The Weston Family Foundation is a Canadian family foundation created in the late 1950s by Garfield and Reta Weston to give back to the country that supported their business success. Today it is a major private funder that focuses on two strategic domains: Healthy Aging and Healthy Ecosystems, complemented by select special projects that strengthen a vibrant and resilient Canada.
Role of the Weston Family Foundation in the funding ecosystem
The foundation invests in innovation and learning in health and landscapes, supporting projects across all 13 provinces and territories. It runs competitive grant calls and longer-term initiatives, often providing seed and scaling capital for evidence-based solutions. The foundation reports having donated more than $722M, awarded over 3,700 grants, and provided $66.2M in funding in 2024 alone, making it a significant player in Canada’s research and social innovation landscape.
Under its Healthy Aging strategy, the foundation supports translational health research and science-based approaches that help Canadians maintain optimal health, reduce the burden of diseases of aging, and sustain independence. This work is channeled through initiatives such as the Weston Brain Institute and the Weston Family Microbiome Initiative, which offer calls for proposals on topics like biomarkers and therapeutic or tool development for neurodegenerative diseases of aging.
Under its Healthy Ecosystems strategy, the foundation funds projects that restore and protect biodiversity across Canada’s wild, agricultural, and urban landscapes. It backs organizations and researchers with the potential to expand their impact, supporting environmental stewardship, northern science and conservation, and improved land and water practices that enhance ecological sustainability and public awareness of ecosystem services.
General approach to grants and programs
The Weston Family Foundation describes a “spark, shepherd, scale” and funnel-based approach to grant-making. It launches sequential programs to spark new ideas, support proof-of-concept work, and then scale promising solutions with additional funding. Programs like the Rapid Response 2026: Biomarkers grant provide early-stage seed funding (e.g., up to $300,000 over 18–24 months) for high-risk, high-reward translational projects, with clear eligibility criteria, deadlines, and formal application templates.
Funding opportunities are organized and advertised through a central “Grant Calls” hub, where applicants can browse open calls by theme, such as Environmental Stewardship, Healthy Aging, Healthy Ecosystems, Northern Science and Knowledge, Special Projects, and the foundation’s specialized initiatives. Calls typically provide detailed program documents, FAQs, and examples of previously funded projects to guide applicants.
Mission, values and impact
The mission of the foundation is to invest in innovation and learning in health and landscapes to deliver measurable impacts to the well-being of Canadians. Its guiding principles emphasize learning grounded in science, measurable outcomes, openness and collaboration, and support for innovation with a long-term, risk-tolerant perspective. The foundation also explicitly commits to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in its internal practices and in the communities it supports, aiming to maximize the impact of its philanthropy across Canada.
