Federated Health Charities is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to raising funds within the Ontario Public Service that support 21 charities delivering health education and awareness, medical research, and client and patient services for people in communities across Ontario.

Learn more at About – Federated Health Charities

The Federated Health Charities Campaign is a workplace charitable campaign that allows employees in the Government of Ontario, participating agencies, and the OPP to support up to 21 health charities through payroll deductions, one-time donations, special events, and an annual lottery. 

For more than 40 years, provincial employees from the Ontario Public Service (OPS), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and participating government agencies have come together each year to help run our annual campaign, volunteering their time, skills, and creativity to make our campaign a success. All funds raised through the campaign go to support the work of our 21 charities, providing life-saving research, innovative health education and awareness programs, and essential patient support services to people in communities all across Ontario.

The Federated Health Charities campaign raises funds for 21 participating charities that deliver health education and awareness, support medical research, and provide client and patient services to people in communities across Ontario:

• ALS Society of Canada
• Alzheimer Society of Ontario
• Arthritis Society Canada
• Autism Ontario
• Canadian Cancer Society
• Canadian Liver Foundation
• Crohn’s and Colitis Canada
• Cystic Fibrosis Canada
• Diabetes Canada
• Heart & Stroke
• Hemophilia Ontario
• Institute for Advancements in Mental Health
• The Kidney Foundation of Canada
• Lung Health Foundation
• MS Canada
• Ontario AIDS Network
• Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy
• Osteoporosis Canada
• Parkinson Canada
• Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario
• Spinal Cord Injury Ontario

All the funds raised by Federated Health come from individual donors.

The majority of Federated Health Charities donors are current or retired provincial employees in the Ontario Public Service (OPS), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), and participating provincial agencies, like Metrolinx and the Ontario Science Centre. However, Federated Health Charities does receive some donations from community members.

Our donors support us through payroll pledges, one-time donations, participating in special events and buying lottery tickets as part of the annual Federated Health Charities campaign held in OPS, OPP, and participating agency workplaces each spring.

Federated Health Charities also accepts bequests, donations of securities and motor vehicles, and one-time donations from the public.

Learn more at How to donate – Federated Health Charities.

There are four different ways to donate to Federated Health Charities: 

• Making a payroll pledge
• Making a one-time donation
• Attending special events
• Buying Federated Health Charities lottery tickets* 

Learn more at How to donate – Federated Health Charities.

Payroll pledges are a commitment to donate a portion of each paycheque to Federated Health Charities for a set period of time. Payroll pledges are the single biggest source of funds raised each year so your campaign should make canvassing employees to encourage them to make a payroll pledge a priority. 

Employees can make a payroll pledge to our 2024 campaign by visiting WIN between April 1, and July 7, 2024, or filling out a donations form on the Federated Health Charities website (available in English and French).

OPS, OPP, and employees of provincial agencies that use WIN can donate to Federated Health Charities by following these steps:

1. Connect to your workplace intranet (either in the office or remotely via VPN)
2. Go to the My Charity page in WIN and select the “Federated Health – Enter New Deduction” link
3. Select the “Add Deduction” button.
4. Enter the charity or charities that you wish to support in the Federated Health Charity field – click the magnifying glass for the list of charities
5. Enter the amount to be deducted per paycheque
6. Enter the number of pays for which the deduction will apply
7. Select the “Submit” button.

To donate to more than one Federated Health charity, repeat Steps 2 – 6.

To donate to all charities, select “Federated Health Charities All” in Step 3.

To automatically renew your pledge each year, leave the “Number of Pays” field blank.

For step-by-step instructions, visit https://intra.ontario.ca/ops/win-payroll-deductions-for-federated-health.

If your workplace doesn’t use WIN or you don’t have access to WIN, you can make a payroll pledge to Federated Health Charities by filling out a paper or online copy of our donation form: 

1. Go to https://federatedhealth.ca/ and select Campaign Resources – Federated Health Charities
2. Scroll down to “Donations Form Electronic Fillable” and select your preferred language (English or French).)
3. Fill out the form, selecting the charity or charities you want to support, and adding the amount of your donation
4. Save a copy of your completed form to your computer
5. Email a copy of the completed form to your campaign treasurer. 

Donation forms are available in English and French on the Federated Health Charities website or by filling out the Campaign Materials Order Form and sending it to Federated.Health.Charities@ontario.ca.

The deadline to make a payroll pledge to the 2024 Federated Health Charities campaign by WIN is July 7, 2024. 

The deadline to make a payroll pledge using a donation form is June 21, 2024.

