Molson in the Community

On Saturday March 21st, 2009, over 600 Torontonians attended the 6th annual Toronto Timeraiser. The event (fully sold out) was held at the beautiful Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District.

Fermenting Cellar, Distillery District

Molson is one of the founding sponsors of Timeraiser, which has now expanded into 6 cities across Canada.  I attended last year as a participant making a volunteer pledge, but this year decided to volunteer at the event itself along with some Molson’ers.

My Molson partners in crime for the evening – Kathleen, Justine and Sebastien

Recapping the results:

• Over 600 people attended with 298 participants making the ‘pledge’.
• 10,045 total volunteer hours pledged, of which 50% pledged by art bidders.
• 31 of 39 works of art went for the maximum bid of 125 hours.
• 25 Timeraiser volunteers contributed 1,500+ hours to organize.
• $21,000+ invested into the careers of Toronto-based artists.
• 25+ community leaders in attendance.

Some of the art is hosted at our Toronto office while the volunteer hours (bids) are fulfilled.  The Timeraiser folks stopped by the office this last week and installed the new pieces.

Next Timeraiser will be in Hamilton on Saturday, May 9th at the Hamilton Convention Centre.  Tickets go on sale today.  Hope to see you there!

Cheers, Tonia

Follow Timeraiser on twitter – @aniltimeraiser

“Tis the season” for those year-end review stories, so we thought it would be fitting to try to capture some of the great work Molson and its employees have done in the past 12 months to help benefit community organizations in towns and cities all across Canada.  With the holidays about to end, there’s still time for all Canadians to make a contribution in 2008 to their own communities. That being said, to help play our part, I’ve listed some details about the great organizations and individuals that we’ve been privileged enough to work with in the past year.  We hope you’ll consider sharing a little of yourself this holiday with those less fortunate.

Some of the organizations and initiatives that stand out for me in 2008:

• Raising the Roof

Raising the Roof is an organization that builds partnerships across the nation to help solve youth homlessness. Molson has supported their Youthworks program for three years, but also has a very special story with them. On February 5th, 2008, over 1,100 Molson employees sold toques on Toque Tuesday (RTR’s national fundraiser), raising just over $90,000 in about one hour.  This event was also the day we launched this blog! To donate

• Meal Exchange

I’ve written about Meal Exchange a few times on this blog and one of their employees wrote a great guest blog. Meal Exchange is a national student-founded, youth-driven, charity organized to address local hunger by mobilizing the talent and passion of students.  To donate

• United Way/Centraide

United Way….wow – this a great one. Every year Molson has an internal United Way campaign, and this year was out best ever!  We raised $610,000 this year (increase of 15% from 2007). Amazing effort from our employees across Canada. To donate

Framework Foundation/Timeraiser

Framework Foundation promotes volunteerism amongst Canadians in their 20s to 30s by helping volunteer agencies find the skilled people their organization needs – Molson is a founding sponsor of Timeraiser, an event that is part volunteer fair, part silent art auction and part night on the town that connects volunteers with volunteer agencies.  I took part in the Toronto Timeraiser for the first time this year and it was one of the best events I went to in 2008.

• Frontier College

A national literacy organization that Molson has worked with for years.  We were given the Frontier College Fitzpatrick award this year. To donate

Again, these are just a few of the MANY organizations that Molson was involved with across Canada in 2008 – the above are initiatives that I was lucky to directly be a part of.

In 2008 Molson reached out to just over 200 organizations. Here are links to some of them organizations (by region), and to view all the Molson in the Community photos from 2008 — click here.

Maritimes:

• Feed Nova Scotia
• Colchester Community Workshops Foundation
• Dartmouth Adult Service Centre
• Halifax Adult Services Society
• Summer Street Industries

Newfoundland:

• Murphy Centre
• Choices for Youth
• Daffodil Place
• Campus Food Bank

Ontario:

• Ontario Association of Food Banks
• Grand River Hospital Foundation
• Toronto Friendship Centre
• YMCA of Greater Toronto

Quebec:

• Action Nouvelle Vie
• Foundation Pere Sablon
• Habitat pour l’humanite Montreal
• Universite Laval
• Refuge des Jeunes de Montreal

West:

• Edmonton Food Bank
• Hockey for the Homeless
• Winnipeg Harvest Inc

What is YOUR favourite community organization/initiative this year?

