About the foundation

It was in Montreal, on December 2005, at Simple Plan’s first Bell Center show, when the band announced the creation of the Simple Plan Foundation.

Why a foundation?

The foundation’s aim is to help young people in need by easing their often difficult passage to adulthood. Since they themselves are young, the band’s members are particularly aware of the problems faced by teenagers. They are even more familiar with these problems as they are in constant touch with their fan base.

“We started the Simple Plan Foundation as a way to try to give something back to our community and make a difference. After reading hundreds of letters and e-mails from our fans and talking to them at our shows, we know very well how tough life can be for kids growing up. It breaks our hearts to see so many young people fighting to survive while feeling depressed and lost. We want our Foundation to help them find their way and show them that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel, that things can get better.

Being in this band, we also got to meet lots of kids and families dealing with illness. There's nothing more unfair and absurd than seeing a young life ruined by cancer or any other sickness. This subject is extremely close to our hearts because we've had people in our own families that were hit by cancer and got to witness first-hand how devastating this can be and what toll it can have on our loved ones. The Foundation will be there to try and help out families who are going through such tragic events.

We’ve had the great opportunity of touring the world and meeting all sorts of kids from places far and wide. We’ve also had to see the harsh realities of children living in war torn areas around the world: children who are living in poverty, who are forced into armies, and are suffering from the after effects of war. We believe every child deserves a happy childhood. We hope our foundation will be a global foundation that will give back to the world community of children and help them deal with their own personal daily struggles. If we can bring a few smiles to these children, we know that would make a world of difference.”, declared the group members.

The objectives

The Simple Plan Foundation plans to help needy young people by contributing in the following fields:

Help the various groups and organisations working with young people facing typical teenage problems: drugs, depression, suicide, poverty, and those effected by war

Support various social and medical organizations dedicated to helping ill and handicapped children and youths

Promote musical training in schools as a way of helping young people develop a passion and find a purpose in life

A structured undertaking

For the members of Simple Plan, the launching of their foundation answered the need for a better structured social implication; the final outcome is a series of undertakings throughout the years:

They participated in the effort to help the South East Asia tsunami victims;

They contributed to MADD (Mothers Against Drinking and Driving) and to RAAD (The Entertainment Industry’s Voice for Road Safety), as well as to Educ-Alcohol, in an important campaign against drinking and driving;

They performed at Live8, a planetary event dedicated to heighten public awareness of the problems associated with world poverty;

They continuously responded to requests issued by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, an organization dedicated to bringing hope and joy to terminally ill children and teens;

With Sennheiser, the band brought the concert experience to hearing impaired children across Canada as well as some countries in Europe. With the help of a cochlear implant, children were able to hear sounds from a Simple Plan concert for the first time.

While touring around the world, Simple Plan continued to participate in various projects in an informal manner. They visited teens and children in hospitals or in special schools and financially helped charitable organizations such as “Le Garde-Manger pour tous”, which is dedicated to promoting healthy feeding habits for the underprivileged. They contributed an autographed guitar to an auction held by the Jean-Béliveau Foundation and to another one held by the Kovalev and Friends for Kids Foundation. More recently, they supported the deaf children of the École oraliste, in Quebec, by contributing to the Fondation Sourdine benefit event. Following their foundation’s involvement in Leucan, they have been taking part in the launch festivities of Leucan’s 30^th anniversary, by offering a big open-air show at Ski Bromont on March 14^th 2009, within the context of “Défi Ski 12 heures Leucan”. The show gathered more than 7 000 fans and contributed to raise money to profit Leucan, wich mission is to offer support and accompaniment toward children with cancer and their families.

How does the Simple Plan Foundation work?

It goes without saying that the Simple Plan Foundation is primarily constituted by the band members: Pierre Bouvier, vocals, Chuck Comeau, drums, David Desrosiers, bass, Sébastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco, guitars. However, since their professional engagements require them to travel frequently, they have set up a managing committee to look after the day to day activities and report to them regularly. Being kept well informed allows them to assume all the important decisions. The members of the Board of directors and the collaborators are all volunteers; so, the donations are entirely devoted to the charities supported by the foundation.

Like any foundation, the Simple Plan Foundation solicits donations from individuals, corporations and organizations who share the same values. Spontaneous donations, particularly via the Web site, are also welcome. It’s now easier than ever, since the foundation has registered with “Canada Helps”, witch collects online donations for Canadian charities.

