Hayastan Foundation Toronto: 34 Years of Sponsoring Projects in Armenia, and the Dinner That Funds What Comes Next

3 days ago

8 min read

On Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 5:00 PM, Hayastan Foundation Toronto will hold its Annual Fundraising Dinner at the Crystal Grand Banquet Hall, 2110 Dundas Street East, Mississauga. The keynote speaker is Marie Lou Papazian, founding CEO of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, who is travelling from Yerevan for the evening.

The dinner is the foundation's biggest night of the year. What is raised in that room becomes a roof over a family in Armavir or a medical centre in a village that has never had one. That is not a figure of speech. It is the foundation's track record, and it is written in concrete.

This year the Tomsak team will be there too. More on that at the end.

What Hayastan Foundation Toronto is

Hayastan Foundation Toronto Inc. is the Toronto affiliate of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, known in Armenian as Հայաստան Համահայկական Հիմնադրամ and in the community simply as Himnadram, "the Fund." The global fund was established by presidential decree in Armenia in 1992, the year after independence, to carry out projects of national importance. It works through affiliates around the world, and Canada has two: Toronto and Montreal.

The Toronto foundation describes itself as an all-volunteer Canadian registered charity that builds humanitarian infrastructure in Armenia and Artsakh. Its mission, as registered with the Canada Revenue Agency, is to relieve poverty by providing shelter, potable water, schools and medical facilities. It is a CRA-registered charity, so donations receive official tax receipts.

What makes it unusual is who sits at its table. According to its own website, the foundation's voting membership is made up of 17 community associations: churches of three denominations, cultural and educational societies, political parties, professional groups and compatriotic unions. Among them are Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, St. Mary Armenian Apostolic Church, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic Church, the Armenian Evangelical Church of Toronto, the ARS, AGBU, Hamazkayin, the Union of Marash and the Zoryan Institute. Organizations that rarely share a stage share this one.

34 years in numbers

Since 1992 the foundation reports having completed some 146 projects that have benefited more than 120,000 people. Its CanadaHelps profile breaks that record down further:

9 brand new schools
10 major school renovations
5 medical and community centres
60 houses
20 potable and irrigation water networks
A renovated hospital dialysis department and a renovated home for the elderly

Those are not grants handed to another agency. They are buildings, and you can drive to them.

The annual dinner is where much of that money is gathered. In 2019, the foundation's 27th anniversary year, the banquet at the Armenian Community Centre together with major donations made earlier in the year brought in $880,000 CAD, as reported by Horizon Weekly. About 360 supporters attended, including many university students whose seats were sponsored by a longtime donor. Two students from Toronto's Armenian schools opened the fundraising that night with a $5,000 cheque they had raised with their classmates.

One village, more than a decade of work

If you want to understand how the foundation works, look at Nalbandyan, a large village in Armenia's Armavir province near the Turkish border, named after the 19th century poet Mikael Nalbandian.

In 2015, Toronto benefactors Armen and Berjouhi Nalbandian financed a major renovation of the village school, a three-storey building from 1967 with more than 600 students, according to the Fund. The work covered seismic reinforcement of the walls, new floors, new washrooms and a total renovation of the gymnasium. By 2019, Toronto had added outdoor sports fields for the renovated school and was building 14 houses and a medical centre in the same village.

The foundation does not parachute in once. It returns, project after project, until the village looks different.

What this year's dinner will build

The 2026 dinner supports six projects now under way, as listed by the foundation:

8 houses in Nalbandyan for multi-children families displaced from Artsakh
4 houses in Lernagog, also in Armavir province, for multi-children families from Artsakh
8 houses in Balahovit, in Kotayk province, for families where a parent lives with a disability
2 houses in Nalbandyan for families where a parent lives with a disability
A medical centre for the village of Shenavan
A six-storey, 24-unit apartment building in Gyumri

The housing projects respond directly to September 2023, when Artsakh's entire Armenian population of about 120,000 was ethnically cleansed from its homeland (Nagorno-Karabakh) and forced into Armenia, many with only what they could carry. The foundation's first response was emergency kits of food, hygiene supplies and baby essentials. Houses are the second response, and the one that lasts.

Gyumri is a different story with the same thread. Armenia's second city was devastated by the 1988 Spitak earthquake, and building homes for families left without them has been part of the Fund's work since its earliest years. A 24-unit building is 24 families with a permanent address.

Why Marie Lou Papazian is the right keynote

Marie Lou Papazian is the founding CEO of TUMO, the free after-school programme in Yerevan where teenagers aged 12 to 18 learn animation, game development, robotics, programming, filmmaking, music and design. TUMO was founded in 2011 by Armenian-American philanthropists Sam and Sylva Simonian through the Simonian Educational Foundation. Papazian designed its educational programme and led the construction of its flagship centre.

There are no entrance exams and no fees. Students follow a self-paced path through online activities, workshops and project labs led by professionals, and they leave with a portfolio rather than a diploma. According to the foundation's event summary, around 20,000 students go through TUMO programmes every year, and the foundation credits it with building a workforce for Armenia's growing tech industry. The model has since spread to cities across Europe and beyond, including Paris, Berlin, Lyon, Tirana, Lisbon and Buenos Aires.

Before TUMO, Papazian led the Education for Development Foundation, which connected students in Armenia with peers in the diaspora through online learning. In 2019 France named her to the Ordre des Palmes académiques for her work in education.

