8 “On behalf of Third Sector Publishing, publisher of the guide from 2002 to 2017, I’d like to thank Alison Stoneman for the chance to celebrate 40 years of the Canadian Donor’s Guide and to congrat- ulate her on the continued success of the publication. Publishing the Guide was our company’s first foray into the world of Canadian fundraising, a sector we are honoured to continue to work in and support. Canadian charities deserve to be celebrated and supported, and the Donor’s Guide is an invaluable resource for donors, fundraisers and gift planners. Here’s to the continued success of the Canadian Donor’s Guide for the years to come!” That brings us to 2017. Anderson decid- ed to retire after the 2017-18 edition of the Canadian Donor’s Guide and I was fortunate to have the opportunity to become the publisher and purchase the Guide from him. I am so very grateful to Anderson and his wife Susan, who put their trust in me to continue to take care of this valued publication. It remains my honour and privilege to continue working with charities across our country and publish the Canadian Donor’s Guide. I thank them for the trust they place in us to bring their message to donors and advisors across Canada. Thanks also to our partners, the CAGP, Imagine Canada, STEP Canada and the CBA, for working with us over many years – you are truly appreciated. Thank you to the special friends of the Donor’s Guide – you know who you are – you are the Guide’s supporters, who believe in what we do. You encourage us and celebrate us and share how much you value the Donor’s Guide to others, in so many ways. My early days as publisher were made much easier knowing you had faith in me and the Guide. I also thank the people I have met along the way who have advised me, educated me and worked with me. Some of these folks were at our print shops. In the early days it was the teams at Rose Printing and Simcoe Press. Next was Martin Seto at Webcom. At Maracle Inc., Sherry, Bill, George and others took the time to teach me all about printing and worked with Anderson, Mary and I – and then with me alone – to help make the Canadian Donor’s Guide a better product. They taught me things I would otherwise never have learned. I was very sad to hear that Maracle had officially shut its doors this summer after more than 100 years in business. For the 2024- 25 edition of the Canadian Donor’s Guide, we moved to a new Canadian printer, TCI. The friendly people there, including Chrystal, Shaun, Nick, Scott and others made the transition easier than I thought possible. We will be see- ing them again – in just days from this writing – to print the Ruby Anniversary edition of the Guide. I had the pleasure of working with a trusted “web guy” for almost 20 years, including the years I worked with him under Anderson’s guidance. It was won- derful to be able to rely on Rich all those years to be there for our public facing website, our database and the members’ site. A trusted partner and friend who will be missed as we both transition. Rich introduced me to my new web team – Expogain. So far, it has been great work- ing with them and I look forward to having them help bring the Guide along in the ever-evolving digital world. The others to whom I want to give my sincere and heartfelt thanks are the team than has been part of bringing you the Canadian Donor’s Guide. First, to Mary Burnel, who came out of retirement to help me get through my first edition as publisher after I had suffered a medical setback – your kindness will never be forgotten. Then to Barb, Aly, Katie, Laura, Kaitlyn, Sara and Calvin for doing what needed to be done, from sales to social media to data entry to customer rela- tions. Each of them have contributed to the success of the Canadian Donor’s Guide, too. A key part of the Donor’s Guide team is the magical Alex, who does layout and design and takes the data and makes the Guide what it is. It has been phenomenal working with Alex for over 10 years. Alex is calm and never seems to get flustered – even when I bring him changes or new Carol Kirsh and Roy Abrahamson founded the Donor’s Guide. Anderson Charters, previous publisher of the Canadian Donor’s Guide.
