Martin Connell, Past Chair of the Toronto Community Foundation

“Martin has supported hundreds of community initiatives and organizations through his own personal philanthropy and leadership,” said Bhardwaj. “He brought this same passion to our Board for the past decade, and we wanted a way to not only thank him, but to honour his living legacy of philanthropy and city-building. This award is our way of doing just that.”

The inaugural award was presented to the Vandewater Charitable Foundation at Vital Toronto, an annual celebration of grant recipients hosted by the Community Foundation.

“My family is honoured and humbled to be selected for the award,” said Tom Vandewater. “The Toronto Community Foundation made it very affordable for my family to establish the equivalent of a private foundation. But more importantly, the Community Foundation’s insights into the areas of need in the city have made this partnership an extremely rewarding experience for my family.