The W. Garfield Weston Foundation had its origins in 1959 and is named in honour of Willard Garfield Weston, a Canadian who established successful business enterprises throughout Canada and in many parts of the world. The Foundation is supported by an endowment from the Weston family.

The founder believed that as the funds were generated through the hard work and success of Canadian businesses, that grants should be given in Canada for the benefit of Canadians.

For over forty years the Foundation has made donations to Canadian charitable organizations reflecting a wide spectrum of urban and rural needs, from medical and nutritional research, to programs in the arts, education and the environment. These grants were distributed throughout all of the Provinces and Territories.

In 1997, the board of the Foundation decided that it should become more proactive and narrowly focused in its grant making. Consequently, the Foundation currently focuses the majority of its funds on four specific organizations that execute innovative work in the areas of education and the environment. In education, The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation provides scholarships for college and university students, while Children First: School Choice Trust offers tuition-assistance grants for parents who could not otherwise afford to send their child to an independent elementary school in Ontario. A one-time gift to the Ontario Science Centre for their Innovation Centre will foster a greater understanding of science and technology in youth. The Nature Conservancy of Canada administers the Foundation's environment-related grants, using it for land conservation projects across Canada. The Trustees of the Foundation also make donations to charities which they search out themselves.