Claymore Investments, Inc. held a pancake breakfast fundraiser at the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday to mark the launch of its annual model portfolio competition.

Roughly 500 people attended the breakfast, which raised money for the Odette Cancer Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Claymore president and CEO Som Seif sits on the fundraising committee board for the Odette Cancer Centre, which works to improve the quality of life for individuals living with cancer.

“The fundraising is really to help build out the staff, the doctors and the technology to fight cancer,” Seif said. “Their goal is to transform cancer care and this is just one way that we can help them meet that goal.”

He added that he was pleased with the turnout at the fundraiser, and with the volume of donations received.

“Lots of donations came both online and in person,” Seif said, adding that the total amount raised had not yet been determined.

The fundraising event comes a day before Claymore launches its Next Top Model contest for the second consecutive year. Canadians participate in the competition by building model portfolios comprised of Claymore ETFs.

The company tracks the performance of the submitted portfolios over a six-week period, and throughout the competition, prizes are awarded to the participants whose portfolios achieve the best performance.

Part of the purpose of the competition is to educate Canadians about exchange-traded funds, according to Seif.

“The idea here was to get people aware of how to build portfolios using ETFs, and two, to have some fun with investing,” said Seif. “It’s considered to be something that most people don’t pay much attention to, but it can be a fun thing to get involved with and educate yourself and understand how exchange-traded funds are an important investment vehicle for investors.”

Last year, in the competition’s inaugural year, about 600 people participated. Seif hopes to attract more participants this year.

Since the competition prize typically includes a donation to a charity chosen by the winner, Seif considered the pancake breakfast fundraiser a suitable launch for the contest.

“It’s a little bit about giving back,” he said.

IE