Mississauga Celebrates Patiopalooza

It’s only rock ‘n roll…but The Community Foundation of Mississauga definitely likes it. Thanks to a summer rock concert organized by the local BMO Nesbitt Burns office, the foundation has a new Supporting Your Community endowment fund targeted toward supporting its own annual operations.

It all started with The Biznoids, a celebrated Bay Street band whose bass player is Ray Lessard – a true champion of BMO’s alliance with Canada’s community foundations. Lessard is Senior Vice-President and Managing Director of Nesbitt Burns and a Board member of the Mississauga Community Foundation. He also established his own SYC fund early on in the program.

The Biznoids all hail from Bay Street and are perennial winners of Baystock – the self-styled Woodstock of Canada’s financial heartland. For the past several years the Biznoids have commandeered the patio adjacent to the BMO Nesbitt Burns in Mississauga and charged a nominal fee to raise money for charity.

“When I heard that Ray’s band raised money for charity every year, I asked him to consider raising funds for the foundation,” says Eileen MacKenzie, Executive Director of the Community Foundation of Mississauga.

The June event drew more than 200 friends, family, co-workers, and professional advisors, who kicked off the summer dancing to tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s. When the party was over, the foundation had a new $11,500 endowment fund – aptly named The BMO Nesbitt Burns Patiopalooza Fund. MacKenzie has high praise for Lessard and his colleagues, Heather Young and Mike McLaughlin, who did a great job organizing the Biznoids’ gig.

“This is great for us, because we’re a young foundation,” says MacKenzie. “Operational sustainability is going to be an ongoing priority over the next few years. And a stronger foundation means better grantmaking opportunities for the entire community.”

MacKenzie was also pleased the event introduced the foundation to a new audience. “It really gave us some name recognition and an opportunity to talk about community foundations and the Supporting Your Community program in front of some new people.”