Fondation Olo

Where your donations go

Your donations to Olo support babies and their families in all Quebec regions.

Every year, across Quebec, your donations and the support of Olo allies allow 7,000 vulnerable expectant mothers and their families to access Olo Care.

Olo is needed everywhere in the province.

 

Your donations to Olo help break the cycle of food inequality.

Your donations allow Fondation Olo to implement preventive actions that help break the cycle of food inequality during the period that matters most for children: the first 1,000 days (from pregnancy to age 2). 

How? By meeting nutritional needs and supporting the adoption of eating habits that foster health during childhood and for the rest of the child’s life. 

Your donations help break down 3 major barriers to healthy eating that prevent some families from offering their babies optimal nutrition:

  • Access to enough healthy, nutritious and varied foods
  • Nutritional knowledge and cooking skills
  • Capacity for action, leading to a modification of eating habits

 

Your donations to Olo act preventively and help babies come into the world healthy.

A baby’s birth weight can have a decisive impact on their future, because children with a low birth weight are more at risk of developmental delays and short- or long-term problems.

Your donations help reduce the risk of a baby being born with a low birth weight (under 5.5 lb) by up to 1.6 times. Babies who started their life with Olo Care are on average 70 g heavier than those born in the same region and socioeconomic setting prior to the arrival of the Olo program.

With an average cost of $543 per baby, Olo Care saves $600 to $700 in hospitalization costs due to health problems stemming from a low birth weight. In addition, there are short- and long-term benefits to the child’s overall health.

* The efficacy and cost effectiveness of Fondation Olo’s initiative was highlighted in a study by economics researchers Catherine Haeck and Pierre Lefebvre of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). The article was originally published in the scientific journal Labour Economics in May 2016.

 

Major ongoing Olo projects you can support

Since 1991, Fondation Olo has supported over 250,000 Quebec families with customized support for expectant mothers. We constantly evolve by developing new projects and support components.

 

Postnatal food offer

Fondation Olo is developing a new postnatal food offer. Until now, the birth of the baby meant the end of the Olo vouchers redeemable for food. But we know that the handing out of Olo vouchers allows care providers to offer information and guidance to families to support healthier eating habits. Thanks to the new postnatal food offer, which takes place over 7 Olo follow-up meetings, children and their families can discover new foods or make them part of their cooking and eating habits. 

This new component has 2 broad objectives:

  • Supporting the development of healthy eating habits in children by better responding to the nutritional needs of babies at every stage of development.
  • Helping parents better understand their baby’s changing nutrition needs.

 

1,000 days and 1,001 journeys

Over the coming years, our 1,000 days and 1,001 journeys flagship project will aim to improve and enrich the continuum of services available to Quebec families. With this project, Olo wants to enhance its offer to community organizations through basic training on healthy eating, new tools to enhance activities and a new call for projects for cooking workshops. 

Our goal is simple: substantially increase our impact on the barriers to healthy eating by reaching more families. By offering new activities, creating connections between the health and community networks, and implementing new communications and awareness campaigns, Fondation Olo wants to share knowledge about healthy eating in the first 1,000 days with as many people as possible in Quebec. 

 

Indigenous communities

For several years, special attention has been given to creating collaborative relationships with Indigenous communities and populations throughout the province. Building on the connections already created and those to come with about 20 First Nations and Inuit communities, our desire is to keep listening with humility. Through projects focusing on foods that are part of Indigenous culinary cultures, opportunities for actors in the field to talk to each other, or the creation or translation of tools, we want Indigenous families to feel heard. We want them to get resources that reflect their realities and needs through this collaboration. 

 

Making Olo Care more effective and adapted to local realities

Olo Care is offered across Quebec. However, we know that each region has its own challenges and realities. In the coming years, we want to continue adapting Olo Care to regional realities and to the realities of the families who benefit from it. For Olo Care to have the best impact possible, we also want to develop new tools for care providers and families on themes like the role of the father or co-parent, nutritional support for immigrants, cultural diversity or breastfeeding. These customized projects could be supported by partners wishing to move society and social norms in a positive direction. 

 

How are your donations used?

When you make a donation to Fondation Olo, here is how it is used: 

  • 33% – Olo foods and multivitamins: Every year, over 460,000 food vouchers and 835,000 daily doses of prenatal multivitamins are distributed to expectant mothers. 
  • 31% – Development and distribution of educational tools and content: Fondation Olo provides educational tools and professional advice for parents to help families adopt healthy eating habits. Every year, close to 20,000 educational tools are given to the parents of newborns. 
  • 28% – Support for care providers and partners implementing Olo’s mission: Over 500 Olo care providers and nearly 1,000 community-based organizations work in partnership with Olo. We act as a reference on child nutrition during the first 1,000 days, and we develop trainings, workshops for families, tools and regional platforms to support these collaborators in their work.
  • 8% – Sound management and outreach: As in any organization, a team monitors the implementation of the organization’s mission and ensures that the public and government decision makers hear about our needs and our important role in society. That is why Fondation Olo’s team implements multiple public relations and outreach campaigns every year.