Top Philanthropy Journalists in Canada (2025)

As Director of Philanthropy at Toronto Foundation, Gokhale shapes Canada's charitable landscape through:

• Innovative donor education programs engaging 250+ young fundholders
• Equity-focused initiatives like the $5M Black and Indigenous Futures Fund
• Policy advocacy around disbursement quotas and DAF reforms

Pitching Priorities

• Emerging Trends: Prefers data-rich stories on Gen Z giving patterns and digital philanthropy tools
• Avoid: One-off charity event coverage or celebrity-driven campaigns

"We need to stop equating philanthropy with check-writing and start treating it as community investment."

Career Highlights

• 13+ years developing strategic giving models at Toronto Foundation
• Recipient of 2023 CAGP Fellow designation for philanthropic leadership
• Board Member for Visions of Science and Myriad Canada

Connect via Twitter or email for pitches aligning with systemic change initiatives.

This Toronto Star journalist specializes in evidence-based examinations of poverty reduction strategies and social welfare systems. Her work focuses on:

• Policy Impact Analysis: Quantifying long-term benefits of social programs through economic modeling
• Childcare Systems: Tracking provincial initiatives and their effects on workforce participation

Pitching Priorities

Seeking case studies of programs demonstrating measurable ROI over 5+ year periods. Not currently covering international aid projects or corporate philanthropy initiatives.

As Editor-in-Chief of Ottawa’s The Mainstreeter, Abugov champions hyperlocal storytelling through three primary lenses:

Core Coverage Areas

• Community Philanthropy: Focused on neighborhood-level initiatives with measurable resident participation rates
• Nonprofit Media Sustainability: Expertise in hybrid funding models combining memberships, grants, and experiential fundraising
• Media Law Applications: Interested in copyright issues affecting volunteer journalists and accessibility compliance

Pitching Preferences

• Do: Lead with concrete data on community impact (e.g., "New after-school program served 300+ students in 2024")
• Avoid: National trends without Ottawa-specific implementations

"When a community paper dies, it’s like shutting a light in a room and never reopening it – the house remains, but loses its warmth."

With 29 years of continuous service at The Mainstreeter, Abugov’s work remains essential for understanding Canadian community journalism’s evolving landscape.

Susan Fish (Charity Village, Canada) specializes in philanthropy, literature, and faith communities, offering a distinctive blend of analytical depth and poetic sensibility. Her work empowers readers to see generosity as an art form and spirituality as a practical force for change.

Key Coverage Areas

• Nonprofit Innovation: Profiles organizations using storytelling to drive engagement, particularly in education and environmental sectors.
• Literary Analysis: Examines how contemporary fiction addresses moral dilemmas, often interviewing authors about their creative process.
• Faith in Action: Highlights interfaith collaborations tackling homelessness, climate change, and mental health.

Pitching Guidelines

• Do:
  • Connect projects to Canadian contexts
  • Provide access to grassroots voices
  • Suggest multimedia elements (e.g., author audio diaries)
• Don’t:
  • Pitch celebrity-driven campaigns
  • Assume religious homogeneity
  • Overemphasize quantitative metrics

Recent Recognition: 2023 Canadian Faith Writing Award, 2022 Banff Centre Fellowship. Follow her evolving work via her blog and Charity Village.

Val Fortney is a senior columnist at the Calgary Herald, where she has shaped conversations around social equity and cultural identity since 1998. Her reporting combines investigative rigor with compassionate storytelling, particularly in these areas:

• Philanthropy Systems: Examines both systemic causes of poverty and effectiveness of aid programs
• Media Evolution: Documents how local institutions adapt to demographic and technological change
• Community Resilience: Highlights grassroots responses to environmental and economic challenges

Pitching Insights

Successful pitches to Fortney often include:

• Hyperlocal case studies with national relevance
• Historical context for contemporary issues
• Data visualization opportunities (heat maps, timeline graphics)

Notable recent work includes her 2024 investigation into food insecurity’s impact on working families and a 2025 retrospective on Calgary’s cultural journalism landscape. She maintains a particular interest in solutions-focused reporting that bridges individual experiences with policy analysis.