OVERVIEW: The TD Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic vehicle of TD Bank. This funder’s main area of grantmaking addresses housing, but it also supports economic opportunity, education, arts and culture, public health and the environment in states where its parent banking company does business.
IP TAKE: More than half of TD’s grantmaking supports affordable housing initiatives and the development of housing for homeless individuals and families. Through a separate program, it awards small grants for nonprofit professional development.
TD is an accessible corporate funder, posting application guidelines, materials and regional contact information for its various funding programs on its foundation website. Funding is limited to select counties in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
PROFILE: Established in 2002, the TD Charitable Foundation is the philanthropic arm of TD Bank, the U. S. subsidiary of the Canadian multinational Toronto-Dominion Bank. The foundation is on a mission to “support, respect and improve the quality of life in the diverse communities” where TD maintains operations. The foundation names financial security, a vibrant planet, connected communities and better health as its grantmaking initiatives. Grantmaking is limited to specific counties in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Grants for Housing, Homelessness and Community Development
Housing has been the TD Charitable Foundation’s largest area of giving in recent years. Grantmaking for housing is sourced from the foundation’s annual Housing for Everyone competition, which awards grants ranging from $125,000 to $250,000 to promising development projects for affordable housing for vulnerable and homeless individuals and families. The program appears to focus geographically on the East Coast. In 2020, the competition’s theme addressed the protection of renters who were impacted by COVID-19 from eviction. Recent grants support Connecticut’s Partnership for Strong Communities, Homeless Solutions of New Jersey, South Carolina’s Community Works and Virginia’s Wesley Housing.
Grants for Work and Economic Opportunity
The TD Charitable Foundation names financial literacy as a focus of its grantmaking and has supported several organizations that run financial counseling, financial literacy and entrepreneurship education and training programs. One grantee, the Senior Service Centers of the Albany Area used funding to run financial counseling programs for the elderly. In Portland, Oregon the foundation has supported SCORE, an organization that helps small businesses grow and thrive. Other grantees in this area include the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Regional Foundation, the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and multiple chapters of the national organization Junior Achievement, which helps young people up to the age of 25 develop workplace skills and financial literacy.
Grants for K-12 Education
TD’s education funding stems from its financial security initiative, which names K-6 reading and math programs as an area of interest. In Portland, Maine, the foundation has supported the Telling Room, which provides out-of-school reading and writing programs for students between the ages of 6 and 18. Another grantee, Achieve Hartford, mobilizes local businesses and community leaders to support and improve the city’s public schools. Other education grantees include out-of-school academic support programs run by YMCA and Boys and Girls Club organizations.
Grants for Arts and Culture
A significant portion of grants made through TD’s connected communities initiative broadly supports arts and culture projects and organizations. In this area, the foundation prioritizes opportunities and events that bring diverse people together and the creation of “dialogues in art and culture that are reflective of all voices.” Recent grantees include educational and outreach programs at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, New York City’s Jewish Museum, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Building Bridges Across the River, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that brings arts and culture programs to public spaces on the Anacostia River.
Grants for Public Health
The TD Charitable Foundation names better health as a focus of its grantmaking, but has made only a few grants in this area over the past several years. Most of TD’s public health grants support hospitals and health care systems in the Northeast. Grantees include the Maine Medical Center, New Jersey’s Englewood Health Foundation, the Metropolitan Jewish Health System of New York City and the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire. TD has also supported the Ronald McDonald House of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts.
Grants for Environmental Conservation
TD’s vibrant planet funding initiative is its newest area of giving. The foundation has made an ambitious target of directing $100 billion in Canadian Dollars to support the development of a low-carbon economy by 2030. The foundation also names the development and maintenance of public “green spaces” as an area of interest. Early environmental grants have gone to Columbia Opportunities, Inc., which helps low-income homeowners in Columbia County, New York with energy audits and sustainable home weatherization, and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy in New York City.
Other Grantmaking Opportunities
The TD Charitable Foundation maintains a non-profit training resource fund, which supports nonprofits with $1,000 grants “for employees to attend approved training and/or conferences.” TD also supports nonprofit and for-profit organizations through corporate sponsorships that “are of mutual benefit to our community and the bank.” Both programs run open on-line application programs via the foundation’s website.
Important Grant Details:
The TD Charitable Foundation makes over $10 million a year in grants. Grants range in size from about $2,5000 to $500,000, with an average grant size of about $10,000. Nonprofit training resource grants are awarded in the amount of $1,000. This funder’s largest area of giving, by far, is housing. The TD Charitable Foundation limits its grantmaking to specific areas in the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
This funder runs open application systems for its foundation grants, Housing for Everyone grants, nonprofit training resource grants and community sponsorships. Each application begins with an eligibility quiz, and due dates and requirements vary by program. General inquiries may be directed to the individual senior regional giving managers, whose emails are listed in the foundations FAQ.
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