The OMERS Foundation

Fully employee led and funded, this Foundation evolved from our employees' sense of generosity and purpose.

With a mission to help create vibrant communities where we live and work, the OMERS Foundation launched in Canada in September 2016. Over the first year, the Foundation has grown to be an important expression of OMERS culture. Employees raise the funds, nominate recipients and allocate the grants to important local charities. It has become a new way to tell our own unique story. It embodies our values of integrity, service, teamwork, excellence and stewardship, all embedded in the belief that together, we are better.

Our vision
Working together to create healthy communities for generations to come

Our mission
The OMERS Foundation helps to create vibrant communities where we work and live.
By engaging the OMERS Community, we are able to identify and support health and educational programs that are making a difference.

Employee led
All of our charitable giving is led by our employees. In the simplest terms, that means that employees raise the money and decide where it goes.

Our priority areas: health and education
Through research and consultation the Foundation learned that the majority of you feel causes related to health and education are priorities for our employees and the OMERS Foundation therefore focuses its grants on these two areas.

How does the granting process work?
Our employees nominate charities that they feel are making an impact in the community for an OMERS Foundation grant.