Founded in 1983, Calgary Flames Foundation (CFF) is the fundraising arm of the Calgary Flames hockey club. It raises money to support initiatives and charities in Southern Alberta that focus on education, health and wellness, and grassroots sports.

Calgary Flames Foundation reports on its website and most recent F2020 annual report that it distributed over $4.4m to initiatives and charities during the year. CFF’s $4.4m in grants is broken down as follows into its three pillars: $1.6 million for amateur and grassroots sports, $1.0 million for health and wellness, and $238k for education. It allocated the final $1.5m to a covid-19 community support program.

Amateur and grassroots sports: CFF’s largest recipient for this pillar is the Flames Even Strength program. The program provides financial help to families who are unable to afford sports registration fees for their kids. CFF supports this program in partnership with Hockey Calgary and KidSport Calgary. It grants $225k annually. 464 kids received financial assistance in F2020 which is an increase over 408 kids in F2019. CFF also funds HEROS (Hockey Education Reaching Out Society). HEROS is a mentorship program that uses hockey to teach life skills to marginalized youth in low-income neighborhoods. It grants $57,500 annually to this program. 178 kids used HEROS to create life skills in F2020. Since its founding, over 1,200 players accessed HEROS in Calgary, of which 30% were female.

Health and Wellness: CFF works with YMCA Calgary to run the YMCA Flames Grade 6 program. The program ensures all grade 6 students in Calgary can access YMCA services in the city. CFF announced a $1.0m donation to the YMCA in F2020, bringing the total commitment to this program to $2.0m (distributed over several years). In F2020 there were 5,595 grade 6 participants, 73% of which ranked their membership with the YMCA extremely important to their wellness. CFF annually grants $200k to Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation to support Rotary Flames House, a children’s hospice with seven family suites. The hospice provided 1,360 bed nights in F2020: 1,071 for respite care, 207 for symptom management, and 82 for end-of-life care. CFF also annually grants $75k to Kids Cancer Care PEER program which aims to reintroduce cancer survivors to an active, healthy lifestyle. In F2020, there were 93 participants in the program.

Education: CFF annually grants $50k to support Flames@School, an online resource center for teachers and students that focuses on health and wellness. In F2020, 64,620 students engaged with the program. Through Reading… Give it a Shot!, Calgary Flames hockey players visit students in grades four, five, and six and motivate kids to read by exchanging hockey cards for minutes spent reading. CFF grants $5k annually to this program and in F2020, 24,000 students participated.

The covid-19 community support fund supported food security and mobilization, mental health services, shelter, support of sport, and family support services. The largest recipients of grants were United Way of Calgary Area, Meals on Wheels, and Calgary Food Bank.

The following financial analysis uses an auditor's review rather than audit. The auditing procedures in a review are substantially less than in an audit. As such, the auditor does not express an opinion but concludes that nothing causes KPMG to believe the financial review does not fairly present the financial position.

Calgary Flames Foundation received $1.6m in donations and special events fundraising in F2020. In F2020, CFF received $1.9m in 50/50 raffles (net of expenses). Administrative costs are 1% of revenue (excluding investment income). Fundraising costs are 37% of donations and special events. This results in overhead spending of 37%. Per dollar donated to the Foundation, 63 cents go to the cause, which is just outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Update - November 2, 2018: Calgary Flames Foundation has improved its financial transparency. Its financial statements for F2018, F2019, and F2020 are online. For more comments on Calgary Flames Foundation's commitment to financial transparency see John Bean's comments.

Calgary Flames Foundation has $8.2m in funding reserves ($8.8m in F2019, and $9.0m in F2018). In F2020 $4.5m was held in GICs with the remaining balances in cash. CFF's funding reserves cover current grants for around one year and 11 months.

Of these funding reserves, Calgary Flames Foundation has committed to donate $2.9m (35% of funding reserves) to other charities between F2021 and F2025: $1.0m in F2021, $873k in F2022, $623k in F2023, $268k in F2024, and $100k in F2025. Recipients include Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, Kidsport (for the Flames Even Strength program), Kids Cancer Care Foundation (for Camp Kindle), and YMCA (for the Flames Grade 6 membership program).

Grants, as reported in Ci’s analysis, include disbursements and program costs. The charity’s financials do not disclose the two items separately.

Calgary Flames Foundation’s T3010 CRA filings for F2020, F2019, and F2018 report no paid staff. However, financial statements show personnel costs of $166k in F2020, $160k in F2019, and $156k in F2018. These were reimbursements paid for staff at Calgary Flames Limited Partnership. Calgary Flames Foundation receives free office space, equipment, and support services from CFLP and paid CFLP $334k for fundraising events and 50/50 supports, and paid $166k for staff reimbursement in F2020.

Charity Intelligence has sent this profile update to Calgary Flames Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 17, 2021, by Shira Wine.

Tel: 404-777-2177