Easter Seals Alberta

About Easter Seals Alberta:

In 1951, a group of Albertans raised funds for services needed by physically disabled children. Today, Easter Seals Alberta aims to provide services that foster inclusion, independence and recreation for individuals with disabilities and medical conditions. Programming includes a recreation camp, residential home, equipment and support services, public education, and scholarships.

Easter Seals Camp Horizon provides campers with the opportunity to learn new skills, overcome challenges, and build a support network. Hundreds of campers with disabilities and special needs attend camp each year. Easter Seals Alberta subsidizes the cost of sending every child to camp by 50%. Equipment and Support Services provides specialized mobility equipment for individuals with physical disabilities based on financial need. In 2015, the charity provided clients with 216 pieces of equipment, including power scooters and wheelchairs. The Easter Seals McQueen Residence provides a home to nine adults with physical disabilities. In addition, the Phyllis Davidson Scholarship Program granted post-secondary scholarships to 11 students living with physical disabilities.

The charity held a Speakers in School public education event across 23 schools and venues. The event brings people with physical disabilities into Alberta high schools to speak to grade 11 students about overcoming adversity and how to interact with people who have a disability. In F2015, 1,537 students attended the events.

In F2015, 23% of program costs and grants went to the recreation camp, 18% to equipment support services, 14% to the residential home, 2% in grants to other charities, and 1% to public education.

Financial Review:

Easter Seals Alberta is a medium-sized charity with $1.9m in donations in F2016. Other major sources of revenue include fees for service of $2.2m and government funding of $1.1m. Included in fees for service are revenue from recreational camps, the residential home, and equipment support services. Administrative costs were 12% of revenues and fundraising costs were 40% of donations. For every $1 donated, 48 cents went to the cause. This falls outside of Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The charity has $2.3m in funding reserves, of which $105k are donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Easter Seals Alberta can cover 64% of annual programs and grants (just short of 8 months of programming).  

Donations decreased by 53% in F2016 due to a large decrease in deferred donations. The charity had $177k in deferred donations in F2016, $2.4m in F2015, and $2.1m in F2015. Fundraising campaigns and events consistently brought in $2.3m in F2016, F2015, and F2014. 

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by Easter Seals Alberta. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 26, 2017 by Juliana Badovinac.