Wordfest
Publicly funded institution · Calgary, Alberta · BN 850647835RR0001 · Teaching Institutions · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($1,166,998) as filed with the CRA.
Wordfest is a charitable organization based in Calgary, Alberta, classified by the CRA under teaching institutions. 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 December 31, 2024, it reported $1.2M in revenue and $1.2M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 148% from donations, 38% from government. In 2024, 8 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $139K.
Compared with 1,247 education institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 43% of peers. Its fundraising cost per donated dollar was lower than 85% of that peer group. Its highest-paid position fell in the $120,000–159,999 range. The charity reported 3 permanent full-time positions.
Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 5 names.
In its own words
Wordfest's mission is to h elp audiences of all ages think bigger dig deeper and build meaningful relationships with the world's most compelling authors (prioritizing canadian talent). A word fest show is the exclamation between the book being written and the book being read. We produce lively accessible shows year-round. In addition to the fall imaginairium (canada's liveliest literary festival) our unique (and free) wordfest youth education program is the cornerstone of wordfest's charitable mandate and focuses on grades 5 to 12 to fuel teen literacy in calgary providing interactive expe…
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $1.2M | $1.2M | $1M | $29K | — | $357K |
| 2023 | $1.1M | $1.1M | $1M | — | — | $345K |
| 2022 | $1.2M | $1.2M | — | — | — | $341K |
| 2021 | $1M | $976K | $842K | $37K | — | $300K |
| 2020 | $1M | $926K | $810K | $31K | — | $237K |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Received $139K from 8 charities:
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $120,000–159,9991 position
- $80,000–119,9991 position
- $40,000–79,9991 position
- Permanent full-time positions3
- Total compensation, all staff$306K
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Janet Hutchinson (president); Robert Macaulay (tresurer); Gillian Lawrence (director); Monti Tanner (director); John Richardson.
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Wordfest’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 850647835RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.