About Us

Why Support Domestic Violence Shelters?

In 2023/24, domestic violence shelters in the Edmonton Area provided safety and hope for 779 women, 23 men and gender diverse individuals, and 923 children. Across the six shelter-providing organizations in the area, 173 emergency beds, and 42 second stage units provide safe housing for individuals and families but the need is much greater than what the current capacity can allow with turnaways increasing by over 40% in 2023/24 compared to the previous year.

Funding this collaboration supports the sector as a whole by increasing the shelter capacity and services that can be provided across the region overall.

Benefits to Survivors

• Helping more people – more shelter spaces and shared specialty services enables Edmonton Area Shelters to support more people in need

• More appropriate shelter spaces – shelters spaces can be adapted to more appropriately house survivors, whose individual demographics and family compositions have changed significantly since shelters were originally built

• Enhanced access to wrap around services – survivors will have greater access to other support services as shelters are further supported to provide collaborative services

• Decreased disruption for families – more shelter spaces and increased access to services can provide survivors with opportunities to become more settled and stabilized in the community

Benefits to Funders

• Coordinated funding requests – coordination of funding reduces the asks that funders will receive

• Ability to increase capacity in a more predictable way – with several of the shelters looking to expand, a collaborative funding plan enables funders to support increases to capacity in the area in a manner that is more predictable

• Support for the community as a whole – funders are able to support domestic violence shelters in the area without having to choose between them

Benefits to Shelters

• Sequence major fundraising campaigns – major fundraising asks, including capital campaigns, are sequenced collaboratively providing a strategic, long-term approach to addressing shelter needs

• Decreased competition for funding – each shelter can expand without competing for the same funding, supporting equity across the region

• Supporting all shelters to achieve their desired outcomes – shelters have different strategic priorities to advance a future free of domestic violence, collaboration supports shelters to find commonalities across priorities and provides an opportunity to create a more cohesive, efficient, and effective shelter system in the Edmonton area

• Enhancing relationships – a collaborative approach can enhance relationships between shelters and with shelter funders, demonstrating a commitment to using resources more effectively

• Identifying opportunities for partnerships on specific initiatives – there may be specific opportunities where some or all shelters can partner to advance each individual shelter’s priorities supporting innovation in service delivery

To discuss how you might support the Edmonton Area Shelters, please contact:

A Safe Place: Karen Kadatz, Executive Director, 780.464.7232

Catholic Social Services: Maria Baca, Development Manager, maria.baca@cssalberta.ca

Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation: Fund Development Team, fundraising@jmmf.ca

Sage Seniors Association: Shelaine Sparrow, Stewardship & Development Specialist,  ssparrow@mysage.ca

WIN House: Director of Development, dir.development@winhouse.org

WINGS: Candace Smallwood, Executive Director, csmallwood@wingsofprovidence.ca