Give the gift of poetry
Thank you!
January 15, 2025 - The League extends our tremendous gratitude to all of the donors, members, and friends who helped make our 2024 Giving Season campaign such a success. Your generosity, kindness, and enthusiasm were a true blessing, and made our return to office this week full of joy.
Throughout December, we saw over 100 donations made in support of the Member Support Fund, ultimately landing just shy of our $10,000 goal. After such a successful campaign, DC Reid has generously opted to provide the full $10,000 in matching funds, and we are over the moon to report having raised nearly $20,000 to increase accessibility to the League.
We will have the opportunity to see the results of this campaign in action as soon as April 2025, as poets and members will be able to apply for financial aid to support annual League membership fees.
Since 2020 brought unprecedented change to our culture and society, the League has been taking great leaps towards inclusivity, accessibility, diversity, and financial stability. Thanks to the support of our dedicated membership, our generous donors, and our entire community of friends like you, we see a bright future for poetry and poets in Canada! 2025 will continue to bring about changes for the League’s community, and the incredible response to our 2024 fundraising campaign will help ensure the organization’s continued stability in the years to come.
If you missed our Giving Season campaign but you’d still like to support the League, don’t fret: anyone can become a Patron of Poetry at any time! Patrons of Poetry are engaged community members who recognize the importance of supporting Canadian poetry. Your support helps us maintain important programs, explore new projects and opportunities, and ensures our organization is financially healthy and sustainable. As a Patron, you’ll also gain access to recognition opportunities, special mail-outs, and more. We welcome your support in whatever amount feels comfortable, and are delighted to recognize donations at a wide range of levels. We encourage you to consider setting up monthly donations, which help us streamline administration, and allow us to reliably count on your support.
Help us provide financial support for up to 150 poets!
This holiday season, the League wants to help your dollar go further: with the generous support of poet and member DC Reid, all donations received before December 31, 2024, will be 100% matched!* Our goal is to raise $20,000 in order to provide financial aid for up to 150 poets, and we need your help.
Double your impact
Until December 31, 2024, donors have the chance to double their impact with a donation to the League’s Member Support Fund. Through this fund, poets, readers, and Patrons of Poetry empower the League to dramatically reduce accessibility barriers for poets seeking to unlock the potential of League membership.
*Donations will be matched 100% by DC Reid, to a maximum of $10,000.
Why support the League?
Your donation goes directly to supporting the creation and celebration of Canadian poetry! Members of the League are producing some of the most exciting, adventurous, and meaningful work in Canada.
As a National Arts Service Organization, the League supports its membership of emerging and professional poets directly, as well as brings poetry into the day-to-day lives of arts lovers.
Membership with the League provides community, unique and exclusive opportunities, and a growing network to advocate on behalf of poets and poetry in Canada.
Membership fees are a crucial element of the League’s revenues, and – alongside support from donors, sponsors, and funders – make our work possible: from contests and awards, to daily poems, to national arts advocacy.
Through the Member Support Fund, poets, readers, and Patrons of Poetry empower the League to dramatically reduce accessibility barriers for poets seeking to unlock the potential of League membership.
FAQ
The sum of your first year's worth of donations will be matched by DC Reid.
About DC Reid
DC Reid is an author and a steadfast advocate for the Canadian literary community, having served as the president for the Federation of BC Writers, Victoria Book Prize Society, and League of Canadian Poets. He has won more than twenty awards for his work, including the 2023 Professional Outdoor Media Association of Canada gold medal for books for his memoir A Man and His River: a 25-year love affair with a wild island waterway.
In between fly-fishing trips, Reid has published 18 books, including 11 collections of poetry, a novel, a work of literary nonfiction, and five books on fishing. His poems and stories have been published in magazines around the world and his fishing articles have been published in magazines, newspapers, and on websites across North America. Reid is currently writing a new book, The Brains of Poets, exploring the creative lives of poets through a lens of the science of neuroplasticity. A 2015 PoeTrain Laureate, he holds a BSc in zoology and biochemistry from the University of Calgary, an Honours BA in English and philosophy from the University of Liverpool, and a master’s in public administration from the University of Victoria. His most recent book is Poems: Selected and New, published by Ekstasis Editions.
DC Reid created the PK Page Mentorship Fund to support mentorships for emerging poets. In addition to contributing $25,000 to the Fund, has also raised over $25,000 to make the PK Page Mentorship Program a reality. DC continues to make an annual contribution of over $2,000 each year, and the fund is expected to reach $60,000 in 2024. To date, the PK Page Mentorship Program has funded 19 mentorships in support of emerging poets through the League of Canadian Poets. In 2024, Reid began investing a groundbreaking $1.5 million in Canadian poetry, establishing an endowment at Writers’ Trust of Canada that will be developed over the next ten years. Annual earnings from the DC Reid Poets’ Grant fund will help talented poets of modest means more easily navigate precarious circumstances that may be preventing them from creating.
You can find out more about DC and his work at dcreid.ca.