Claudine and Stephen Bronfman donated over $100 million

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With a decade’s experience in her marketing career at Molson Coors Brewing Co., when Claudine Blondin married into Montreal’s Bronfman family, she pivoted to help refresh the family foundation’s mission.

Claudine and her husband, Stephen, created their own charitable foundation, and she is the co-chair of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation, which supports a variety of local, national and international programs with an emphasis on creating and innovating.

Stephen is the grandson of Samuel Bronfman, of Seagram’s fame, and Saidye Rosner Bronfman, and son of Charles Bronfman and Barbara Baerwald. He was raised in Westmount, Montreal, and eventually acquired his grandparents’ 100-year-old home. They have four children together, Alexandra, Samuel, Olivia and Isabella.

The family’s philanthropy is focused primarily on support for the arts, environmental causes, entrepreneurship aimed at young people, and the well-being of the Jewish community.

Claudine and Stephen have donated over $100 million to a plethora of causes since they were married, and in 2002 the family honoured their father by establishing The Charles Bronfman Prize.

The prize awards US$100,000 to young humanitarians “whose work is grounded in their Jewish values to the benefit of all people.”

The couple also established the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Fellowship in Contemporary Art, awarding major funding to two emerging artists in Montreal (one each from Université du Québec à Montréal and one from Concordia University).

Additionally, the Foundation has worked with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal for 15 years to offer the SéminArts program to educate participants on the practice of collecting contemporary art.

Claudine is Chair of the Board of C2 Montréal (C2 MTL), an annual conference on business and creativity, and a board member of the OSMO Foundation (Notman House), a Montréal-based organization focused on startup ecosystems for technology companies.

She is an Institute-certified director and received her ESG designation (ICD.D, GCB.D) from the Institute of Corporate Directors. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Marketing) from Université de Montréal – HEC Montréal and is on the Board of Stingray – a music and media provider company. Her achievements were recognized with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Here, Claudine shares how she and Stephen bring old and new worlds together, through meaningful partnerships, community outreach and a sense of equality that dominates their philanthropic initiatives.

The Bronfman family have been active in philanthropy for more than 100 years now. What was your experience marrying Stephen and learning about his family’s philanthropic spirit?

“I was working at Molson – clocking in long days in a corporate world. I met Stephen when I was 31 years old. He invited me to a fundraising lunch. They raised $6 million in one hour. Oh, my gosh, so that was my first exposure to philanthropy.

As a French Canadian raised as a Catholic, I became Jewish by choice when I got married. Jews truly value family and inclusivity and that relates to their persecution over centuries. His family embraced me because they knew that we were in love. And they were so open minded. They wanted me, also in a very natural way, to become part of their tradition of giving back to community.”

How did you keep your own identity, but also embrace your husband’s traditions?

“Before meeting Stephen, I wasn’t sure if I wanted children. I was going to be the career woman. My parents taught me to be independent, not to rely on a man. I was really determined.

Then we fell in love and had one child, then another, then a third, and a fourth!

When I first got pregnant, I left my job, which was a very big decision for me, because I was letting go of a central part of my being.

But Stephen encouraged me to pursue whatever I felt strongly about. I was in marketing all through my career, so I took the time to study the family foundation then said, ‘Let’s revise the vision, the mission and create new strategic pillars, working closely with organizations on developing dynamic programs.’”

What did you learn in those early years?

“Carving out this new plan helped me to understand that you can’t say yes to every request, or the foundation will become ineffective, and you’re left with nothing substantive to build on.

So we reshaped the strategy together with our foundation team. And you know what? That’s the beauty of a modern couple. It’s not the man doing all the big things, and then the woman doing a few little things in her corner. After that, it becomes so easy because it’s not just about us, and then you have a real impact.

Soon after, we bought Stephen’s grandfather’s house. The estate has been in the family since the 1920s. It just conveys the sentiment of tradition and legacy. When we met, we lived in a smaller place where we had our first three kids. I was worried that his family’s house was too big, and it’s a historic monument, so we had to be careful in our planning. But, because we were so in sync, we carefully redesigned it and together made it our home.”

It seems to be a theme between you, about maintaining tradition whilst bringing a modern view, and that you have been treated as an equal within the marriage.

“For many years we had an event at our home to benefit the annual campaign of the Combined Jewish Appeal. We’ve hosted around 400 people and would raise 30 million dollars in one night. I had never experienced this before, but Montreal is pretty much incredible for that.

