Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Guelph, ON

The Heart and Stroke Foundation, a volunteer-based health charity, leads in eliminating heart disease and stroke and reducing their impact through the advancement of research and its application, the promotion of healthy living and advocacy. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a federation of 10 provincial Foundations, led and supported by a force of more than 130,000 volunteers. Throughout its history, the Foundation has relied on the generous donations of millions of Canadians. The Foundation receives no operational funding from government sources. In 2009, the Foundation invested more than $120 million into research, health promotion and community programs. The Foundation aims to build healthier hearts and minds across Canada by bringing life-saving knowledge to the communities we serve, through our local area offices and the healthcare providers we support with education and resources. We have the passion and courage to explore, through scientific excellence and innovation, ways to protect the health of all Canadians – old and young – in communities across the nation. More than 50 years ago, a visionary group of Canadians, including physicians and researchers, founded the National Heart Foundation of Canada with big hopes for the future. They had a dream: to put heart health on the public agenda, to empower researchers to turn the tide on heart disease, and to raise funds needed to educate Canadians about their hearts. With the emergence of Ontario's Foundation in 1952 and British Columbia's three years later, a network soon began to develop across the country. In 1956, the Quebec and Saskatchewan Foundations were established. In 1961, the Foundation was renamed the Canadian Heart Foundation. As heart and stroke-related diseases continue to touch so many lives, your financial support also continues to grow and reach new milestones in supporting research, health promotion and advocacy.