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100 Realtors Who Care Dufferin pools funds to provide quarterly support to local charities

October 8, 2026   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A group of Dufferin County realtors is turning individual donations into a larger pool of funds for local charities through a simple model built around collective giving.

The 100 Realtors Who Care Dufferin brings local real estate professionals together four times a year to hear from nonprofit organizations in the community, vote on which causes should receive funding and provide direct financial support.

The group’s model is based on one hour of members’ time and a $100 contribution each quarter, with the goal of eventually reaching 100 members and generating $10,000 per event for local charities.

The group is volunteer-run and focused exclusively on registered charities serving Dufferin County, with members able to nominate organizations they believe deserve support. Three charities are selected each quarter under the group’s regular model, with members then meeting to hear their presentations before deciding where the money should go.

Realtor John Walkinshaw, who hosted the group’s recent event in Orangeville on Sept. 24 at the Lightcaster Taphouse, said the organization is currently working toward growing its membership and increasing the amount it can give away.

“We’re currently sitting with 45 realtors,” he said. “So, if you have a good time here today, if you believe in this after today, talk to other realtors that you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis. If everybody in this room invites someone, we’re pretty much at the number we need. Today we’re going to be giving away $4,500 to two charities, but if we could be giving away $10,000, that’s a really big deal.”

At the Orangeville gathering, members heard from representatives of two local organizations: the Orangeville Food Bank and the Headwaters Health Care Foundation (HHCF).

Walkinshaw explained that the two organizations had both been frequently nominated by members, leading the group to put them directly against one another for the event’s funding. Rather than pitting either organization against a smaller charity, members were given the opportunity to hear from both before casting their ballots.

K.C. Carruthers, CEO of HHCF, outlined the role of hospital foundations in Ontario, explaining that while provincial funding supports hospital operations, foundations raise money for equipment and other needs.

“Why is the hospital here today?” he said. “You pay a lot of taxes. Doesn’t that pay for healthcare? Well, the way healthcare and hospital funding works in Ontario, every hospital has a foundation, a separate organization from the hospital that raises funds for the equipment. Because yes, the Ministry of Health does pay to operate healthcare and operate hospitals, but they don’t pay for any of the equipment.”

Carruthers continued, “We need to expand the emergency department. We’re going to grow it by over a third. We’re going to expand it into where the lab is today, and we’re going to add two very interesting features that we don’t have right now. One is going to be a rapid assessment zone… And the other one we’re very excited about is a mental health unit.”

Carruthers also highlighted plans for a major expansion of the hospital’s emergency department, including a rapid assessment zone and dedicated mental health space. The planned project is expected to cost approximately $30 million and would represent the foundation’s largest fundraising campaign to date.”

Heather Hayes, executive director of the Orangeville Food Bank, discussed the organization’s growing demand and its efforts to provide food and related services across the community. The food bank recorded approximately 25,000 visits last year and now supports about 1,600 people each month, according to Hayes.

“As the need continues to grow in our community, so has the need for space with the volunteers, the staff that provide the services, the cold storage, the non-perishable storage, the kitchen space,” she said. “The space has outpaced what we can do, and now we’re playing a serious game of Tetris every day. Sadly, needs have grown 320 per cent since I first started. Food banks do not receive funding from the province… We get funding by asking, being out there and telling our story.”

Hayes added, “We appreciate the support that the community has provided us for the last 34 years. And while donations sustain us, only policy change will pull us out of food insecurity and prices that we’re facing in Dufferin, in Ontario, and across Canada.”

After hearing from both organizations, members voted on which charity should receive the larger share of the event’s $4,500 in funding.

The Orangeville Food Bank received the top vote and was awarded $3,500, while HHCF received the remaining $1,000.

Walkinshaw said the event demonstrated the impact that can come from combining relatively small individual contributions, while also giving local charities an opportunity to tell their stories directly to members of the community.

The group hopes to continue growing toward its goal of 100 members, which would allow it to direct as much as $40,000 toward Dufferin County charities each year.

For more information, go to the100realtors.com.

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