Helping Kids in Need BMO and our employees contributed more than $500,000 to Kids Help Phone^®5 (KHP), Canada’s only 24-hour toll-free anonymous bilingual help line for children and youth. And we continued to be the principal sponsor of the KHP Community and KHP Student Ambassador programs.

Canadian Red Cross Mosaik MasterCard BMO Bank of Montreal and the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) teamed up to launch a new affinity credit card. “This new Canadian Red Cross Mosaik MasterCard will provide our donors with a convenient and efficient way to support our vital work in Canadian communities,” said Conrad Sauvé, National Director of Fund Development at CRC.

Celebrating Promising Artists BMO Financial Group’s 1st Art! Invitational Student Art Competition celebrated the creativity and promise of art students graduating from post-secondary institutions across Canada. Deans and instructors were asked to submit their best student works, and a distinguished selection committee then chose a national winner, along with one winner from each eligible province and territory, from 126 entrants. University of Victoria graduate and 1st Art! national winner Matt Shane and the 13 regional winners demonstrate the talent of the next generation of Canadian artists.

Centre Stage At a gala in October, Jillian Keiley, a theatrical director based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, was presented with the 2004 Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, which is sponsored by BMO. The $100,000 prize, the largest in Canadian theatre, is awarded in a three-year cycle to a director, playwright or designer who has made a significant contribution to theatre in Canada.

Skating Partners In 2004, we announced the renewal of BMO’s long-standing partnership with Skate Canada for an additional six years. Whether we’re helping to develop young skaters through the CanSkate^®6Learn to Skate program or elite skaters competing at the international level, BMO’s passion for figure skating remains crystal clear.

Harris: A Pillar of the Community In June 2004, the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago recognized Harris with a Community Pillar Award in the area of Leadership Giving. Harris is one of the health and human services organization’s largest corporate benefactors and, with its employees, contributed a total of US$1.6 million for the charitable organization last year. In addition, our Harris Nesbitt trading desk participated in Trade For Hope, donating US$700,000 in commissions to the American Cancer Society.

Employee Volunteers Thousands of BMO and Harris executives and employees are active volunteers within their communities, giving generously of their time and energy. Many contribute through BMO Fountain of Hope^® (FoH), a national charitable foundation managed by BMO Financial Group employees. In 2004, our employees raised a record $7.2 million through FoH for more than 2,300 organizations across Canada.

Best 50 Corporate Citizens Once again, BMO was recognized by Corporate Knights as one of Canada’s Best 50 Corporate Citizens, ranking sixth overall and first among our peers in the financial services industry.