may 2009 issue

Home > Members > Publications > The PEGG > May 2009

NEWS
Member Donations Trigger Lottery Support for Foundation

From the YMCA to 4-H, nearly 1,500 Alberta-based non-profit and charitable organizations are benefiting from the Alberta Community Spirit Program. Among them is the APEGGA Education Foundation, which received $25,000.

Building on donations received from Albertans, the foundation and the other organizations will use the dollars to further delivery of their various community programs.

“Alberta’s non-profit and charitable organizations are helping to build strong communities across our province,” Premier Ed Stelmach said in a Community Spirit news release. “Support for these groups is important — especially in a time of economic uncertainty.”

Funded through the Alberta Lottery Fund, the Community Spirit Program received 1,592 applications for the grant in 2008. Of these, 1,496 were approved and will share $19 million. The remaining $1 million of the first-year budget was used for program operating and start-up costs, including an education campaign and information sessions. 

“Whatever the donation amount is, Albertans know the importance of charitable giving,” said the Hon. Lindsay Blackett, Minister of Culture and Community Spirit. “This program is a way for eligible organizations to receive additional funds as a result of cash donations they already worked so hard to obtain.”

The goal of the Community Spirit Program is to help increase private charitable donations by individual Albertans to Alberta’s non-profit and charitable organizations. The program is donor-driven, meaning Albertans decide where they want the funding to go based on where they donate.

All of the approved 2008 applicants will have up to the first $10,000 of their eligible cash donations matched dollar-for-dollar. Individual cash donations between $10,001 and $25,000 are matched at a rate of 50 per cent and donations over $25,000 are matched at a rate of 22.67 per cent.

The proportional grant will vary from year to year depending on the eligible cash donations received by organizations and the program budget.

The grant is available to all eligible non-profit organizations and Canada Revenue Agency-registered charities incorporated and operating in Alberta. The 2009 budget of the Alberta Govern-ment confirmed $20 million more to continue the program in 2009.

Two components make up the donor-driven Community Spirit Program: the donation grant and the approximately $80-million enhanced charitable tax credit, which allows Albertans to receive a 50-cent tax credit for every dollar donated over $200.

Operating at arms length from the Association, the APEGGA Education Foundation enhances and provides leadership and support in the education and development of engineers, geologists and geophysicists, and those who wish to enter the professions.

Donations from members totalled about $120,000 in 2008, a year that also saw the foundation enter into trust agreements with the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, turning over $500,000 to each of them for management and dispersal.