GIVING
Join Possibility Partners, our monthly giving program.
Possibility Partners are caring individuals who have made the commitment to give monthly to YSM through pre-authorized debit or recurring charges on their credit card.
By giving monthly, donors can realize key benefits, including:
- Personal convenience
- Increased ability to invest in the important work of YSM over the course of a year
- Help YSM lower fundraising costs, to put more toward our over 100 programs and services for street-involved youth, families in need and adults experiencing chronic poverty
Click here for more information and monthly giving FAQs.
To join Possibility Partners today, please click here or call 416-929-9614.
Thank you! We are grateful or your interest in becoming a monthly donor. Our Possibility Partners fuel YSM’s critical core work – enabling us to change lives, build communities and transform Toronto together.
Show appreciation, celebrate a special occasion or honour the memory of someone you love.
Giving In Honour
We invite you to make a gift in honour of a special person or occasion or in memory of a loved one. By providing complete acknowledgement information, as requested online or by mailing us this form, we will be sure to provide a card to the honouree you designate, inform them of your gift and share your special message with them.
Create an in Honour Page
Create your very own personalized donation page through which you can easily invite your contacts to quickly and securely donate to YSM in celebration of a special occasion, such as a wedding, birthday or anniversary, and support neighbours in your community in lieu of receiving gifts.
Customize your page with your photos, videos and your message, to share with friends and family. Click here to start creating your personal donation page today.
We invite you to join us in helping our city’s most vulnerable neighbours survive and recover from the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and continue their progress in overcoming barriers to stability and independence.
At YSM, we remain focused on serving the Toronto community while also working to secure and advance our programs and their impact for the decades ahead. As such we’re working to continue strengthening our present and future financial footing. Legacy gifts, especially bequests made in the Wills of our kind donors, are a key way for us to do so, with your help.
Planned or legacy gifts are typically made from accumulated assets rather than cash, and are often intended as end of life gifts, made after a donor’s lifelong active contributions cease.
Most frequently, legacy gifts are made via a bequest in one’s Will and, when designated to benefit Yonge Street Mission, are aimed to ensure YSM’s important work, programs and services will carry on into the future, to continue to benefit vulnerable Toronto community members experiencing poverty.
Common ways to make a legacy gift:
- Include a bequest via a clause in your Will which specifies either a residual portion, a percentage of your estate, or a specified cash gift amount to YSM.
- Make a gift of securities, either today or as a deferred gift in your Will.
- Designate Registered Retirement Funds which name The Yonge Street Mission as the beneficiary.
- Donate a life insurance policy in which The Yonge Street Mission is named as the beneficiary.
By leaving a gift in your Will to The Grace and Goodness Trust – a permanent endowment created in memory of our former long-serving CEO, Rick Tobias – you are invited to become a founding member of Legacy Bridge Builders, our recognition society for YSM’s forward-thinking donors who support us with a legacy gift.
Should you choose to support YSM via your legacy plans, know your generosity will help YSM continue to change lives, build communities and transform Toronto by providing our organization with stable funding for the future, while also supporting priority ongoing annual needs.
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Should you have any questions or needs for additional information, please contact Angela Solomos, our Vice-President of Philanthropy, at E: asolomos@ysm.ca | C: (647) 244-6002.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: We encourage donors to consult legal and /or financial advisors to consider all of the relevant issues, as well as tax provisions, in making a planned gift to Yonge Street Mission.
Additionally, you can contact one of YSM’s legacy partners Advisors with Purpose or Link Charity Canada for free professional estate planning advice, convenient legacy solutions or to attend a no-obligation educational webinar. Learn more via links in the organization names above, or ask Angela to connect you.
We are most grateful to all who consider or confirm including YSM in their legacy giving and estate plans. By making such an important investment in the future of YSM you will be strengthening the continued health and stability of YSM as an organization.
It can be very simple to make a legacy gift to The Grace and Goodness Trust, in support of YSM. Simply share the following information with your legal advisor and discuss with them and / or your financial advisor(s) the benefits of the legacy gift options previously outlined.
