Together with the City of Ottawa, United Way Ottawa and Refugee 613, the Community Foundation of Ottawa was instrumental in launching the United for Refugees initiative in October 2015, the monumental fundraising effort behind a local, collaborative humanitarian effort to mobilize for the sponsorship and settlement of refugees from Syria.

While United Way Ottawa has been conducting the broad, public fundraising campaign, and Refugee 613 provides links and resources for residents interested in sponsorship, volunteering and advocacy, the Community Foundation has been providing support through the best resource at our disposal: our generous network of caring donors and community champions.

We’re especially pleased to have had the opportunity to work directly with a few select donors to provide immediate support to such programs as the University of Ottawa’s Refugee Hub, a pro-bono law service for people wishing to sponsor new refugees in their quest to come to Canada, as well as early funding to Refugee 613 for the much-needed hiring of a full-time coordinator to oversee its wide variety of vital functions and refugee services.

Following the 2016 contribution to Ottawa settlement efforts of $450,000 through the Community Foundations of Canada Welcome Fund, the total amount that the Foundation has been able to raise for the Refugees from Syria cause has topped $1 million.

For more information about how you can support the ongoing United for Refugees initiative, or to make a donation to the Foundation’s Refugees from Syria fund, please visit our website.