Fundraising Campaigns

On October 22, 2008, the Mental Illness Foundation officially launched the It’s Urgent to Act fundraising campaign, with the aim of raising $10 million over 5 years.

At the launch, Campaign Chair Luc Bachand, Vice-Chair, Investment Banking Group, BMO Capital Markets, noted that “mental illness affects every level of society. Anyone and everyone can have a loved one who suffers from a mental illness. The increasing demands that society places on young people, workers and seniors have only intensified this type of illness in our time.”

Mr. Bachand unveiled the five major projects for which the funds raised during the campaign will be used:

• Expanding the Partners for Life program in order to visit a larger number of schools each year and create an information, orientation and health care access unit for young people and their families.
• Adding new tools to the Nothing’s Working? program and developing services adapted to companies’ specific needs.
• Setting up the Seniors in Mind program, a depression awareness and prevention program for seniors and a training program for their caregivers and advocates.
• Establishing a research fund to support young researchers in mental health.

Several representatives of major donors attended the launch, including Sylvie Barcelo, Deputy Minister of the Family and Seniors; Janine Bombardier, President of the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation; and L. Jacques Ménard, President, Québec, BMO – Financial Group and Chairman of the Board, BMO – Capital Markets. Each of them presented a major gift to the campaign’s Honorary Co-Chairs, Jocelyne Monty, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Mental Illness Foundation, and Dr. Yves Lamontagne, the Foundation’s founding president.

“When you realize that one person in six in Quebec suffers from a mental illness and that we have one of the highest suicide rates among young people, it’s urgent to act. And that’s what BMO is doing today by announcing a donation of $500,000 to the Mental Illness Foundation,” said Jacques Ménard.

For his part, Guy Lafleur, one of the campaign’s honorary patrons, noted that everyone has a role to play in fighting mental illness. “I encourage all business leaders as well as the general public to support the Mental Illness Foundation’s fundraising campaign, because you never know when it might be your turn to deal with this type of illness,” said Mr. Lafleur.
 

"It is with pleasure that I accepted the presidency of the Mental Illness Foundation’s It’s Urgent to Act fundraising campaign. Having myself been a witness to the suffering experienced by a loved one with mental illness, I am convinced that the Foundation’s acts of prevention and education the for the community are essential. Individually and collectively, we cannot remain indifferent to the suffering that affects thousands of lives every year."

-   M. Luc Bachand
Campaign Chair

Consult the list of donors of the Major Campaign.

It's Urgent to Act Campaign Board

President of the fundraising campaign
Mr. Luc Bachand
BMO Capital Markets

Honorary Co-Chairs

Mrs. Jocelyne Monty
Outgoing Chair of the Board of Directors
Mental Illness Foundation

Dr. Yves Lamontagne
President and CEO of the Collège des médecins du Québec
Founding President of the Mental Illness Foundation

Cabinet members of the campaign

Mr. Stéphane Achard
Senior Vice-President and General Manager
Manager, Business and Institutional Services
Desjardins Group

Mr. Don Bastien
Senior Vice-President & General Manager
CTV Montreal

M. Ian Boeckh
Fondation Graham Boeckh 

M. Jean Brosseau
Vice-présidence Marketing et Soutien aux ventes
Fédération des caisses Desjardins

Mr. François Côté
Executive Vice-President and President,
TELUS Québec and TELUS Health Solutions

Mr. Roch Dubé
Chairman of the Board
Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec

Mr. Geoff Molson
Chairman of the Board
The Montreal Canadiens

Mr. Richard Nadeau
Managing Director and Vice-Chairman
Desjardins Securities

Honorary Patrons

Mr. André Bérard
Corporate Director

Mr. Giuseppe Borsellino
President
Groupe Petra

Mr. Pierre Brunet

Mr. Ian Greenberg
President and Chief Executive Officer
Astral Media inc.

Mr. Guy Lafleur
Ambassador
Montreal Canadiens

Mr. R. Jeffrey Orr
President & CEO
Power Financial Corporation

Mr. Guy Saint-Pierre
Corporate Director

Mr. Michael L. Turcotte
Chairman of the Board
Hydro-Québec

M. Luc Villeneuve
Président
Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche

Mrs. Hélène Wood
Wood Family Foundation
 

• Increase the impact of the Partners for Life program by growing the number of activity leaders in order to visit more schools each year. The Foundation plans to offer more training sessions for advocates and introduce Web-based tools to support the program.
• Increase interest and impact of the Nothing’s Working program by developing new training courses and tools adapted to the specific needs of companies.
• In the very short term, the Mental Illness Foundation will create Seniors in Mind, an awareness and prevention program aimed at identifying the principal symptoms of depression and leading to the identification of this illness among seniors in Quebec. It will also include a training component for caregivers and care providers working with seniors.
• The Foundation will invest in the creation of a research fund to support promising young researchers through awards of excellence. Since research is a mainstay in the recovery of those affected, the Foundation will support young researchers at the start of their career so that they can press ahead with their innovative projects. The research orientations targeted will be the epidemiology of mental disorders, the mental health of the general public, fundamental neurosciences and clinical research.

Numerous large companies, foundations, small businesses and friends of the Mental Illness Foundation have already answered the call. Thus, through the generous support of our donors, the Foundation has so far received donations totaling more than $7.6 million, allowing it to continue its mental illness outreach and awareness activities among adolescents, workers and seniors.

Part of the recurrent funding for the Mental Illness Foundation comes from its two annual direct mail campaigns, during which it collects donations from the public. In spring 2011, the Foundation appealed for generosity from its loyal supporters during the Seniors in Mind campaign. By making use of the visual aid for the new program for seniors, the Foundation wanted to raise awareness among Quebecers regarding the urgency of acting onmental illness and send seniors a strong message filled with hope: depression is an illness that can be treated. Meanwhile, the 2011 fall campaign focused on the Partners for Life program by providing, among other things, a moving testimonial from one of its leaders. People demonstrated their commitment to the cause by sending the Foundation donations totaling more than $135,000.

A big thank you to all!