KidSport Edmonton Receives $10,000 TELUS Friendly Future Grant

July 16, 2025

KidSport Edmonton receives $10,000 Community Board grant from the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, supporting improvements to KidSport’s Grant Application processing system

Online Registration Enhancements – Streamlining and Improving

Funding will help with necessary enhancements to the online registration system, streamlining and improving processes for thousands of KidSport applications annually, thereby securing sport equity for years to come for eligible youth aged 0-18 living in households facing financial barriers in Edmonton.

KidSport Edmonton on April 15, 2025, has received a $10,000 grant from the TELUS Community Board, through the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. This supports KidSport Edmonton’s mission to break down barriers and create equal access to organized sport programs for KidSport kids in Edmonton through KidSport’s ‘So ALL Kids Can Play!’ Grant Program. The TELUS Community Board grant enables KidSport Edmonton to keep more dollars available for KidSport families, while increasing our team’s efficiency to process grant applications by investing in software customization to improve our online application software functionalities and reporting capabilities.

“Thank you to the TELUS Community Board for seeing the value in the opportunity for KidSport Edmonton to better our technology systems so we can better support KidSport families. We’re only able to do what we can do because of generous community organizations,” said Dayna Josdal, KidSport Edmonton’s Executive Director. “We’re grateful for the chance to evolve the technology we work with daily in order for us to serve the community better. You are directly creating equal access to sport programs for KidSport kids, thank you for helping make it, so all kids can play!”

This amount will contribute to important upgrades and customization of the software, SmartSimple, used by KidSport Edmonton to process and approve online grant applications KidSport Edmonton families submit for grant funding. These software upgrades will customize reports generated from the SmartSimple platform, which will streamline and consolidate multiple tracking spreadsheets currently used by KidSport Edmonton’s Program Team. These reports can save the team up to 10 hours per month, which is a significant amount of time for part-time staff members to dedicate to other important KidSport duties.

“Through our partnerships with charities supporting youth, we understand the challenges young people in these situations face,” said Nimmi Kanji, Executive Director of the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation. “We are proud to be able to support KidSport Edmonton, with a Community Board grant in order to help them make it “So ALL Kids Can Play by increasing the efficiency and enhancing their Grant Application processing system.”

For more information on KidSport Edmonton and KidSport’s ‘So ALL Kids Can Play!’ Grant Program please visit www.kidsportcanada.ca/alberta/edmonton, and for more information on the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation visit friendlyfuture.com

A KidSport Testimonial

This grant will help create more positive sport experiences like Luca’s.

“I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible opportunity you have provided my son Luca to play soccer this year. We were thrilled to learn about KidSport commitment to supporting young athletes, and your belief in my son’s potential means the world to us. The chance to be a part of the soccer program, it was a dream come true for him, and we are truly grateful for the Grant, your time, effort, and resources your team has dedicated to making this possible. This opportunity is not just about playing a sport; it is about building character, learning teamwork, and growing both on and off the field. He made new friends, and we have already seen a positive impact on Luca, and we are excited to see how he continues to develop under your guidance.”

From everyone at KidSport Edmonton – our staff, board and committee members and thousands of KidSport kids and families, we would like to extend a big thank you to the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation for believing in the power of sport and the opportunities that KidSport Edmonton opens for thousands of kids in the City of Champions, helping make it ‘So ALL Kids Can Play!’

ABOUT KidSport Edmonton and The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation

KidSport Edmonton is a local non-profit organization that envisions a community where all children have the opportunity to participate in sport. KidSport Edmonton supports children who need financial assistance with sport registration fees, believing that the power of sport participation promotes the development of children’s social, mental, and physical well-being. Through increasing access to quality sport programs, KidSport strengthens our community. In 2024, KidSport Edmonton created equal access to sport programs for 4,370 local Edmonton KidSport kids by subsidizing over $1,000,000 in sport registration fees, and the need continues to grow, which is why the funding received is so important in order to elevate KidSport’s technology to help us support the growth in demand.

The TELUS Friendly Future Foundation is a Canadian registered charity that believes all youth, regardless of circumstance, deserve an equal opportunity to reach their full potential. By funding more than 500 charities each year that provide education and health programs, many enabled by technology, along with providing educational bursaries, the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation is helping more than 2 million youth in communities across Canada build skills, confidence, and feel a sense of belonging.

In 2023 alone, TELUS provided more than $9 million in grants to over 550 charitable programs across Canada, and nearly $2 million in bursaries to 400+ post-secondary students in financial need who are committed to making a difference in their communities.

For more information on the TELUS Friendly Future Foundation, visit friendlyfuture.com