Surprise Lake Society
Publicly funded institution · Edson, Alberta · BN 119206456RR0001 · Support of Religion · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-10-31. Split of total expenditures ($71,696) as filed with the CRA.
Surprise Lake Society is a charitable organization based in Edson, Alberta, classified by the CRA under support of religion. It appears on the charity register the way hospitals, universities, and other publicly funded bodies do — to issue tax receipts — rather than as a donation-driven charity in the usual sense. In its fiscal year ending October 31, 2024, it reported $97K in revenue and $72K in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 14% from donations, 77% from government. Government funding is the majority of its budget. In 2024, 3 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $5,213.
Compared with 68 religious institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 0% of peers.
Revenue has grown substantially over its filings on record here, from $29K in 2020 to $97K in 2024. Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 8 names.
In its own words
The surprise lake society operates and maintains the surprise lake camp. We are 100% volunteer run and this 2023 season had 1037 documented hours from our volunteers. The camp was a happy gathering place for girl guides the mcman group (group homes) a wedding some family gatherings and some musical events. We had numerous work weekends for different upgrading projects. Our base of volunteers within the local community and with camp alumni.
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $97K | $72K | $0 | — | $0 | $230K |
| 2023 | $23K | $35K | — | — | — | $230K |
| 2022 | $50K | $40K | — | $109 | — | $227K |
| 2021 | $59K | $65K | — | — | — | $218K |
| 2020 | $29K | $20K | — | — | — | $277K |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Received $5,213 from 3 charities:
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Arthur White Owl (chairman); Colleen Laforge-Griebel (vice chairman); Jeannette Stabile (treasurer); Natalka Dreichel (secretary); Danielle Mathias (director); John Jones (director - projects); April Keighan (director - programming); Kerrie Yates (director at large).
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Surprise Lake Society’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 119206456RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.