I have worked with many foundations during more than two decades of my engagement with philanthropy. I have found that the best way to understand them, and to share my understanding with others, is to tell a story about them. Stories about what they do in the present are compelling. But the story becomes even richer when it is also about the past, about how the foundation got started, what shaped it and how it evolved. My 2022 book From Charity to Change tells many such origin stories about foundations. Their stories were an entry point into understanding their impact. Looking back made it possible to see how far they had come but what also held true from their beginnings – in other words, what still mattered most to them or what drove their purpose and strategies.
New foundations are starting up in Canada all the time. Many if not most are small family funds. But some have a different origin – and one of these is the Definity Insurance Foundation. This public foundation started operating in late 2021 when it received funding from the proceeds of the demutualization of Economical Mutual Insurance Company (now known as Definity Insurance Company). The story of this demutualization and what it led to is already well told in a 2022 article in The Philanthropist Journal, ‘Looking for the Good Way’. This year, I developed a new case study tracing the evolution of this remarkable foundation, which the foundation has made public.
In late 2021, the foundation was capitalized with an endowment of $100 million provided through the Conversion Plan for the demutualization. Well before this time, a founding group of directors had begun to work on a vision for the work of the new foundation. These directors had all worked through the demutualization process and knew each other well. Although they did not have experience in the foundation sector (only one had direct experience in the charitable sector), I learned when I interviewed them for the case study that they were all very open from the start to learning as much as possible about philanthropic practice, including both grantmaking and impact investing. The directors quickly landed on a vision of a healthy, equitable and flourishing world and a mission of working with charitable partners across Canada to tackle inequity, barriers to good health and opportunity, and climate-related challenges.
By August 2021, the board had chosen three funding pillars: healthy people, thriving communities, livable planet. The directors further agreed that they wanted the foundation to focus specifically on the health and well-being of marginalized people and to help communities reduce the effects of social and economic inequality, as well as the inequitable impacts of climate change in communities and economies.
Importantly, from its inception the foundation was not a corporate foundation but an autonomous independent public foundation. The new company, renamed Definity Insurance Company, mutually agreed with the foundation to enter a partnership, the first of its kind, where they would share the Definity name, include company and community directors, and where the company would contribute additional funds to the foundation annually for the betterment of community.
In December 2021, the board selected Arti Freeman as the first President and CEO of the Foundation. This was a major turning point. The board chose a leader committed to doing things differently, building on her own deep experience but eager to try a new approach in philanthropy. Arti drew widely on advice and conversations with a range of philanthropic and social sector leaders. These open-ended conversations touched on the needs and trends that other leaders were seeing, about what and what wasn’t working, and what high impact initiatives the new foundation should consider.
In June 2022, after six months of hard work, Arti and the board agreed on a new community investment framework (CIF). Articulating the goal of the foundation as “addressing the roots of health, social economic and climate inequalities” and based on six principles (equity, diverse and inclusive, leverage resources, collaborative, community-led and shared learning), the framework connected the three original impact areas (healthy people, thriving communities, livable planet) to specific outcomes, strategies and priority populations. The framework also set out five granting approaches: partnership grants, program-related investments, research, convening and sector strengthening. Finally, the framework included a learning approach aligned with the six principles of the community investment approach: using stories, data and evidence provided by grantees and communities themselves to share, learn and adapt strategies as needed.
The board also moved to diversify its membership, adding directors who had engagement and experience with underrepresented communities or with the areas of priority to the foundation such as climate mitigation and adaptation, health equity, food security, inclusive economic opportunities or knowledge of impact investing. The new group of directors quickly formed a collegial bond with the first group around their shared boldness of vision and their commitment to supporting systemic change in communities. By late 2023, the board had adopted an even clearer focus on social justice and equity, with community at the core. It also had identified four strategic goals: flow capital to underfunded regions and communities; take a holistic approach; advance collaborative innovation; and support all of this through organizational effectiveness.
Arti and the board have shared this thinking and framework openly with their partners and with the broader public. As I learned from my discussions, the foundation is setting itself apart with a conscious approach to collaborative learning and sharing. The foundation demonstrates an unusual combination at this early stage in its development of trusting relationships among board and staff and a shared commitment to structured learning and public accountability, recognizing that community has many of the answers already, and the role of the foundation is to invest and support its partners in alignment with their intention.
What can we learn from the origins and early history of the Definity Foundation? The case study has attempted to highlight some of these learnings:
It’s an ongoing story for the Definity Foundation. But as this first stage concludes, Arti Freeman sums it up: "I am honoured to have been given the privilege and opportunity to lead a philanthropic organization with a blank sheet. This journey has been grounded in humility and purpose, listening and learning every step of the way. The relationships we’ve built—with our board, our team, and our friends, partners, and colleagues in the sector—have been the glue that helped this foundation find its legs. Together, we’ve worked to build an institution that is not only adaptive, but relevant and responsive to the needs of our communities."