The Windsor & Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation was founded in 1996 by a group of volunteers, some of them former patients of the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre.

Since that time, the Foundation has conducted two successful major fundraising campaigns. The DreamWeaver Campaign raised $3 million to enhance and equip the new Cancer Centre in the Anthony P. Toldo Building, and in 2004, the Foundation undertook the Field of Dreams Campaign which, in eighteen months, raised almost $4 million to purchase and house an MRI scanner – the first in the province to be located in a cancer centre and with a priority for cancer. This MRI Suite at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre was opened by Premier Dalton McGuinty in November 2006.

The Foundation is an independent and community-based registered charity. It is governed by a volunteer Board of eleven voting members and two ex officio members. The day-to-day operations of the Foundation are conducted by a staff of three. Funds are raised through personal and corporate donations, planned giving commitments, memorial donations, gifts of securities and through fundraising initiatives with our event partners. Accountability and careful stewardship of funds are important principles that are followed.

The Foundation acts as the “fundraising arm” of the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre and receives advice from their senior management team with regard to the current and future needs of the cancer program.100% of the funds raised in Windsor and Essex County are used in this community to advance the mission of the Foundation: To reduce the impacts of cancer in our community. 

Some examples of the Foundation’s funding initiatives are:

Technology and equipment for diagnosis and treatment (e.g. ultrasound, CT and MRI scanners), upgraded furnishings for the Cancer Centre and Breast Health Centre; radiation therapy equipment and upgrades; special mattresses to prevent pressure sores; cancer prevention initiatives; an emergency fund for patients; annual Christmas decorations and a parking lot exclusively for cancer patients.

None of these items are eligible for government funding.

In addition, in February 2009, the Foundation announced the establishment of Seeds4Hope, a cancer research funding program for locally-based cancer researchers. This is the first such peer-reviewed cancer research program in the Windsor-Essex area.