Alberta Cancer Foundation

About Alberta Cancer Foundation:

Founded in 1985, Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF) is the main fundraising organization for Alberta’s 17 cancer centres. The charity’s mission is to make Alberta the leader in cancer research, prevention and care. For these purposes the foundation funds research to better understand the risk factors, improve screening methods and provide better treatments. It also allocates funds to improve care and wellness services for patients suffering from cancer. ACF reports 43 new cancer cases are diagnosed every day in Alberta. 

In 2016, ACF allocated $15.2 million to cancer research and $4.8 million to treatment. Major projects funded by the Alberta Cancer Foundation are $5.4 million in immunotherapy, $2.9 million in colorectal cancer and $2.5 million towards lung cancer screening. ACF also funded a 6-year, $5m Tomorrow Project to use 50,000 biological samples to understand the root causes of cancer.

Alberta Cancer Foundation reports its research funding has saved 600 lives. The Foundation supports every single clinical trial which takes place in Alberta. It reports that within the coming year, more than 40 clinical trials are expected to open in Alberta with 600 patients taking part.

Financial Review:

Alberta Cancer Foundation is one of Canada’s Major 100 charities with F2016 donations and special events revenue of $27.3m. The charity does not report fundraising and administrative costs separately in its audited financial statement. Together, they were 51% of revenues in F2016. For every dollar donated, 49 cents goes to the cause, falling outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead costs. The average for total overhead costs for Canadian charities is 26%. ACF has funding reserves of $152.6m, including $43m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding donor-endowed funds, funding reserves can cover program costs for 6.1 years.

For every dollar donated, 38 cents go towards research. ACF spends 77% of its program costs on research allocations.

This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by Alberta Cancer Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 6^st, 2017 by Josh Lam.