Founded in 1978, United Way Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo (UWFM), formerly United Way of Fort McMurray, grants funds to local charities to improve lives and build a stronger community in Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo. In 2018, the charity changed its name to The United Way Fort McMurray and Wood Buffalo to better reflect the community that it serves. The charity’s three granting programs are: Healthy People Strong Communities, All That Kids Can Be, and From Poverty to Possibility. In F2018, UWFM's supported 27 agencies with its granting. The three largest grant recipients were: $450k to The Salvation Army, $428k to Pastew Place Detoxification Centre, and $385k to Centre of Hope.

In F2018, the charity's Healthy People Strong Communities program funded 17 partner agencies that ran 27 programs collectively. In total, these programs directly impacted the lives of 43,193 people. Furthermore, these programs allowed 42 seriously ill or critically injured patients to receive emergency response air ambulance service. Lastly, these programs provided 1,500 hours of outpatient counselling services to children, individuals, and families struggling with mental health and trauma recovery.

Through its All That Kids Can Be program, UWFM funded 7 partnering agencies that ran 11 programs. These programs directly impacted the lives of 14,740 people. As a result of the programs funded by the charity, 1,251 disadvantaged children were given the opportunity to access sports and social programming in F2018. Additionally, 11,839 children and family members were given access to child/caregiver socialization and peer support; as well as professional services and referrals for additional support and intervention programs.

Lastly, UWFM supported 3 partnering agencies that ran 5 programs collectively in F2018 through its From Poverty to Possibility program. These programs directly impacted the lives of 27,529 community members. This resulted in over 300 homeless individuals being re-connected with their families and loves ones. Additionally, 24,338 meals were served to people staying in emergency and Out of Cold shelters.

United Way of Fort McMurray is a large charity with donations of $5.2m in F2018. Administrative costs are 7% of total revenues and fundraising costs are 9% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 85 cents go to its programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity has funding reserves of $8.7m. Reserves can cover granting at F2018 level for almost 17 months.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to United Way of Fort McMurray. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated August 27, 2019 by Stefan Tetzlaff.