Payroll pledges are the most efficient way to donate to the campaign. When you make a payroll pledge, the amount of your pledge is collected by your employer and turned over to the charity or charities you have chosen to support each month. This provides a predictable source of unrestricted funding for our charities over the course of the year that they can put towards the area of greatest need. And because payroll pledges are tracked by your employer and entered directly on  your T4, it saves time and money for our charities by eliminating the administrative cost of tracking donations and issuing tax receipts. That means more of your money goes to helping people in need across Ontario. 

Finally, because payroll pledges are collected over an entire year rather than all at once, we ask our donors to consider making a bigger donation than they might otherwise be able to afford. Instead of a one-time donation of $100, we ask our donors to consider making a payroll pledge of $5 per paycheque (just $2.50 a week!), for a total of $130 over a year.

Thank you for supporting Federated Health Charities! If you left the “Number of Pays” field o the My Charity page in WIN blank when you made your donation last year (in 2023), then you payroll pledge will continue this year. 

If you selected a number of pay periods (i.e., 26 pay periods/one year) when making a payroll pledge, then your pledge will end with the last pay period indicated, and you will need to renew  your donation this year. 

To automatically renew you payroll pledge each year, leave the “Number of Pays” field blank when making your payroll pledge.

If you are a Government of Ontario employee working for an OPS ministry, the OPP, or a provincial agency that participates in the Federated Health Charities campaign, you can buy a ticket (or five!) for our lottery on our website at https://federatedhealth.ca/ between April 1st and June 24th, 2024. 

Lottery tickets at $5 each (plus a processing fee). You will be sent an email with your tickets once you complete your purchase. These emails can go to Junk Mail so please check there if you can’t you’re your tickets. Before contacting Federated Health Charities. 

The draw will be held at Federated Health Charities offices at 315 Front Street West in Toronto on June 28, 2024, at noon.

All proceeds from the lottery go to support our 21 charities.

Lottery tickets are on sale for $5 each (plus a processing fee) on our website at https://federatedhealth.ca/ between April 1st and June 24th, 2024. The tickets are first come, first served, so buy early (and often!).

Lottery tickets at $5 each (plus a processing fee). You will be sent an email with your tickets once you complete your purchase. These emails can go to Junk Mail so please check there if you can’t you’re your tickets. Before contacting Federated Health Charities. 

The draw will be held at Federated Health Charities offices at 315 Front Street West in Toronto on June 28, 2024, at noon.

All proceeds from the lottery go to support our 21 charities.

There are five prizes: 

• 1st Prize – $15,000
• 2nd Prize – $5,000
• 3rd Prize – $3,000
• 4th, and 5th Prizes – $1,000 each. 

Lottery tickets at $5 each (plus a processing fee). You will be sent an email with your tickets once you complete your purchase. These emails can go to Junk Mail so please check there if you can’t you’re your tickets. Before contacting Federated Health Charities. 

The draw will be held at Federated Health Charities offices at 315 Front Street West in Toronto on June 28, 2024, at noon. 

All proceeds from the lottery go to support our 21 charities.

Donations are divided between our 21 participating charities in two ways.

1. Allocated donations:

When you donate to Federated Health Charities, you can direct your donation to a specific charity or charities. These are called allocated donations.

100% of allocated donations go to the charity or charities indicated by the donor. A significant portion of the donations each charity receives come from allocated donations.

2. Non-allocated donations:

Rather than donate to a specific charity or charities, donors can choose to give their money to all 21 Federated Health Charities. These are called non-allocated donations.

Non-allocated donations are divided among our 21 charities using a formula created by the charities themselves. 60% of the donation is evenly split 21 ways and 40% of the donation is split according to the percentage of allocated donations each charity received in the previous year’s campaign.

For example, a charity that received 9% of all allocated donations in the previous year’s campaign would receive 9% of the 40% portion of the donation.

None. 100% of the donations Federated Health Charities receives go to our charities. 

Federated Health Charities does not keep any of the donations we receive. Whether we receive $1 or $1 million, 100% of donations received by Federated Health Charities are passed on to our member charities. 

When you donate to Federated Health Charities, you know your gift will end up in the hands of your charity of choice. 

Federated Health Charities is committed to running our campaign on a modest budget. We are tremendously grateful to provincial employees and the Ontario Public Service for the support they provide our campaign each year. Because of their generosity and volunteerism, Federated Health Charities can keep our overhead costs low.  

We do not spend money on giving away swag or paid fundraising. Federated Health Charities was founded in 1983 by OPS members as a vehicle to raise funds for Ontario health charities. Forty years later, our annual campaign is still organized by and for provincial employees who volunteer their time, on top of their normal duties, to raise funds to support the work of our 21 participating health charities. 

