Gifts like these aren’t undertaken lightly. Here’s the story of one donor family and how they arrived at a strategy to achieve their philanthropic goals in the healthcare sector.
The nurturer: Donald K. Johnson, O.C.
Sometimes donors can’t simply choose an existing charity; they have to help create one.
Such is the case with Donald K. Johnson of Toronto. An avid philanthropist and former vice-chairman of investment banking for BMO Nesbitt Burns, Johnson championed the elimination of capital-gains tax on charitable donations of publicly listed securities, which has resulted in more than $1 billion in donations almost every year since 2006.
He is currently campaigning for a similar ruling for private-company shares and real estate, which could stimulate another $200 million annually.
Having experienced eye problems himself, Johnson makes a natural supporter of eye-health programs. However, his $50-million donation to the University Health Network’s respected Donald K. Johnson Eye Institute in 2021 was many years in the making. He recalls being approached in 1987 by Toronto mayor John Tory’s mother, Elizabeth Tory, and William Callahan, then head of the Eye Research Institute of Ontario, to chair a fundraising campaign.
“I visited the top three eye institutes in the United States and asked them what the key was to fundraising for an eye institution. They said you have to focus on grateful wealthy patients, or ‘rich guys with bad eyes,’” Johnson quips.
But when the campaign team asked Toronto Western Hospital for access to patients, they were told that the hospital was already raising money for clinicians through those contacts.
“Even though we were affiliated with the hospital and the University of Toronto, we were independent,” Johnson says. “So I met with the hospital management, and we decided the best strategy was to merge our research institute with the research division at Toronto Western Hospital so we could raise funds for both research and clinicians.”
Johnson has served on the Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation boards (now the UHN Foundation Board) for 23 years.
“It’s very important for people who have some success in their life to give back to their communities,” he says, adding a couple of his favourite expressions: “It’s better to give it away with a warm hand than a cold hand,” and “He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes.”
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