The Servus Charity Challenge
Run for You. Run For Community.
The 2024 Servus Charity Challenge is open and is fully integrated into your race registration.
The Charity Challenge unites the spirit of runners with a unique fundraising program with the main purpose of creating Healthy Communities that Thrive Together. Make your run more meaningful by helping one of our official Charities reach their goals while you're achieving yours!
Giving Since 2010
Congratulations on helping surpass $9 million!
The Servus Charity Challenge is an integral part of this community event.
The 2023 Calgary Marathon Charity Challenge raised $587,000 for 93 local charities to help create healthy communities that thrive together! In its thirteen year history, the Charity Challenge has helped raise more than $9 million in Calgary.
Make your run more meaningful by helping one of our official Charities reach their goals while you are achieving yours! Set up a fundraising page or make a direct donation during your race registration.
Check out the Official Charity list below.
Take up the Challenge
Our Official Charities.
Explore our list of official charities below.
Through the work of community groups and volunteers, BB4CK provides lunches for approximately 4,200 kids each school day. Lunches are prepared in our main kitchen, and in various other locations by community groups including retirees, parent groups and local businesses.
Nourishment is available to any young person who arrives at school without enough to eat. BB4CK works with school staff members to identify needs and to plan how best to make sure hungry students get the nutrition required to think clearly and learn. By enabling better education outcomes, BB4CK gives students a hand up, not just a handout.
Through the work of community groups and volunteers, BB4CK provides lunches for approximately 4,200 kids each school day. Lunches are prepared in our main kitchen, and in various other locations by community groups including retirees, parent groups and local businesses.
Nourishment is available to any young person who arrives at school without enough to eat. BB4CK works with school staff members to identify needs and to plan how best to make sure hungry students get the nutrition required to think clearly and learn. By enabling better education outcomes, BB4CK gives students a hand up, not just a handout.
Cassie + Friends is the only charity in Canada dedicated 100% to the pediatric rheumatic disease community. Since 2007, we’ve raised over $1.5 million dollars to transform the lives of kids and families affected by Juvenile Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases.
Working with patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers and other friends, we provide life-changing support, education, community and research to help kids and families face the ups and downs of life with a chronic condition.
The Calgary Police Foundation (CPF) was established to partner exclusively with the Calgary Police Service (CPS). The CPF funds six youth-based programs with the goal of reduced youth victimization and criminal activity. This is done by focusing on education, prevention and early intervention.
The CPF targets areas where the need is greatest and implements these programs where they will have the most impact on our children, youth and families. CPF funded programs educate and assist our local youth, and help to ensure Calgary is a great place to live and raise our families.
Our mission is to provide services that foster inclusion, independence and recreation for individuals with disabilities and medical conditions.
For almost 70 years, Easter Seals Alberta has supported individuals with disabilities and medical conditions. We strive to ensure that the resources they need for an independent and full life are available.
The Canadian Liver Foundation is committed to improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of liver disease in Canada. We are proud to be able to support Canada’s top liver experts as well as promising new investigators and trainees who are tackling this growing health crisis. Together we are answering questions: together we are bringing liver research to life.
The MS Society provides services to people with multiple sclerosis and their families and funds research to find the cause and cure for this disease. We have a membership of over 7,000 and are the only national voluntary organization in Canada that supports both MS research and services. Since our founding in 1948, the core support of the MS Society has been from tens of thousands of dedicated individuals, companies and foundations in communities across Canada. The Society receives almost no funding from government.
Take up the Challenge
Our Official Charities.
Click on an alphabet letter to jump directly to that letter.
New charities are added regularly. If you don’t see a charity you would like to support in our list, please contact charitychallenge@calgarymarathon.com and we will look into getting them signed up so you can donate and/or start fundraising for them.
A
The Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation inspires our community to invest in excellence in child health, research and family centred care.
As the official fundraising body for the Alberta Children’s Hospital, all money raised by the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation is re-invested in the hospital and child health needs in this region.
Through the generosity of our donors we are able to provide funding for family centred child health programs, specialized life-saving equipment and advanced pediatric research and education at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.
The Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation is honoured to work with the dedicated team of caring professionals at our hospital and even prouder to be part of a community that shares in the vision of a healthier future for our children.
B
For over 40 years, Baby’s Breath has been Canada’s only national foundation focused on SIDS, and more recently also dedicated to supporting families and encouraging research aimed at reducing all sudden and unexpected infant deaths including stillbirths. The death of an infant is devastating not only for the parents, but for the entire family. Siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends are all affected by the sudden death of a baby. Baby’s Breath believes no one should endure the grief of such loss alone. Our foundation and grief counsellors are here to help.
Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids works to inspire others to feed and care for kids. We dream of a future where no kid goes hungry – where the community comes together to feed and care for kids. With generosity, support and care from the BB4CK community, we feed more than 5,000 kids every day, through our in-school lunch and grocery card programs.
C
It is Canadian Mental Health Association – Calgary Region’s (CMHA Calgary) mission to be a leader in reducing the impact of mental illness and addiction in community. For more than 60 years, we have provided a person and family centered integrated service model focused on early intervention and prevention of a mental health or substance use concern that delivers a measurable increase in community resiliency. Our long standing belief is that recovery is possible. Our recovery model focuses on wellness by shifting the emphasis from a narrow, limiting view of a diagnosis, towards empowering individuals, building their strengths, resiliency and hope for a meaningful life. This recovery is demonstrated in the advancement of Peer Support where individuals with personal experience of a mental health or substance use concern are trained to support others through shared understanding and hope.
