About

Welcome to Kensington Health!

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About

Mission

The Kensington Health Foundation supports the mission, programs and services of the Kensington Health Centre, including the Kensington Hospice, the Kensington Eye Institute, the Kensington Research Institute, the Kensington Cancer Screening Centre, and the Second Mile Club.

Our History

Situated at the top of Kensington Market, Kensington Health saw its inception as The Doctors Hospital in 1954, which pioneered ambulatory care for Toronto’s local and diverse community. It has expanded over the past 60 years to include two long-term care facilities, a hospice, community day services that support the needs of end-of-life care, along with the Kensington Eye Institute, a vision and research centre, and a suite of clinical services that include screening and diagnostic imaging. 

Entirely not-for-profit and community-based, Kensington provides care centred on the needs of individuals and their families from specialized clinical services to caregiver and end-of-life counselling and support. 

Since 1978 when The Doctors Hospital Foundation was established, planning for an uncertain future in healthcare has always been central to our governance mandate. When some twenty years later the Foundation changed its name in 1998 to The Kensington Foundation (now Kensington Health Foundation), a steadfast cohort of Board and community members continued to build on its original investments, growing net assets to an incredible $46M, while at the same time allocating another $52M in donations and grants to support ongoing operational needs. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we fund improvements to facilities, vital research, critically needed equipment, life-enhancing programs and better quality services. 

What we do

The Foundation’s mandate is to provide financial support to the Health Centre, and allocates roughly $3.5M annually to cover the operational costs of services beyond government funding. This includes all the things that make Kensington special – music therapy, family counselling, exercise classes, holistic care, bereavement supports and many other added services that help enhance the experience of our care.


The Kensington Health Foundation maintains a Reserve Fund that ensures a sufficient level of net assets without donor-restriction are available to support the day-to-day operations of the Foundation and Kensington Health, in the event of unforeseen shortfalls for a period of time. The Reserve Fund may also be used for one-time, nonrecurring expenses that will build long-term capacity at Kensington Health, such as investment in infrastructure. Ongoing revenues generated from the investments held in the Reserve Fund are allocated to support Kensington Health through planned funding allocations, including long-term investment in strategic priorities, annual operating grants for programming underfunded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term care and one-time grants for capital improvements and debt financing.