Grant and Funding Programs Offered by AIMCo Foundation for Financial Education (AIMCo)

The AIMCo Foundation for Financial Education is a registered charity created in 2018 by Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) employees and clients. Operating across Alberta, the Foundation channels charitable donations from AIMCo staff and corporate partners into targeted financial literacy and education initiatives. It does this through two main funding streams: community grants for nonprofit organizations and scholarship and bursary portfolios administered by post-secondary institutions.

Since inception, the Foundation has raised over $2.7 million and invested about $2 million back into communities, including roughly $1.6 million in community grants and $400,000 in scholarships and bursaries. Its focus is on empowering Albertans who are financially vulnerable or face barriers to accessing quality financial education.

The community grants program typically runs once a year, with an intake in the spring and decisions communicated in the fall. The Foundation does not accept unsolicited or off‑cycle requests; instead, it publishes a detailed granting guidebook outlining eligibility, assessment criteria and timelines. Grants support registered charities and nonprofit organizations across Alberta that deliver financial literacy and financial empowerment programming.

Funded initiatives cover a wide range of audiences and formats: workshops on budgeting and debt management, financial coaching, tax clinics, digital banking literacy, fraud and elder abuse prevention, and tailored supports for newcomers, seniors, youth, people with disabilities and low‑income communities. Recent impact reports and news releases highlight dozens of grantees each year, illustrating the breadth of programming supported in both urban centres and rural or remote regions.

Complementing its community grants, the AIMCo Foundation funds scholarship and bursary portfolios at multiple Alberta universities and technical institutes. Awards are aimed at undergraduate and graduate students in finance, accounting and related business programs, with designated support for women, Indigenous students, gender minorities and learners facing financial need. More than 30 students receive support annually at institutions such as MacEwan University, NAIT, SAIT and the universities of Alberta, Calgary and Lethbridge.

The Foundation is governed by a volunteer board of directors and supported by volunteer committees dedicated to granting, fundraising and scholarships. It publishes annual impact reports and audited financial statements, providing detailed data on funds raised, amounts distributed, grant recipients and scholarship outcomes. This commitment to transparency is reinforced by an ethical fundraising policy and a donor bill of rights.

Through its mix of grants and scholarships, the AIMCo Foundation plays a specialised role in Alberta’s funding landscape: it targets financial literacy as a lever for poverty reduction, social inclusion and economic resilience. Community partners supported by the Foundation help people navigate benefits systems, avoid fraud, build savings habits and plan for long‑term financial security, while scholarship recipients gain the education needed to become the next generation of financial and investment professionals.