Millions Raised At Zero Cost, Two Charities Spend It All On Good Works by Kevin Donovan
(Excerpt from The Toronto Star, July 12, 2009)
Set Sail for Hope is an annual fundraiser that mixes Toronto's business, culinary and yachting elite. Set Sail exists to support one charity, Camp Trillium - overnight and day camps that bring children with cancer and their families together.
"Cancer doesn't take a holiday, it doesn't care about the economy," said Raincock, Set Sail's chair, in a rousing speech to those assembled at its annual gala on the Toronto Islands recently.
On that Friday afternoon, 20 tables were set with white linen under spreading canopies. Chefs from some of Toronto's top restaurants, and their staff, donated time, food and considerable culinary expertise. Acqua Ristorante, Buca, Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse and Epic at the Fairmont Royal York were among them.
There was beer and wine, oyster bars and, moored near the tables, 20 sleek yachts with names like Short Circuit, Kaisei and Sea Runner. Captains and crews donated time for a cruise after lunch.
The price of admission per table/yacht is a $7,500 donation. It's mostly corporations like CIBC, Citibank Canada and Scotia Capital that donate, typically sending valued employees as a reward.
Set Sail raises between $150,000 and $160,000 annually. This year was tough, but it met its target. "You have to kiss a lot of toads to get a princess," said Raincock, lauding the corporations who stuck by in a tough year.
Since the fundraising effort started 23 years ago, albeit as a brown bag lunch with smaller boats, Set Sail has raised $1.9 million. Raincock's own boat, much smaller than the 44-foot yachts now used, just gets him over to the island. "This event has grown so big, she just doesn't fit in," he laughs.
With all the food, equipment, staff and boats donated for the day, the only cost Set Sail has is a $25 event permit for selling alcohol. Somebody covered that.
"Thank you for making a difference in so many kids' lives," said city Councillor Sandra Bussin, on hand to give the city's good wishes.
The Toronto Star article on charities by Kevin Donovan
(Excerpt from The Toronto Star, Sunday June 3, 2007. Article by Kevin Donovan...Great Charities Can Be Found, But It Takes Legwork...)
The full article can be found below or on the Star website at http://www.thestar.com/article/220953
The major investigative piece in Saturday's Star (June 2) can be found at http://www.thestar.com/article/220756
Camp Trillium
This is an innovative camp for children with cancer and their families. Their two campsites in Ontario, plus daycamps around the province, see 3,100 campers annually. About 80 per cent of Trillium's $3 million expenditure is spent directly on campers, with the remainder recorded as administration and fundraising.
The theme is this: Children with cancer, and their families, need a break – if only for a week. The camps provide a typical summer camp experience but parents, siblings come along with the camper. They have 100 paid summer staff and 300 volunteers – many counselors are cancer survivors who attended the camp.
"Kids with cancer are still children," says Trillium development director Fiona Fisher. "They arrive at camp and they can be the first one up the climbing wall, they get to sing and play." The camps are funded by various community groups but among the most notable is an annual zero-cost Toronto-based event called Set Sail for Hope that brings the camp $155,000 each year.
Toronto yacht owners, at their own expense, provide their boats and skipper the journey. Restaurants like Rodney's Oyster House, Fred's Not Here and chefs at the Westin Harbour Castle cook up a fabulous lunch on the Toronto Islands (at their own expense) and then the skippers take their guests on an afternoon cruise. Corporate sponsors pay about $7,000 each (some give additional donations). Arthur Boas, a skipper and volunteer, said they organize the whole event with eight, one-hour meetings. Cheques are written by corporate sponsors directly to Camp Trillium, a camp that Boas said runs on the ultimate shoe string budget. "These guys hammer bent nails back into shape so they don't have to buy new ones."