may 2009 issue

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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.

Women’s Scholarship Deadline Approaches

The Alberta Women’s Science Network is offering three, $3,000 scholarship awards for study in the 2009-2010 academic year, but the deadline is less than a month away. Applications from undergraduate women must be received by June 1, AWSN says in a recent news release.

Applications are welcome from women who are continuing, full-time undergraduate students entering at least the second year of a program in science or engineering at an Alberta university, college or technical institute. Also, winning applicants will have demonstrated leadership in academic or community settings.

One scholarship will be awarded in each educational category — university, college and technical institute. 

Interested women must send AWSN

• an official transcript sealed by the registrar of their university or other institution

• a curriculum vitae (a CV is longer than a traditional resumé and more informational than promotional in tone)

• a one-page essay on their leadership (single spaced, 12-point font)

• a letter of reference that speaks to this demonstrated leadership (in a sealed envelope with a signature across the seal).

Send an e-mail to awsn@awsn.com and a hardcopy of the application to: 

AWSN
Attn: Scholarship Committee
349-305 4625 Varsity Dr NW
Calgary, AB  T3A  0Z9

The idea for the Alberta Women’s Science Network came out of a Science Alberta Foundation conference in 1992 in Calgary. Women from across Alberta discussed the need for a network for women in science and engineering groups the province. By communicating and sharing resources, the groups would be helping each other achieve common goals, they said.

Today, the network has a number of programs for women and girls in science, including job shadowing, mentoring awards, a newsletter and support for Aboriginals.

Emerald Finalists Announced

APEGGA permit holders and members are scattered among the projects listed as finalists in the 2009 Emerald Awards.  More than 150 people attended a reception in Edmonton hosted by Mayor Stephen Mandel, last month, to hear which projects and people made the cut.

“When reading through the nominations and seeing the extensive work that people are doing in Alberta to benefit our environment, it gives me great hope that Alberta’s environment is in good hands for the future,” said one of the judges, Gordon Howell, P.Eng. Mr. Howell is known for his involvement in Edmonton’s Riverdale NetZero energy house and is the winner of the individual commitment award in 2002.

The 2009 Emerald Awards gala will take place on Tuesday, June 16, at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. In addition to recognizing environmental excellence in the province, the night will offer “a fun, educational and entertaining show,” says information from the foundation.

The Alberta Emerald Foundations celebrates and showcases environmental leadership in Alberta, setting an example of environmental excellence for all to follow. Its website highlights 1,800 examples of how creative thinking and innovation in environmental management systems, technologies and education programs have helped Alberta balance it growth and resource development with the preservation of the environment.

Among the foundation’s objectives are to

• stimulate public and corporate environmental awareness in Alberta

• enhance youth participation by encouraging young people to become involved in environmental projects

• encourage behavioural change by recognizing environmental excellence

• expand and create new environmental excellence recognition initiatives

• create and strengthen strategic partnerships.