Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation

About Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation:

Founded in 1957, Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation (ACHF) is the fundraising arm for Alberta Children’s Hospital. The Hospital cares for over 97,000 children annually. Through the Child Health Grant Program, ACHF funds projects that fall into four main categories: research, clinical care, family-centred care, and education. Current priorities in child health are brain health, cancer, healthy living, life-saving care and genomics.

ACHF granted $27.5m in F2018: 55% went to research, 26% to clinical care, 9% to childhood cancer centre initiatives, 7% to family-centred care programs, and 3% to education. ACHF reports that research funding supports over 200 researchers at Alberta Children’s Hospital each year. ACHF has partnered with Alberta Health Services to build a Centre for Child & Adolescent Mental Health in response to the growing need amongst young people for mental health services. The Centre will include a mental health walk-in service, intensive outpatient therapy, and a day hospital program. Construction will start in Fall 2019. ACH is also the first children’s hospital in Canada to have a CPR Feedback System that provides real-time information to ensure effective CPR techniques.

Results and Impact: In its most recent 2018 newsletter, ACHF reports that Dr. Thompson and his research team at Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (ACHRI) discovered 16 metabolic compounds that form a ‘biologic fingerprint’ specific to appendicitis in children. Pediatricians can test for these biomarkers in patients with abdominal pain to aid in diagnosing appendicitis and determining whether the appendix is perforated. With the help of ACHF funding, ACHRI reports that its researchers have published 901 new scientific discoveries in 2017, up 77% from 509 in 2016.

Financial Review:

Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation received $29.7m in donations in F2018. It is a Major 100, one of Canada’s largest charities in terms of donations. ACHF also received $15.4m in investment income from its funding reserves (ROI of 8%). Administrative costs are 10% of revenues and fundraising costs are 15% of donations. Per donated dollar, 74 cents goes towards mission spending, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. This does not account for ACHF’s $11.0m operating surplus.

F2018 grants of $27.5m included $15.1m to the University of Calgary, $12.2m to Alberta Health Services (i.e., Alberta Children’s Hospital), $10k to the Palix Foundation, and $77k to CanLearn Society for Persons with Learning Difficulties.  ACHF also reports future grant commitments. It plans to grant $32.2m in F2019 (mostly in research and clinical programs) and provide between $26m-$32m in grants over the next 3-5 years. 

ACHF’s funding reserves of $221.9m include $75.0m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding endowed funds, the charity’s reserves can cover annual grants for 6.2 years. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to the charity for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on November 21, 2018 by Katie Khodawandi.