The pairing makes sense. Hayastan Foundation Toronto builds the classrooms. TUMO shows what a classroom in Armenia can become when someone invests seriously in it.

How to attend or sponsor

Sunday, October 25, 2026, 5:00 PM

Crystal Grand Banquet Hall, 2110 Dundas Street East, Unit 4, Mississauga, ON L4X 1L9 (Highway 427 and Dundas)

Single ticket: $100
Sponsorship of $250 includes 1 ticket
Sponsorship of $500 includes 2 tickets
Sponsorship of $1,000 includes 4 tickets

Buy your ticket from us in person. On Sunday, October 11, 2026, the Tomsak team will be at a Hayastan Foundation Toronto ticket table at Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, 920 Progress Avenue, Toronto, roughly from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Come say hello after church, ask us anything about the projects, and leave with your seat for October 25.

Gifts beyond these levels are welcome. Cheques are payable to Hayastan Foundation Toronto Inc. To reserve seats or arrange a sponsorship, contact any of the organizers:

Hasmig Kurdian, 416-332-0787
Datev Keoshkerian, 416-575-2432
Vasken Altounian, 647-267-2131
Raffi Kouyoumdjian, 416-671-5913

If you cannot attend, you can donate online through CanadaHelps and receive a tax receipt instantly. Full event details are on the Tomsak event page.

Five extra seats at the table

When the foundation's invitation reached Tomsak in late September, we were honoured and a little heartbroken at the same time. We are five high school students, aged 15 to 17, and buying a ticket was simply not possible for us. What we could do was promise to tell everyone we know.

A day later came news we never expected. Vasken Altounian, Chairman of Hayastan Foundation Toronto, was personally sponsoring seats for all five of us. We were thrilled, and we still are.

So on October 25 we will be in Mississauga, listening to the woman who built TUMO, alongside the people who have spent three decades sponsoring projects in Armenia from Toronto. We are very grateful, and we want to support this evening in every way we can, starting with helping at the Hayastan Foundation Toronto ticket table at Holy Trinity Armenian Church on Sunday, October 11.

That is the point of this post. A foundation that invests in a generation of young Armenians just invested in five more.

Find more Armenian events near you on our events page, browse the Armenian events in Ontario 2026 guide, meet the organizations on our partners page, and subscribe to the Tomsak newsletter so you hear about nights like this one first.

FAQ

What is Hayastan Foundation Toronto?

Hayastan Foundation Toronto Inc. is an all-volunteer Canadian registered charity and the Toronto affiliate of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. Since 1992 it has built schools, houses, water networks and medical centres for communities in need in Armenia and Artsakh.

What is the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund?

The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund, or Himnadram, was established by presidential decree in Armenia in 1992 to carry out infrastructure and humanitarian projects of national importance. It operates through affiliates around the world, including two in Canada, in Toronto and Montreal.

When is the Hayastan Foundation Toronto fundraising dinner in 2026?

The 2026 Annual Fundraising Dinner is on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 5:00 PM at the Crystal Grand Banquet Hall, 2110 Dundas Street East, Unit 4, Mississauga, Ontario, near Highway 427 and Dundas.

Who is the keynote speaker at the 2026 dinner?

The keynote speaker is Marie Lou Papazian, founding CEO of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies in Yerevan. According to the organizers, she is travelling from Yerevan specifically for the evening.

How much are tickets to the Hayastan Foundation Toronto dinner?

A single ticket costs $100. Sponsorships of $250, $500 and $1,000 include one, two and four tickets respectively. Tickets are reserved through organizers Hasmig Kurdian, Datev Keoshkerian, Vasken Altounian or Raffi Kouyoumdjian.

What projects will the 2026 dinner support?

The foundation's current projects are 12 houses in Nalbandyan and Lernagog for multi-children families from Artsakh, 10 houses in Balahovit and Nalbandyan for families where a parent has a disability, a medical centre for Shenavan, and a six-storey, 24-unit apartment building in Gyumri.

How many projects has Hayastan Foundation Toronto completed?

The foundation reports some 146 completed projects since 1992, benefiting more than 120,000 people. They include 9 new schools, 10 major school renovations, 5 medical and community centres, 60 houses and 20 water networks.

Is a donation to Hayastan Foundation Toronto tax deductible?

Yes. Hayastan Foundation Toronto Inc. is registered as a charity with the Canada Revenue Agency, and donations made through its CanadaHelps page receive an official tax receipt instantly.

What is TUMO?

TUMO is a free after-school programme founded in Yerevan in 2011 by Sam and Sylva Simonian, where teenagers aged 12 to 18 learn technology and design skills such as animation, coding, robotics and filmmaking. It has no fees or entrance exams and now operates in several countries.

Which organizations are members of Hayastan Foundation Toronto?

The foundation's website lists 17 voting member associations, including Holy Trinity, St. Mary, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Catholic and the Armenian Evangelical churches, the ARS, AGBU, Hamazkayin, the Union of Marash and the Zoryan Institute.

Where can I buy tickets in person?

On Sunday, October 11, 2026, Hayastan Foundation Toronto has a ticket table at Holy Trinity Armenian Apostolic Church, 920 Progress Avenue, Toronto, staffed by the Tomsak team, roughly from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Tickets can also be reserved by phone with any of the four organizers.

How can I donate if I cannot attend the dinner?

You can give online through Hayastan Foundation Toronto's CanadaHelps page at canadahelps.org/en/dn/8072, as a one-time or monthly gift. Monthly giving helps the foundation plan future projects.