TD FEF 25th Anniversary

Five Things You Should Know About TD Friends of the Environment Foundation

This year we're celebrating the 25th anniversary of TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF). Founded in 1990, TD FEF has played an important role in greening the communities where we live and work. Here are five things you should know:

A little goes a long way

Since its founding in 1990 TD FEF has donated $70 million to 23,000 environmental projects across Canada. That works out to 40 million medium-sized Tim Horton coffees; 14 million Big Macs from McDonalds; or seven million LED lightbulbs (at $10 for the average 60W bulb) – a little goes a long way.

For as little as $5 a month you can help local environmental projects come to life in your community. Visit www.fef.td.com to donate.

One of the largest environmental charities in Canada

Divided into 38 local chapters across seven regions, TD FEF supports a wide range of initiatives, with a primary focus on:

• Environmental education
• Urban greening and enhancing biodiversity
• Energy conservation

"From rain gardens and watershed restoration projects to outdoor classrooms and vermicomposting programs, we've provided funding to over 1,000 environmental projects and programs across the country, in 2014 alone," says Mary Desjardins, Executive Director of TD FEF.

"Environmental education continues to be a strong area of focus for the foundation, as we're seeing a major shift in learning from the classroom to the outdoors. In 2014, almost 30 per cent of TD FEF's donations were directly invested in outdoor education projects, making us the largest funder of outdoor classrooms in the nation."

If you're a registered Canadian charity committed to the environment, check to see if you're eligible for a grant.

Supporting environmental leaders

The TD FEF Leadership Grant program was launched in 2014. Entirely focused on the environmental sector, it's the only national program of its kind. "Through this program up to $80,000 in funding is available annually to support today's – and tomorrow's – leaders," says Desjardins.

The grant program aims to enhance the organizational capacity of environmental charities by providing funding for both formal and informal training and development for leaders within these organizations.

If you're a registered Canadian environment charity, check to see if you're eligible for a Leadership Grant.

Greening communication across Canada

In addition to funding local projects, TD's flagship volunteer program, TD Tree Days, invites employees, customers and communities to help green where they live by planting trees in their community. Since its launch in 2010, more than 185,000 trees have been planted in 230 communities across Canada, with participation from various communities. Building off the success of its inaugural Deaf Community planting in 2014, TD Tree Days hosted 10 Deaf Community plantings this year, with American Sign Language interpreters providing support. Collaboration with First Nations groups is also an important part of the program, with 11 plantings held so far in total.

Help Green Where You Live

Because TD Bank Group covers the administrative costs of running the foundation, 100 per cent of every dollar donated has a direct impact on the community.

For the price of a couple coffees a month, you can help green where you live.