Ontario Construction News staff write
An online donation platform that allows community members to make direct donations to small businesses to help lessen the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been launched in Toronto. The platform allows customers to continue to support local main street businesses impacted by non-essential closures, such as coffee shops, restaurants and hair salons.
Local businesses can visit distantly.ca to set up a free account today or contact their local Business Improvement Association for assistance. Toronto residents who are able, can make a secure online donation to their favourite local business. These contributions will help to alleviate expenses, such as rent and payroll.
The site was founded by Susan McArthur, a former partner at a venture capital fund, and Daniel Spataro and Moe Katib, co-founders of Buildable Technologies, in response to Toronto Mayor John Tory’s call at a recent TechTO event that asked Toronto companies to come forward with ideas to help the City respond to this crisis.
“Toronto’s main street businesses are critical to the success of our city. They are the backbones of our residential neighbourhoods, an important contributor to our quality of life, and are a part of what makes Toronto attractive for businesses to invest in,” Tory said.
The platform was developed in partnership with the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), a non-profit umbrella organization working with Toronto’s 83 Business Improvement Areas, representing more than 40,000 business and property owners, and Digital Main Street, a City and TABIA initiative to help brick and mortar main street businesses open an online presence. Other partners included David McArthur, Enterprise, Totum Life Science, and Migeotte and Migeotte.
“When non-essential businesses were closed, we felt compelled to use the resources, technology and team at our disposal at Buildable to help fellow business owners. You can’t serve food or give someone a haircut over Zoom, and yet, without these types of businesses, our city, and our country, wouldn’t look and feel the same,” said Daniel Spataro, Buildable co-founder.
City staff will develop a range of solutions with partners in the community, to help small businesses while also continuing to advocate for additional support from the provincial and federal governments.
“We are working hard with our community partners to develop a range of solutions to support Toronto businesses, their employees and residents, while also advocating for additional support from the provincial and federal governments to ensure our small business community is supported through this pandemic,” said Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson, chair of the economic and community development committee.