A GTA Family Foundation · Trust-Based Giving

Multi-year grants for community-led work in the Greater Toronto Area

We fund equity-deserving grassroots organizations tackling poverty, housing, and food security across the Greater Toronto Area — unrestricted and multi-year, so you can focus on the work.

How we fund → Our partners

Registered Canadian Charity BN 731980736RR0001 Greater Toronto Area

Mission

We collaborate with communities to build a more resilient, equitable, and just society.

A GTA-based family foundation founded in 2021. We make multi-year, unrestricted grants to grassroots and community-led organizations, with a focus on poverty alleviation, social justice, and equity-deserving communities.

About

Acorn Seed is a family foundation led by the third generation. The funds come from the sale of a large Canadian menswear company, and the work today reflects our generation’s values: a commitment to community, social equity, and the people doing the work to make Toronto a more just place. Our giving is shaped alongside an advisory committee of community-rooted advisors.

How we work

All of our partners come from our own outreach — we, alongside our advisory committee, do the research first. We don’t accept unsolicited applications. When we do invite a conversation, we aim to keep it light and flexible. If you’ve been invited to apply, here’s what to expect:

If you’ve received a message from us, this page is a good place to learn more about who we are and how we work.

We come to you

We do our own research before reaching out. All partnerships begin with a conversation we initiate — not an open call.

Flexible by design

An application can take whatever form works best for your team: a short written form, a conversation, a video pitch, or materials you already have on hand.

Multi-year, unrestricted

Five-year, unrestricted funding — 50% in years one and five, 100% in years two through four — with overlap so partners can plan beyond the grant.

Light-touch & beyond the cheque

No boilerplate reports. One or two honest conversations a year. We’re open to volunteering, supporting matching campaigns, and connecting partners to other funders.

Our approach

Trust-based philanthropy starts from a simple premise: the people closest to a problem understand it better than funders do.

The work of a funder is to remove barriers, not add them. This is the model we follow — as a partner in this work, not a gatekeeper. Our giving is built around five guiding principles, drawn from the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project.

P / 01

Lead with trust

We start from the assumption that our partners are experts in their own communities and use their funding wisely.

P / 02

Center relationships

The relationship is the work. We invest in long-term, honest partnerships rather than transactional grant cycles.

P / 03

Collaborate with humility and curiosity

We come in to listen and learn. We strive to be accountable for the harms a funder can cause, even unintentionally.

P / 04

Redistribute power

Decisions about how funding is used belong with the people doing the work, not the people writing the cheques. Our advisory committee — which always includes at least one past grantee partner alongside community-connected advisors — recommends and selects every partnership.

P / 05

Fund equity-deserving communities

We prioritize organizations led by and serving Black, Indigenous, racialized, disabled, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, and grassroots groups working through charitable mentors or shared platforms.

We’re still learning. We continue to take cues from our partners and our advisory council on how to make our process better — and ultimately less annoying for the organizations we support. Funders don’t need to suck so much. Seriously, we can do better. We welcome honest feedback from our charity partners and try to make funding relationships feel more like a partnership.

Contact

If we’ve been in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Please note

We do not accept unsolicited applications, pitches, or sponsorship requests. All partnerships begin with a conversation we initiate after our own research and consultation with our advisory council. Cold outreach from organizations seeking funding, vendors, or solicitors will not receive a reply.

Use the form below if we’ve already reached out to you and you have a follow-up question, for press inquiries, or if you’re another funder who would like to discuss our approach or explore partnerships.