ALBERTA GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTS COMMUNITY SPIRIT DONATION GRANT PROGRAM

Program guidelines to be available by April 1.

Today (February 1) Premier Ed Stelmach announced the Donation Grant Program, the second component of the Community Spirit Program. The Donation Grant Program is intended to encourage Albertans to donate to non-profits and registered charities through matching their cash donations.

“While we won’t know what impact the Donation Grant Program may have until the next budget is released, we are pleased to see that organizations will have the flexibility to apply their grants to areas they identify as priorities”, says Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations CEO Katherine van Kooy. ”We look forward to hearing about specific funding amounts and to reviewing the granting guidelines. We also look forward to continuing to work with the government in their efforts to support the voluntary sector”.

While full details on the program have not been released, the grants will:

1) Be open to all Alberta-operating non-profits and registered charities

2) Aim at encouraging donations by matching the year’s cash donations

3) Be usable on operations, projects, programming and small capital projects

4) Have a maximum grant amount of $25,00 per year, not exceeding $50,00 over a three-year period.

The Donation Grant Program is the second part of the Community Spirit Program announced in Spring 2007 by the Premier. An Enhanced Tax Credits Program was introduced in the 2007 budget.

The CCVO has been monitoring the development of the Community Spirit Program since its announcement in the 2007 Provincial Budget. Watch for further details in the ebulletin and our website regarding this important initiative. See the CCVO’s issues background paper at www.calgarycvo.org .

To read the news release about the announcement, visit www.alberta.ca .

Joanna Farley
Programs Assistant
Calgary Chamber of Voluntary Organizations
Kahanoff Centre
#940, 1202 Centre Street SE
Calgary, AB, T2G 5A5
Phone: (403) 261-6655 ext. 225
Fax: (403) 261-6602
Email: jfarley@calgarycvo.org