CMHA Wood Buffalo Achieves Accreditation from Imagine Canada’s Standard Program

(Fort McMurray, May 26, 2020) – CMHA Wood Buffalo Region, today announces that it has been accredited under Imagine Canada’s Standards Program. With this achievement, we join a distinguished community of 32 non-profit organizations dedicated to operational excellence in Alberta.

The Standards Program is a Canada-wide set of shared standards for charities and non-profits designed to help organizations strengthen their operations in five fundamental areas: board governance; financial accountability and transparency; fundraising; staff management; and volunteer involvement.

When asked what the accreditation means in the context of Covid-19 and the recent flood, CMHA Wood Buffalo Board Chair, Charles MacDonald responded “Accreditation means that the procedures, policies and services that our organization has in place have been reviewed by a third party and assessed. In any emergency or disaster, an organization needs to be able to fall back on having proper procedures and policies in place – things happen quickly, they are multi dimensional and as staff and leaders work through them to have a set of procedures to follow is paramount to ensure we can deliver services.”

“Earning the accreditation, especially in these changing times, shows remarkable resilience, and a strong commitment to innovation and excellence. We commend the CMHA Wood Buffalo for achieving Imagine Canada’s Standards accreditation, and demonstrating outstanding adherence to sound governance.” – Bruce MacDonald, President and CEO of Imagine Canada.

CMHA Wood Buffalo is hopeful that with the new accreditation it will help in terms of boosting donor confidence resulting in more mental health programs and services for our region.

“Being accredited means that our organization has procedures and policies related to our service delivery in place. These procedures include financial procedures that have been reviewed and can give both government and donors more confidence that the money they give will be managed properly and used to provide much needed mental health services.” Said CMHA Wood Buffalo Board Chair, Charles MacDonald.

About the Standards Program

The goals of Imagine Canada’s Standards Program are to increase organizational excellence and transparency of charities and non-profits, to build resilience and to strengthen public confidence in individual organizations and the sector as a whole. To earn the accreditation, organizations must meet 73 standards in financial management and accountability, fundraising practise, board governance, staff management, and volunteer management.

Peer-review Process and Compliance

Our policies and procedures in the five areas of compliance were evaluated by a group of volunteers from the sector, and were found to be compliant with the Standards Program. Accredited organizations are required to complete full re-accreditation on a five-year basis. Compliance during the accreditation period is monitored regularly and requires organizations to submit evidence demonstrating selected standards are being met.