Needed Information to Make a Bequest to YSM:
- YSM’s legal name: The Yonge Street Mission
- Our mailing address: 306 Gerrard St. E., Toronto, ON M5A 2G7
- Our Charitable Registration Number: 119306181 RR0001
Recognition as a Legacy Bridge Builder
In choosing to support YSM through your legacy plans, you can decide whether or not you wish to be recognized as a founding member of our Legacy Bridge Builders legacy donor recognition society or instead remain anonymous. We honour all gifts with the level of confidentiality, anonymity and / or recognition requested by the donor.
For consideration: As organizational needs and priorities can change over time, YSM encourages donors to leave an undesignated – rather than specific, restricted-purpose – bequest if making a legacy gift. When the time comes, your gift will be presented by your executor(s), with direction(s) about the work you wish to support which will be honoured while we also take into account YSM’s organizational priorities and needs at that time.
Your employer may be one which matches its employees’ donations, enabling you to double the impact of your support of YSM. If that’s the case, when you give, please notify your employer or complete a matching donation form so they too will make a contribution – a wonderful way to have your gift go even further!
Click here to check if your employer is a matching gift partner. If they’re not listed, ask your Human Resources department if your employer matches employee donations.
When you donate publicly traded shares which have appreciated in value directly to YSM, you pay no tax on associated capital gains and also receive a tax receipt for the full market value of your gift.
Securities are easy to transfer – your broker simply transfers the shares from your account to the brokerage account of Yonge Street Mission. If interested, please download our Securities Donation Form. You can use it to instruct/authorize your broker to transfer your donated stocks to YSM.
When the form is complete, please also email or fax it to us so we know to expect your kind gift. If you have any questions, you can reach us at:
Fax: 416-929-7204
Toll Free: 1-800-416-5111
Disclaimer: The information provided on these pages is general in nature and not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. YSM strongly advocates – before making any decisions concerning your estate and/or your charitable donations – you seek advice from your lawyer and/or financial advisor.
Rick Tobias has left an indelible mark on our city and in the lives of so many people impacted by his leadership, spirit and service over 37 years at YSM.
His heart for the poor and marginalized, together with his ability to passionately inspire and motivate action, set Rick apart and helped YSM grow into an agency poised for growth and greater impact within our city.
In memory of Rick’s passing, we ask you to consider including YSM in your planned giving and / or estate plans, by designating a bequest to The Grace and Goodness Trust – a permanent endowment created in Rick’s memory – which will serve and support YSM’s priority annual needs, in perpetuity.
With a legacy gift to The Grace and Goodness Trust you will be investing in the future of YSM, ensuring its continued health and stability, while also honouring Rick Tobias’ memory and his 37 transformative years with our organization.
We encourage all donors to consult their trusted legal and /or financial advisor(s) to consider the relevant issues, as well as tax provisions, in considering a planned gift to YSM.
Should you plan to move forward with a bequest in your Will, as one possible gift type, you will require the following information:
Legal name: The Yonge Street Mission Organization
Address: 306 Gerrard St. E., Toronto, ON M5A 2G7
Charitable Registration Number: #11930 6181 RR0001
If you would like further information about The Grace & Goodness Trust, please contact Angela Solomos at 416-929-9614 x 4248 or asolomos@ysm.ca.
Fundraise for YSM
Hosting an event in support of YSM is a notable way to do something you love, while involving friends and family, to give back by helping us move neighbours in need from surviving to thriving.
To support your efforts, YSM will share our user-friendly online fundraising system and tools to make your event a success! Learn more about how you can support YSM by hosting an event with our Third Party Events Toolkit or contact Eleanor Edwards at 416-929-9614 x 4212, events@ysm.ca
Looking for inspiration? Click here to hear John Fenton, one of our long standing supporters, as he talks about why he fundraises for YSM.
WAYS TO HELP
GIVE 6IX is a “do-what-you-can, wherever-you-are” movement to inspire everyone in our city to take action and make a difference.
GIVE 6IX invites you to do or give 6 things (any 6 things!) to help someone struggling in Toronto, “the Six”.
- Donate
- Volunteer
- Participate
- Learn
- Advocate
- Share
What’s your 6IX?
Learn more at ysm.ca/Give6ix
Donations of adult’s and children’s gently used clothing, shoes, bags, are needed to provide emergency clothing to our community members and to keep Double Take, our retail resale store, fully stocked.
