Giving Tuesday comes once a year – but the spirit of giving is in season all year long. Here at the FOLD, we see Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to promote and celebrate charities and organizations that are special to us — organizations that promote literary arts and/or support marginalized communities whose stories continue to be underrepresented in Canada’s literary landscape.
Inkwell Workshops
InkWell works in partnership with CAMH Toronto to provide creative writing workshops for people suffering with mental health issues. With team members who live with mental health, and who have benefitted tremendously from the therapeutic power of writing, we are proud to support the amazing work at InkWell.
Nia Centre for the Arts
Nia Centre for the Arts is a Toronto-based not-for-profit focused on the 
development of young people through culturally relevant arts experiences. The organization showcases and promotes arts from an African diasporic perspective in a way that engages inter-generational arts and the general population. Mia does important work with many cultural communities and partners in Toronto, and we’re excited to see the artists the rise and thrive from their experiences at Nia Centre for the Arts.
Independent Living (IL) is a movement of persons with disabilities, founded on the right of people with disabilities to 1) to live with dignity in their chosen community; 2) to participate in all aspects of their life; and 3) to control and make decisions about their own lives. The IL movement differs from other service providing organizations by emphasizing peer support, self-direction, and community integration by and for people with disabilities themselves. The IL focuses on building a country based on the principles of inclusion, equity, affordability and justice. With the underrepresentation of disabled writers in Canada, and the inaccessibility of many literary events, we are grateful for the way places like IL challenge us to do better for our colleagues and followers who live with disability.
awareness and education surrounding the lives and stories of indigenous people. PAN supports the Aboriginal community and the community at large in the Region of Peel by providing Drum Workshops, Drumming Circles, Counselling, Housing, and Legal Services, including services that specifically target young people. PAN and PAN Elders continue to support the FOLD by opening events with ceremonial smudges and providing resources and training for staff and volunteers.
FCJ Refugee Centre
The FCJ Refugee Centre serves refugees and others at risk due to their immigration status, They welcome anyone asking for advice, counsel and support regarding these issues, and their team includes . Hear more about them through their video, which you can access through the organization’s website.
SKETCH is a community-arts-development initiative which focuses on young people who are homeless and on 
the margins from across Canada. SKETCH creates equitable opportunities for diverse young people to experience the transformative power of the arts; to develop their leadership and self-sufficiency; and to cultivate social and environmental change through the arts. We love how SKETCH celebrates community-arts practices with partners in various Canadian towns and cities to build a movement where young people, free from barriers, are celebrated and engaged as culture-makers, perception changers and collaborators in building creative community.
HAPPY GIVING!
Jonisha Lewinson