The Preyra Foundation is a Canadian family foundation created in 2018 as a living legacy to honor Lina and Cecil Preyra. It provides grants to registered Canadian charities with annual budgets under $5M, focusing on youth mental health and wellness, education and skills development for special needs students facing hardships, and support for newly landed immigrants and refugees. View Preyra Foundation's website for more information.
The Preyra Foundation operates as a discretionary grant-maker that partners with high-impact registered Canadian charities. Unlike government or program-based funders, it provides flexible funding to support specific initiatives aligned with its mission. The foundation focuses on charities with annual budgets under $5M and low administrative overheads, ensuring maximum impact of its grants.
The foundation maintains a rigorous process to review and monitor the performance of all its grants. Every three years, it identifies three charitable sectors that will receive the majority of its support. The foundation does not intend to provide ongoing support for any charity or initiative, preferring to fund specific projects and programs.
As a Canadian registered charity, the Preyra Foundation operates with transparency in its grant-making activities. The foundation publishes its areas of focus for three-year cycles (2021-2023), allowing potential grantees to understand its strategic priorities.
The foundation was established in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lina and Cecil Preyra's arrival in Canada in 1968. The family, along with friends and supporters, decided to create a charitable foundation to carry on their legacy of community service, volunteer work, and commitment to helping newcomers and creating welcoming spaces for diverse groups.
For 2021-2023, the foundation's three main areas of support are: youth mental health and wellness; public education and skills development for "special needs" school-age students facing economic, physical, emotional, or academic hardships; and newly landed immigrants and refugees.
The foundation partners with multiple registered Canadian charities including: Distress Centres GTA, Matthew House, StepStones for Youth, True North Aid, Youth Project Nova Scotia, Covenant House Toronto, Amnesty International Canada, FoodShare, Hamilton Child Aid, Indspire, Joseph Brant Hospital, Laing House, Nature Conservancy of Canada, Variety Village, and Weengushk.