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Toronto Arts Council Foundation

Toronto Arts Council, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1999, operates as an arm's length body of the City of Toronto, offering grants programs to the city's arts organizations and professional artists. TAC's grants budget (approximately $8 million in 2002) is disbursed through an established and admired grants adjudication process. Sixty-five practising artists working as volunteers on TAC arts discipline committees assess grant applications and make grant recommendations to TAC's 29 member Board of Directors.

Toronto Arts Council Foundation was established in 1995 as a sister organization to TAC to allow individuals, foundations and corporations the opportunity to support a broad spectrum of arts disciplines in the City of Toronto through tax-deductible contributions. TACF's mission is to build a base of private funding for the arts and culture sector in Toronto. Beginning in 2002, TACF is developing a broad-based arts awareness and fundraising initiative with the intention of considerably increasing funds raised for Toronto arts. These funds will be managed by TACF's Investment Committee. Primary uses of the funds will be TACF's awards program, TACF's endowment program and TAC's grants programs.

The TACF's seven-member board of directors also serve on the TAC board of directors to maintain accountability to TAC and to maintain a genuine understanding of Toronto's not-for-profit arts community.

Although separate organizations, TAC and TACF benefit by being run as sister organizations. The great advantage of partnering of these two organizations is the ability to share resources, from office space at 141 Bathurst Street to cyber-space on the web, thereby reducing administrative costs. It also ensures close contact with the arts sector in Toronto and the continuous awareness of needs across the community.