Proud Funding: Todd Reade

Todd Reade Fund assisting locally and nationally

Todd Reade has dedicated his career to non-profit work. Over the past two decades, he’s been involved with organizations ranging from Deaf & Hear Alberta to the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, and the Lifesaving Society. Yet no matter which organization he’s been working with, he knows that long-term planning and investment are always at the core.

“My personal approach is to focus on long-term giving and sustainability,” says Reade. “Some of the organizations I’ve worked with haven’t had endowment funds, others haven’t been investing them well. But without doing so, you really can’t plan with any certainty.”

For the past two years, Reade has used his expertise to support the Alberta Association of Landscape Architects as the organization’s executive director. Through this role, he was introduced to Edmonton Community Foundation’s Endowment Sustainability Program, which he completed in early 2019. The five-month program enabled Reade to fine-tune his approach to discussing long-term giving with donors, but it also inspired him to make changes of his own.

“As I was doing the program, I started applying the concepts to myself and it sort of became obvious. It was a natural fit to walk the talk on this,” he says.

He opened the Todd Reade Fund, which, when mature, will support agencies in Edmonton and Toronto.

“I chose causes that are important to me: the Recreation for Life Foundation, the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, and Rainbow Railroad — an organization that helps members of the LGBTQ community escape violence and persecution in their home countries,” he says.

Reade is also quick to point out that an endowment fund is a  practical way for donors to focus their living.

“The reality is if you’re giving $1,000 annually to charity, you can make it happen,” he says. “And the greatest part of having a fund, for me, is knowing that it’s a chance to make a larger difference. Rather than the shotgun approach of giving $20 or $30 here or there for a walk, run or bike ride, this is a way to focus those dollars into something that will have a more significant, longer-term impact.”