However, solicitation is not the only way to collect funds. Simple Plan has also negotiated agreements with the various venues where they perform, whereby a percentage of the profits resulting from the sale of merchandise are automatically directed to the foundation at each performance. Simple Plan also negotiated an agreement with the Bell Center, where 0.50 of each ticket sold for their September 13^th, 2008, Montreal show, as well as a portion of tickets sales of the band’s following Australian and Mexican tours, went directly to the Foundation. The band hopes to conclude similar agreements in the future, with as many produces as possible, to ensure consistent revenues for the charities that the Foundation supports. Constantly developing progressive new ways to raise funds for their Foundation,, the members of Simple Plan have also recently concluded an agreement with Apple, Lava/Atlantic and Warner/Chappell Music stating that part of the global proceeds from each download of the single “Save You” will be donated to the Foundation to fight cancer.

The organization of benefit events is another interesting means of financing: cocktails, conferences, auctions, shows, etc. And, of course, Simple Plan also intends to perform in order to contribute to its foundation.

A first successful fundraising

The Simple Plan Foundation has made its first donations during a press conference that took place in Montreal, June 19^th, 2008, in the presence of Mr L. Jacques Ménard, president of BMO Financial Group, Quebec, and chairman of BMO Nesbitt Burns, and in front of representatives of the selected charities. A total of $100 000 was distributed among several charitable organisations the group hold in high esteem and which share the Foundation’s objectives. For example: War Child Canada, Kids Help Phone, Leucan, Fondation Portage, Ateliers Art-Go, Fondation Les Auberges du Coeur, The Lighthouse, children and Families, etc.

Also announced during the press conference was the launch of the Simple Plan Foundation’s new 2008-2009 fundraising campaign, with the support of Mr L.-Jacques Ménard, who also accepted to serve as the campaign’s honorary president. A first fundraising event has taken place Sunday, August 17^th, 2008, at 11:00 am, at Mel’s Cité du Cinéma. Festivities have begun with brunch, hosted by Virginia Coossa, and a double auction, both live and silent. Afterwards, Simple Plan has performed an acoustic concert.

The event brought together over 600 people, among them many high-profile personalities, and raised more than $125 000. The members of the group and the volunteers sincerely thank everyone who took part in this activity, especially their sponsors, who have provided services, merchandise and various prizes, and their generous donators, who have contributed a total of $50 000. They are particularly grateful to their main partners, the CIBC Bank and the Bank of Montreal, for their precious and unfailing support.

On December 20^th, 2008, with the collaboration of the Remparts de Québec, the members of Simple Plan have also taken part in a friendly hockey game with the Remparts and NHL hold timers, including Patrick Roy, and played an acoustic set after the match in front of more than 10 000 spectators. The event raised over $125 000 for four charities, among them the Simple Plan Foundation.

The 2009-2010 Fundraising Campaign

The Simple Plan Foundation will hold its main benefit event of its second campaign on Thursday, September 24^th, 2009, at 7:30 pm, at the Metropolis, 59 Ste-Catherine Street East, in Montreal. The evening will start with a “Wine and Desserts” cocktail and a double auction, both live and silent. It will offer guests the opportunity to meet the band in more intimate surroundings than a large arena. Afterwards, Simple Plan will perform a concert. Finally, the Simple Plan Foundation will take the opportunity to announce the names of the charitable organizations who will receive contributions this year.

The members of Simple Plan and the Foundation hope they can count once again on the support of all their partners, donators and sponsors, so they can continue to help young people in need. They warmly thank all persons who collaborate to their mission, in a way or another, for the trust they have always showed them and for their support. They are particularly grateful to Mr L.-Jacques Ménard, president, Quebec, BMO Financial Group, who accepted to renew its commitment as honorary president of their second fundraising campaign 2009-2010, and to Mr André Prud’Homme, first vice president, CIBC Wood Gundy, who continues to take on the task of chairman of the Board of directors of the Simple Plan Foundation.

I WISH TO MAKE A FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE SIMPLE PLAN FOUNDATION

Benefit events

To buy tickets ($125 per person) for the benefit concert at the Metropolis Thursday, September, 24^th, 2009, or to sponsor the event, please contact us at info@simpleplanfoundation.com or download the registration form available on the Foundation’s Web site. You will also find all information you need.

In addition to the Metropolis show, the members of Simple Plan, together or separately, intend to take part in a few other fundraising events to profit their Foundation. They will be announced at the appropriate time. For any information concerning these events and the Simple Plan Foundation’s activities, please check out our Web site: www.simpleplanfoundation.com.

Donations

To make a donation to the Simple Plan Foundation, you can use anytime and anywhere, the online donation site CanadaHelps.org, available on the Foundation’s Web site, or you can send a check at the order of the Simple Plan Foundation, at the following postal address:

Simple Plan Foundation, 1250, René-Lévesque blvd West, suite 3100,Montreal, QC, H3B 4W8

N.B.: Please send us your name and address, if you wish to receive a tax receipt.