Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

Violence at home is sadly not rare situation in our society, despite being one of the most developed countries.Often the only help and island of safety is provided by local shelter...

What's shelter?

They can be called transition houses. They provide short-term accommodation for women and their children who were forced to leave their homes because of actual or threatened abuse and aggressive assault. Shelters are often used in emergency situation, after leaving the house in fear of own and children's safety.

Despite the idea being 25 years old, a number of new shelters have serious problems in accessing government support, because of their non-government character.

Royal LePage Shelter Foundation

Given the variety of types of shelters, the Foundation decided to support designated shelters based on a three-year cycle. The national survey also indicated that a number of offices had developed partnerships with their local shelter for women and children fleeing violence and abuse. The first three-year focus starting in 1999, therefore centres on shelters for women and children fleeing violence and abuse. In each community where Royal LePage operates, the local office has been partnered with the local women's shelter. Existing partnerships with women's shelters continue to thrive, and new relationships have been developed thanks to our partnership with the Canadian Women's Foundation.

The Canadian Women's Foundation is Canada's only national public foundation dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls through economic and social change. Since 1991, the Foundation has raised funds and made grants to charitable projects that help achieve self-reliance through economic independence and freedom from violence.

National Program

In order to make a longer-term impact on the issue of shelters, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation supports grants for violence prevention and awareness programs. This is done in partnership with The Body Shop Canada and the Canadian Pacific Charitable Foundation using an innovative model for strategic corporate philanthropy developed by the Canadian Women's Foundation.

Under this model, the corporate partners who all support national violence prevention and awareness, work with the Canadian Women's Foundation to coordinate their grant-making. Charitable groups apply through one process to access the funding available and the corporate partners can make grants that balance national projects and priorities with available resources.

Local Program

Locally, funds are generated by neighborhood initiatives and programs, such as golf tournaments and charity auctions. In addition, commission-based donations are made by sales representatives, and are used directly to support the local shelter. Each Royal LePage office also develops unique ways to support their local shelter. Examples include a Household Donations Program, through which agents accept unwanted furniture and goods from clients who are moving and direct it to shelters in need.

Royal LePage

Royal LePage is Canada's fastest growing real estate company with over 9,000 sales representatives and staff in more than 550 residential and commercial offices from coast to coast. Recognized as a North American industry leader in technology, Royal LePage is committed to providing its sales force with the tools and training they require to meet the changing needs of consumers. Royal LePage is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trilon Financial Corporation. It's Ontario branches are selling Toronto condos and houses and operate via a network of agents.