Double Take serves as a community employment and training initiative for YSM community members to gain work experience while offering affordable and sustainable clothing and goods to the public.
Learn more about Double Take here or contact us at 416-925-7198 or doubletake@ysm.ca.
Donations are accepted through appointment only at this time. Please book your appointment online or by calling 416 929 7195.
Double Take is located at 310 Gerrard St. E. (just east of Parliament).
Donate a Car Canada accepts Vehicle Donations in support of YSM.
Free towing is provided in most areas across Canada, or you can drop off your vehicle to maximize your donation. When you donate your car, truck, RV, boat, or motorcycle to YSM through Donate A Car Canada, it will either be recycled or sold at auction (depending on its condition, age and location).
Donate a Car Canada will look after all the details to make it easy for YSM to benefit. After your vehicle donation is complete, our charity will send you a tax receipt and will put your gift to good use.
YSM’s Food Bank and Evergreen baby food and supplies bank sustain over 3,500 community members annually.
We face a constant challenge in keeping our shelves stocked with needed foods and supplies.
Want to help? See our Food Items Wish List.
You can also become a Friend of the Food Bank by providing grocery store gift cards, to help us keep our shelves stocked all year round. Gift cards should be dropped off at YSM’s main office at 306 Gerrard St. E. (just east of Parliament) during business hours, Monday to Friday.
In the lead up to Christmas, YSM accepts donations of new toys and goods for our Christmas Toy Market which distributes Christmas gift items to neighbourhood children, of all ages, from approximately 800 families.
See our Christmas Wish List for ideas.
Sign up for our email list to hear about specific donation requests for cold weather related needs and for updates and news about re-opening plans.
Shopping or donating to Double Take supports YSM’s community by offering employment and training helping neighbours gain work experience.
Double Take also provides clothing to our community members through our voucher program.
Learn more about Double Take here or contact us at 416-925-7198 or doubletake@ysm.ca.
Double Take is located at 310 Gerrard St. E. (just east of Parliament).
You can now shop for selected items from Double Take online, shop now at thrift.so/store/doubletake.
OTHER IDEAS
Additional options to help advance the important work of YSM include:
- Provide gifts cards, especially to coffee shops, grocery and drug stores, discount and clothing stores
- Collect toiletry items, to provide our community members with hygiene kits
- Donate other needed products and goods – see our list of general Priority Needed Items
- Sponsor a drop-in meal at either Evergreen, serving street-involved youth, or Bridges, serving adults aged 18-60. Click here to learn more or call 416-929-9614 x 4212
- Collect winter clothing – especially coats, boots, gloves and socks – for children and adults, to ensure our neighbours are protected from the cold
- Volunteer as an individual or group
- Engage your church community in support of YSM
- Help street-involved neighbours who look like they need support. Learn more about what you can do to help in our How to Help a Street-Involved Neighbour guide
RECEIPTING
YSM issues tax receipts for financial gifts, and donated products valued at $20 or more. For donated goods, proof of value – such as a sales receipt or, in the case of goods valued at $1,000 or more, a certified appraisal, must be provided. Gift cards are receipted at face value.
MANAGING YSM EXPENSES
We are grateful for the many gifts and products our supporters generously provide to YSM, and ask, if possible, you deliver your donation(s) to YSM at 306 Gerrard St. E. (just east of Parliament), to help us manage our transportation costs.
In the event pick-up is necessary for large donations – i.e. 8 bags or more – contact us at 416-929-9614, and we will be in touch to arrange a convenient pick-up time. Please note that during busy periods, it may take up to 6 business days to arrange for a pick-up.
Thank you!
RESTRICTED CASH GIFTS
· Restricted gifts are donations tied to a specific use and not available for the general purposes of the organization
· YSM encourages donors to give unrestricted gifts so that funds may be used where the need is greatest. From time to time, YSM may receive donations upon which the donor has placed a restriction to its use. In accepting a restricted donation, YSM agrees to honour the restriction, representing to the donor that the donation will be used for the agreed-upon purpose. Restricted donations can be either solicited or unsolicited.
· No employee or representative of YSM shall make an appeal for, actively solicit, or accept a directed or restricted gift for a specific purpose, program or activity, unless the special purpose and gift are first approved by the VP, Philanthropy.