About
Our Story
The Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation was established in 2016, to serve as the charitable platform for founders Moez and Marissa. Influenced by the immigrant experience, they both grew up in large close-knit families that prioritized relationships, the spirit of generosity, and a strong disdain towards injustice. Together, these are now values they share and work to pass on to their children Madelyn, Mila, Mikayla, and Milan.
Moez Kassam is the founder of Anson Funds, which manages over $1.5 billion USD in investments across the globe. Equally committed to volunteerism, he serves on the boards of the Toronto Public Library Foundation and the Canadian Olympic Foundation.
Marissa Kassam is the former Vice President of Philanthropy for Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets and previously worked at J.P. Morgan in New York, Hong Kong and London. Marissa is a former volunteer of the Grameen Foundation where she was awarded the Bankers without Border volunteer opportunity in Uganda, where she wrote a research report on mobile money. In 2020, Marissa completed the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy at The University of Pennsylvania. Marissa is also the author of a free children’s book Goodnight Zoom.
Registered as a private foundation, Moez and Marissa have engaged a diverse and skilled group of volunteer board directors to help support their giving and engagement with charitable partners. They understand the critical importance of transparency and accountability. To learn more please see our Registered Charity Information Return.
Our Mission
The Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation believes in an equitable world, where everyone has access to opportunities and no one is left behind.
We focus on four priority impact areas – Food Security and Safe Housing, Healthcare and Research, Filling the Gap and Quality Education for Children, Leveled Fields of Play. We invest in organizations that address the symptoms of inequality and exclusion, while working to level the playing field.
Our Priority Impact Areas
The Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation works with allies that share our mission – which is anchored by three values:
Community: We believe in the power of welcoming the stranger, because we are all better together.
Opportunity: We commit to seeing and removing barriers to create pathways to possibility.
Courage: We embrace doing what is right, and get behind visionary leaders, with bold ideas to solve intractable problems.
Leadership
Moez Kassam Co-Founder and Director
Moez Kassam is a hedge fund manager, venture capitalist and entrepreneur. As co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Anson Funds, he presides over $1.5 billion in assets with exceptional results, regularly earning him a spot among the globe’s top performers by both Bloomberg and Barron’s magazines. Based on annualized returns from 2018 to 2020, Anson ranked among the Top 10 Hedge Funds by Barclay Managed Funds.
Moez is also an active philanthropist. Moez sits on the advisory boards of the Toronto Library Foundation, the Canadian Olympic Foundation, Ryerson University’s Technology Innovation Circle, and the Immigrant Access Fund.
He and his wife founded the Moez & Marissa Kassam Foundation
Marissa Kassam Co-Founder and Director
Marissa is Vice President of Philanthropy for Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets and is responsible for managing the Capital Markets Donation budget and encouraging community engagement & employee volunteerism.Before joining RBC in 2013, Marissa previously worked at J.P. Morgan in New York, Hong Kong and London. She was awarded the Bankers without Border volunteer opportunity in Uganda where she wrote a research report on mobile money for the Grameen foundation. She also spent a summer at Tech Stars in New York, an entrepreneurial bootcamp for 14 technology start-ups (1600 applicants) as they grow from early stage to venture-backed companies.
She is a graduate of The Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and now lives in her hometown, Toronto, with her husband Moez. Marissa’s proudest accomplishments are her 3 daughters, Maddie, Mila and Mikayla and 1 son Milan.
In 2020, Marissa completed an Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Goodnight Zoom, a free children’s book explaining the COVID-19 pandemic (www.goodnightzoom.ca)
Andrew Blott Director
Andrew Blott founded Quantum Capital in 2004 and has led some of the firm’s key investments. Prior to Quantum, Mr. Blott spent ten years at various Wall Street institutions including Credit Suisse Boston and CIBC World Markets and helped facilitate almost $20B in financings and M&A transactions for a variety of companies including Philip Morris and Nabisco and large private equity funds such as KKR and Oaktree Capital.
Mr. Blott holds executive positions and is the Chairman of the Audit Committees of Apache Industrial Services, Skyway Canada, RailCrew Xpress and Lone Star Texas Grill. Mr. Blott is a continuing member and past board member of the Young Presidents Organization.
Sarah Fulford Director
Sarah Fulford is the editor-in-chief of Toronto Life, an influential glossy monthly city magazine that publishes award-winning feature writing and expert service journalism. When she took over the publication in January 2008, she was just 33 years old, making her one of the youngest editors of a major magazine in Canada.
She has won two Canadian National Magazine Awards for her writing and has contributed articles to publications such as The Globe and Mail, the National Post, and The Walrus.
Fulford sits on the board of the Toronto Public Library Foundation.
Hassan Valji Director
Hassan Valji is a former clean-tech founder with Plan B Energy and former humanitarian with Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Hassan now spends his time as a consultant on matters of organization transformation, operations improvement, and customer services strategy.
From an industry perspective, Hassan has experience across multiple industries, but spends most of his time in the Utilities and Humanitarian sectors.