Volunteers Fuel Growth and Impact in Financial Empowerment
Sheri Wright, long-time AIMCo Foundation volunteer, reflects on the organization’s journey.
In 2018, Sheri Wright was in a unique position to see how everyone from teenagers to seniors can benefit from financial literacy education. As a public school trustee and an executive at a pension plan, she saw both students who needed to learn more about long-term savings and seniors who struggled to understand their pension statements.
So, when the AIMCo Foundation for Financial Education was founded that year with a vision of creating a secure and prosperous financial future for all Albertans, Wright was keen to join. She became a founding member of the Board of Directors, serving until her retirement in 2024. During her tenure, Wright saw the Foundation grow from an upstart endeavour to a registered charity that has distributed more than $2 million in Alberta through grants and scholarships.
“I’m so very proud of the work the Foundation has done, and I think it’s an organization that is going to hold its own for generations to come,” she said.
The AIMCo Foundation is driven by volunteers who are staff or clients of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo). Wright volunteered when she was an employee at the Local Authorities Pension Plan and later the Special Forces Pension Plan, both AIMCo clients. As the board’s client representative for more than five years, Wright played a critical role in ensuring the Foundation considered AIMCo client perspectives throughout its growth, and that clients remained aware of the good work happening on the ground through the Foundation’s community partnerships.
In the beginning, Wright saw an organization that was powered by good people with great ideas. Fundraising efforts were grassroots and included campaigns like “Jeans Week,” where AIMCo employees could wear jeans to work in return for donations. Over time, the Foundation grew into a sophisticated charity that has scaled its impact by leveraging wider fundraising campaigns and donations from AIMCo’s corporate partners.
Unlike many corporate foundations funded exclusively by a corporate budget line from a parent company, the AIMCo Foundation is an independent registered charity funded primarily by employee donations and corporate partner fundraising, and is governed by a separate Board of Directors.
“The Foundation had humble beginnings. There were just a few people who were doing the work off the sides of their desks, but who saw the dream of what it could be. It’s now an amazing, professional charitable organization. It’s been very meaningful for me to be part of it,” Wright says.
Over the years, Wright has been impressed by the variety of Alberta charities that have delivered financial education programs thanks to grants from the AIMCo Foundation. These include organizations like the Bissell Centre in Edmonton, which works with very low-income populations, and Wellspring Alberta, which helps people navigate the financial impacts of a cancer diagnosis.
“These agencies are doing very impressive work, using these dollars to make an impact and to serve people from all backgrounds throughout Alberta. It’s amazing to see the work that’s being done.”
***
The AIMCo Foundation is powered by people. From the oversight and strategic direction provided by a volunteer Board of Directors and Steering Committee to the completion of core operational functions like accounting, fundraising and funding recommendations, the Foundation’s volunteers are moving our mission forward every day. Their commitment and passion ensure financial education is accessible across Alberta, through impactful community grants and supportive student scholarships.
Browse our impact report, Empowering Access, to see all we accomplished together in 2024.