For the overhead expenses we do have, our participating charities each pay a portion of these costs out of their established fundraising budgets. Our connection to the Ontario Public Service means that we can fundraise among province employees at a greater and more cost-effective scale than our charities can individually, which saves them time and money. The amount each charity contributes to our costs is based on the percentage of donations they received from the previous year’s campaign so that each charity receives the same return on their investment. 

COVID-19 and the rising cost of living have had a devastating impact on organizations that depend on charitable giving across Ontario. Some of our charities saw their budgets cut by as much as 70% during the height of the pandemic and most are still struggling to rebuild and find a way to continue to provide in-demand, critical supports to vulnerable people and families across Ontario at a time when rising costs are affecting everyone’s bottom line.  

We understand that not everyone can afford to donate to Federated Health Charities each year. We encourage people to put their funds where they are most needed and make the choice that is right for them and their families. 

For some, that may mean deferring their donation to next year, while others may choose to increase their support at a time when they see so many others struggling. 

Even if you can’t afford to donate, you can still contribute by volunteering with your local ministry, agency or OPP campaign, participating in special events or buying a lottery ticket—your donation doesn’t need to be big to make a difference! Every donation to Federated Health Charities, big or small, helps people and families in our communities affected by serious illness and life-changing health conditions.

The 2024 Federated Health Charities campaign begins on April 1, 2024. Local ministry, agency, and OPP campaigns will be held throughout April, May, and June.

The 2024 campaign will end on June 28, 2024.

The Federated Health Charities campaign and the United Way campaign are two separate fundraising campaigns that occur in Government of Ontario workplaces each year.  

The Federated Health Charities campaign was founded by members of the Ontario Public Service in 1983 to raise funds for health-related charities. The annual Federated Health Charities campaign now supports 21 charities operating across our province. Funds raised by the United Way campaign support programs and social services offered by the United Way and its agencies. 

The annual Federated Health Charities campaign is exclusive to the Government of Ontario workplaces. We are proud of our history as an organization run by and for provincial employees to support people in our communities.

No. While Federated Health Charities does receive support from the Ontario Public Service, including access to certain OPS resources, Federated Health Charities’ two staff members are employees of the corporation, not the Government of Ontario. Our annual campaign is made possible through the energy and commitment of hundreds of volunteers in Government of Ontario workplaces each year.

The annual Federated Health Charities campaign is held in Government of Ontario workplaces in every region in the province. To get your office involved, contact your campaign chair.

To be part of Federated Health Charities, each charity must provide services throughout Ontario. That means that each charity has regional offices or chapters providing education and patient care programs in cities and towns provincewide. These area offices receive funding from the Ontario offices of the charities so they can provide local services. In addition, a large portion of the money raised by Federated Health Charities goes to research into cures and improved treatments that benefit everyone.

All our charities must meet these criteria: 

• They must operate provincewide, fund medical research, support health education and awareness, and offer client and patient services, and
• They must address a health condition not already represented by one of our charities. 

When the campaign grows enough to support the addition of a new charity, we invite organizations recommended by our donors and other charities, are invited to apply.

When you donate to Federated Health Charities through a payroll pledge, the total amount of your donation (for the period covering January to December of each year) appears in box 46 of your T4 slip. 

If you give by cash, cheque, or credit card, Federated Health Charities will mail a tax receipt to your home address (the Canada Revenue Agency requires that your home address appear on the receipt.) You should receive that receipt by mid-fall. 

If you make a one-time donation through our website, you will receive a tax receipt via Canada Helps. 

Please note, lottery ticket sales and purchase made at special events are not eligible for tax receipts.

Federated Health Charities maintains a record of individual donor information n order to issue income tax credits under the regulations of the Canada Revenue Agency. 

Our donor information is kept strictly confidential, and is never traded, rented, sold or otherwise revealed to any organization in whole or in part—including the charities that benefit from the campaign.

Federated Health Charities keeps our donor information strictly confidential. It is never traded, rented, sold or otherwise revealed to any organization in whole or in part—including the charities that benefit from the campaign. 

Since we don’t reveal our donor information to the charities we support, they do not know that you have donated to the Federated Health Charities. 

All of our 21 charities also fundraise amount members of the public to support their work, so it’s possible that some of those campaigns may reach your home. 

You can simply choose simply to ignore those requests, or to contact the charity and ask it to not send requests because you prefer to give through the OPS Health Charities Campaign.

Thank you for supporting Federated Health Charities! If you choose to support all 21 charities with your donation, your gift is divided using the following formula: 60% of the donation is split evenly among the 21 charities while the remaining 40% is divided according to how much each charity received from the previous year’s campaign. This formula was devised by the charities themselves in order to ensure the donations were distributed fairly.

Absolutely! Donations to Federated Health Charities can be made to honour someone’s memory, make a great gift for the person who has everything or to mark a career milestone such as a promotion, retirement, or transfer.