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Private donations are supercharging the city’s museums and galleries
Over the past few years, donors have injected millions into Toronto’s major cultural institutions
| December 18, 2025
Toronto’s museums are on a tear. Over the past few years, private donors have injected piles of cash into the city’s arts institutions.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss gave $35 million to the AGO’s new contemporary wing. The Hennick Family Foundation contributed $50 million to blow open the ROM’s cavernous crystal atrium. And the Radlett Foundation donated $9 million to the Gardiner Museum’s new lobby and Indigenous gallery (pictured above).
All those zeroes mean that the buildings housing our precious treasures can be every bit as breathtaking as their contents.
Related: Inside the Gardiner Museum’s stunning $15-million renovation
Barry Jordan Chong is the city and real estate editor at Toronto Life. He lives and writes in Toronto.