At one of my first times at this event, I said to Stephen, ‘No, no, no, you’re not talking. I’m going to talk because they already know you and you’re like their family.’ So I spoke to the crowd, and my daughter, Alexandra, at 8 years old, presented in front of all of these people. What better way for the next generation to express and engage, right?

We set the precedent that I’m not to stand behind him, we’re partners – side by side, and we do things together – as a family.”

Regarding the foundation’s initiatives, how did you come together with that legacy and modernity merging?

“The values are so similar, that it made it easy for us. For example, Stephen has been supporting the David Suzuki Foundation for over 30 years, and I am from a corporate background, and spend my time promoting new ecosystems in entrepreneurship and female leadership. We also have a new international climate action project on the horizon that’s tied in to the Jewish values of “repairing the world.”

Your foundation is committed to unifying communities in Montreal, regardless of faith or race. How do your initiatives reflect that?

“It’s about, ‘Let’s bring our communities together for causes that we’re all striving to advance as Montrealers, whether it’s greater employment, or creating meaningful opportunities for others who might not have those breaks in life.’

I’ve been to Israel many times, and it’s really a game changer. Israelis are so resilient and innovative, and what we’re presented by the media is not always a balanced perspective. After one trip to Israel, we were having dinner with another inter-faith couple, and we were both feeling, ‘This is so different from other trips. We should bring over Quebec corporate leaders to share these moments.’ So we have arranged three trips now for non-Jewish couples to visit Israel – demystify the country and help them better understand how these informed experiences can improve all of our relationships at home.”

In terms of teaching people about succession and family enterprise and philanthropy, how do you incorporate that in the Jewish community?

“ It’s all about family – it’s business people who are not merely thinking about financial inheritance, but a concern for passing the torch to future generations to support their community.

I said to Stephen, ‘People are always coming to you for advice, and it’s not sustainable for one person to answer everybody.’ So we need to ensure and plan for a succession of more “layleaders.”

Together with two other philanthropic families we have selected a cohort of 10 couples mostly in their 40s and 50s, who are primed to join as the next generation of leaders. Again, these are couples of certain means who have succeeded in various industries. We mentor them and educate them, starting within the home, including programming with the kids, so the entire family shares the experience of giving back and acting socially responsible.

Also, we support the idea that we’re proud Montreal families, and we want our values to be paid forward.”

Empowering women of all backgrounds is something you’ve been passionate about. How do you nurture that?

“I’m all about empowering women. I have three girls, and I want them to see that women have the same chance of succeeding as men. Stephen and I created a bursary for girls at our daughters’ school.

It isn’t just a bursary based on financial need, which is important, of course, but the purpose is to subsidize talented young women of middle class families to help diversify the student population.

Can you share how you came to be involved in the C2 Montréal (C2 MTL) annual conference on business and society?

“I was there from the beginning. We were having dinner at a friend’s house, and we thought, ‘What if we organize a gathering of great minds and make Montreal shine as a creative business city?’

Montreal has an amazing cultural scene, and before 2008 we had such spirit. We wondered, ‘How can we bring back a bit of that and ensure that the city keeps it’s reputation as an international hub of creativity in business ?’”

You took a leadership role with C2 MTL as the pandemic started. How did you cope with that?

“We were confident with the vision and the mission of the organization, but we knew that it had to evolve. So the Board asked me to take on the chairmanship a little bit before the pandemic. No one could imagine what lay ahead.

But then I thought, ‘This conference is in my hands, and it should not only exist, it should thrive.’ When you’re in a pandemic, your revenue streams are tight. It’s an events-based fundraising model, it’s not a business. So we didn’t stop. We hosted our events virtually and cast our nets wide in the digital world. Nothing stopped us from creating quality content.

It is all about forward thinking movements. What’s the subject of tomorrow? What is the business of tomorrow? It was important for us to remain relevant. It was hard, obviously, because people want to see, feel and connect, but here we are – now in our 13th year. We survived the pandemic and are stronger for it.”

How do you prepare your four children for their own philanthropic roles?

“Our children have watched us being socially active since they were babies. On their 18th birthdays, each of them become members of the foundation. Our Foundation is part of their inheritance.

My late mother-in-law, she understood that it’s critical for the children to follow their passions and support community, so she established endowments for each of them so they would be able discover their own life path, and then find meaningful ways of giving back.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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