Endowment puts $120M toward youth in need
TELUS FOUNDATION
• Telus has launched a charitable foundation designed to help Canada’s disadvantaged youth with a $120-million donation.
The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation “will help youth succeed in our digital society through better access to critical health and educational opportunities,” said Telus CEO Darren Entwistle.
He said the foundation and the $120 million endowment would provide “financial grants to grassroots charities across Canada, dedicated to helping youth overcome social and economic challenges, and frustrating digital divides.”
At a ceremony at its flagship office in downtown Vancouver on Friday, B.C. Premier John Horgan called the launch of the new foundation “extraordinary” and said it fitted in with the province’s “poverty reduction plan.”
He thanked Telus and its 25,000 employees for contributing to B.C.’s “connectivity and telecommunications” industry.
Federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the foundation would contribute to the Canadian core value of “equality of opportunity, especially when it comes to our young people.”
Entwistle said the $120 million was the largest single donation by a publicly traded company in Canada and one of the largest in North America.
The funds will be used to help the 1.5 million children across Canada without daily access to nutritious food, the 350,000 young people in government care, the 30,000 Canadians, many of them young people, who are homeless and have limited access to health care, and the 40 per cent of low-income families who can’t afford internet access, which puts their children at an educational disadvantage, Entwistle said.
“Charities will be able to apply online for funding for vulnerable youth,” said Jill Schnarr, vice president of corporate citizenship and communications, community investment at Telus.
She said the foundation allows Telus to ensure the donations are sustainable by using the interest from the endowment to fund charities.
An independent board of directors would professionally manage the foundation.
Some of the causes that Telus has donated to in the past through its community boards include after-school programs, school computer labs, and programs funded through the United Way and the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
Getting grants to grassroots charities working on the front lines with youth is the foundation’s goal, the company said.
“Oftentimes because of their small size and limited resources, these charities are overlooked by large corporate donors,” according to a Telus release.
The independence of the foundation ensures its longterm sustainability and keeps it “separate from Telus’ profitability and corporate goals,” the release said.