Evergreen, which includes Evergreen Estates, is a suburban residential neighbourhood in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. It is located south of the Fish Creek Provincial Park, and southeast from the Tsuu T'ina first nation reserve.

There are two sections of Evergreen, the older and more established Evergreen Estates, and the newer Evergreen to the south. The two sections have separate community associations and street naming patterns. All streets with Evergreen in their name are members of the Shawnee-Evergreen Community Association along with the neighbouring community Shawnee Slopes, while those with different names are members of the Calgary Evergreen Community Association.

The area is represented in the Calgary City Council by the Ward 13 councillor.

The film Radiant City largely takes place in the community of Evergreen.

The Calgary Board of Education opened the Evergreen Elementary School in 2009, which currently accommodates Kindergarten to Grade 5 students residing in Evergreen. Marshall Springs Middle School which currently accommodates Grade 6 to Grade 9 was opened in September 2017 when Marshall Springs was built, it and Evergreen accommodated 4-9 and K-3 respectively, later changing to 5-9 and K-4, and currently is 6-9 and K-5.

Dr Freda Miller School, which currently accommodates K-5, opened for the 2020-2021 school year.

The Calgary Catholic School District operates the elementary school Our Lady of the Evergreens School, which offers Kindergarten to grade 6

While our roots are in the community association movement in Calgary and our name is part of our legacy, our work is dedicated to building capacity for small, volunteer-led  non-profits in Calgary and surrounding areas.  We use “community” as an inclusive word that reflects more than the geographic community; it is meant to include all the different spaces where volunteers come together to make an impact, no matter their passion.

We have grown our impact within the voluntary sector by attracting and supporting an incredible range of diverse non-profits through our programs, services, and educational offerings.  In addition, many who join also recognize the collaborative power and energy of our network.  As of 2023, we have over 240 from a variety of sectors:

We are a member-based organization but are mindful that many clients only need help with one issue.  Membership is not mandatory.  Since October 2021, we have supported, free of charge, 53 additional non-profit organizations.  These organizations were from across the sectors listed above, while adding health, housing, and professional associations.   In addition, we have co-chaired Board Leadership Calgary for eight years, adding to our reach.

Our clients are organizations that are often sparsely funded, they have few, if any, management staff, and have operating boards led by volunteers with limited experience.  They often do not have robust strategic plans, operating budgets, policies and procedures, or basic technology to manage day to day communications, document storage, accounting or the like.  Most struggle to build their own operational capacity.

The Federation provides our clients support and resources in volunteer engagement, community building, governance, political advocacy, fund development, and financial literacy.  The Federation’s value proposition lies in our financial literacy work.  In fact, The Federation is the only non-profit in Alberta, or for that matter within Canada, that offers financial audit service along with education. All our services help to build our clients’ leadership, management, and operational capacity. 

We measure what we do.  We can show that our clients’ understanding of non-profit governance and financial literacy increases year over year.  Clients also report increased confidence and ability to meet their own organization’s needs.

We are a capacity-builder of small non-profits, supporting passionate people who give back, no matter the cause.  We are proud of our work.