I was thrilled to receive on behalf of Molson an Award of Distinction from Business Leader in the Arts for our participation with the Framework Foundation. The award recognised Molson for its participation Timeraiser events, which have raised more than 31,000 not-for-profit volunteer hours.

How do you raise 31,000 not-for-profit volunteer hours and support emerging artists by purchasing $160,000 worth of their work, all without costing you a dime???  In an art auction with a twist – Timeraiser allows young adults to give their time, skills and energy to not-for-profit organisations, instead of their dollars.  Timeraiser purchases art at fair market value from emerging artists, which people then bid on using donated time, not dollars.  The artists receive incredible exposure, the not-for-profit finds lots of great help, the spirit of community involvement grows and volunteers get a permanent reminder of the contribution to hang on their walls.  Since 2004 Molson has supported Timeraiser and encouraged other corporations to get involved.  Other blogs about Molson at Timeraiser.

It was a thrill to receive this award from the Business Leaders in the Arts. Other recipients of the award of distinction were Cineplex for The National Ballet of Canada; TD Bank for the Magenta Foundation; and Bordeaux Developments for Epcor Centre.

Have you ever participated in a Timeraiser event?

My name is Scott Ewart, I am the Chief Legal and Public Affairs Officer for Molson.  I work with Ferg Devins and Tonia Hammer and this is my first blog post!!!!!!  I look forward to having conversations with you and you’ll hear from me again soonI

A few months ago, I wrote about an event organized by Framework Foundation called Timeraiser. Molson is a founding sponsor and partner of the event, and I attended along with half a dozen Molson employees. See post: http://blog.molson.com/community/2008/04/07/timeraiser-toronto-raises-over-11000-hours/ A quick background: Timeraiser is an art auction, but Instead of bidding money on the the art, people are asked to bid their TIME which is then donated to a charitable organization of their choice….very cool idea. For this year’s Timeraiser in Toronto, Molson’s VLOG creator and CSR partner, ARC (Artists Raising Consciousness), filmed a short documentary showcasing the event — from conception, to planning, to execution. The film, a J.W. McConnell Family Foundation “Change in Action” film, shows the layers of a Timeraiser and how it’s moved to a national level. Timeriaser was founded by Anil Patel, a social innovator and executive director at Frameworks Foundation. Anil has been leading the organization since its inception in 2002, and through Timeraiser, he has found a way to build community investment and strength by bringing together non-profit and charitable organizations, local artists, students and young professionals and community-minded corporations. Congrats to Anil and his team on yet another successful Timeraiser. [youtube gwQ4mkMdpFg]

Molson employees volunteering time at the Framework Foundation’s Toronto Timeraiser on Saturday, April 5, 2008.  From left: Peter Bombaci, Fiona Cunningham, Tonia Hammer, Sebastien Gagner, Kathleen Krisciunas.

‘Wow’ is the only way I can describe how amazing Saturday night at the 5th annual Timeraiser was.  Held at the beautiful Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District, this year’s Toronto event was sold out days before the event date.

What is a Timeraiser you ask? 

A Timeraiser is a charity art auction where rather than bidding money, you bid the number of hours that you are willing to volunteer for an organization of your choice — An AMAZING way to help young Canadians who want to volunteer, connect with different organizations.

This year’s Toronto event was a great success, raising over 11,000 hours – way above the original goal of 7,500.  Everyone was bidding like crazy!  The bid maximum was 150 hours per piece of artwork, and at least 90% of the art pieces reached the maximum amount.

Molson has been a proud sponsor of Timeraiser since its conception 5 years ago.  Some of Molson’s community partners were part of the event too, including The United Way and Meal Exchange.  I decided to bid hours for Meal Exchange, and I can’t wait to start working with such a great organization.

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Interview with Molson employee and Timeraiser volunteer, Peter Bombaci

Watch for upcoming Timeraisers in Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver – www.timeraiser.com for more information.

Proud to play our part…..cheers!