Canadian Pony Club has a history of over 80 years in Canada. We are a non-profit volunteer run organization with youth aged 6 to 25 years and our Horse Masters aged 21 and up. We rely solely on membership fees and fundraising to run our program successfully. Canadian Pony Clubs mission is to build confident, competitive and knowledgeable individuals in a safe, friendly environment through their passion for horses. While “feeding the need” for horses our members have experiences that work towards our motto of “Loyalty, Character and Sportsmanship” as well as developing skills like teamwork, leadership, respect for authority, organization, personal discipline, compassion and goal setting. Pony Club prepares members for good horsemanship and also to become capable and productive citizens.
Canadian Pony Club has a history of over 80 years in Canada. We are a non-profit volunteer run organization with youth aged 6 to 25 years and our Horse Masters aged 21 and up. We rely solely on membership fees and fundraising to run our program successfully. Canadian Pony Clubs mission is to build confident, competitive and knowledgeable individuals in a safe, friendly environment through their passion for horses. While “feeding the need” for horses our members have experiences that work towards our motto of “Loyalty, Character and Sportsmanship” as well as developing skills like teamwork, leadership, respect for authority, organization, personal discipline, compassion and goal setting. Pony Club prepares members for good horsemanship and also to become capable and productive citizens.
Canadian Pony Club has a history of over 80 years in Canada. We are a non-profit volunteer run organization with youth aged 6 to 25 years and our Horse Masters aged 21 and up. We rely solely on membership fees and fundraising to run our program successfully. Canadian Pony Clubs mission is to build confident, competitive and knowledgeable individuals in a safe, friendly environment through their passion for horses. While “feeding the need” for horses our members have experiences that work towards our motto of “Loyalty, Character and Sportsmanship” as well as developing skills like teamwork, leadership, respect for authority, organization, personal discipline, compassion and goal setting. Pony Club prepares members for good horsemanship and also to become capable and productive citizens.
F
FACE was founded by parents who realized their children with physical disabilities needed a safe space to work on their therapy to ensure their bodies remained supple to reduce pain, increase independence and strength and most importantly enhance their overall wellbeing. FACE provides a unique therapy called Conductive Education which does not limit children with movement delays to their wheelchairs. Without such a program these children are at risk of contractures which restricts their bodies as they lose the ability to move, or for some children they will lose strength to hold themselves up. Movement is the essence of keeping them mentally engaged and part of their community and FACE ensure they have fun while learning essential skills for life.
G
Green Calgary is an urban environmental charity dedicated to engaging, inspiring, and empowering Calgarians to create healthy homes, communities, and businesses by providing environmental education, products, services, and hands-on support. A multi-layered, educational approach has helped us support tens of thousands of Calgarians in leading a greener lifestyle because we know that only by working together can we ensure a healthy city and a healthy planet.
H
Heart & Stroke is a leading funder of life-saving research, which has led to breakthroughs such as heart transplant surgery and a revolutionary stroke treatment that cuts the death rate by 50%. We empower Canadians to live healthier lives — from preventing and controlling high blood pressure to getting more physical activity. And we fight for change that will create better health for all, such as reducing salt in the food supply and improving access to stroke rehabilitation.
I
For over 20 years, Inn from the Cold has provided emergency shelter and support to Calgary’s most vulnerable. Today, Inn from the Cold integrates a Housing First philosophy into all its programs and services to assist families in housing crisis to achieve independence. From diversion and prevention, to emergency shelter and housing with supports, the Inn provides a robust continuum of care designed to address poverty, homelessness and housing insecurity. Working collaboratively within Calgary’s family-sector of the homeless-serving system of care, the Inn’s Social Return on Investment provides a $4.63 of social and economic value for every dollar invested in its emergency shelter and housing programs. For more information visit: www.innfromthecold.org.
K
We believe that no kid should be left on the sidelines and all should be given the opportunity to experience the positive benefits of organized sports. KidSport provides support to children in order to remove financial barriers that prevent them from playing organized sport. We do this by:-Raising funds to provide sport opportunities for kids facing financial barriers.-Promoting the KidSport mission to other community agencies with a view to creating strategic alliances to support sport participation and physical activity opportunities for kids.-Advocating the importance of all kids having access to sport programs and advocate the value and benefit of kids playing sport in the pursuit of lifelong health and wellness.
Kids Up Front Calgary promotes inclusion by transforming empty seats into enriching experiences. Our innovative program offers tickets, classes, and passes to arts, cultural, educational, and sporting events to 150 child-serving organizations in Calgary. Last year alone, the Kids Up Front team provided over 17,500 enriching experiences to deserving kids and youth in Calgary and area.
L
Our first responders and military personnel run into danger when society runs away from it. The sights, sounds and trauma is real. It affects the individual and family. Legacy Place Society is an important source of proactive information and crisis support that supplements in-house Psychological Health and Safety Strategies for the individuals and families of Law Enforcement, Emergency Medical/Fire Services, 911 Dispatch, Veterans & Canadian Armed Forces.
Dealing with lymphoma can be overwhelming, whether you’re a patient yourself or you know someone who is. But you don’t have to face it alone. We connect patients, their family and friends, medical professionals, researchers, volunteers, and donors to build a strong lymphoma community. A community that conducts research to learn lymphoma’s causes, to develop better treatments, and to find a cure. A community that helps people talk about and cope with the fifth most common cancer in Canada. A community that invites you to get and give support.
M
We all need energy. It is as simple — and complex — as that.
Every one of us is fueled by trillions of microscopic powerhouses called mitochondria. These tiny, mighty, energy-producing structures generate the energy we need to survive. Our major organs use the most energy so when mitochondria fail, we struggle to think, breath, move and live. We are all at risk of inheriting or developing mitochondrial disease. It can affect anyone at any age. There is no cure.
There is, however, hope! MitoCanada is dedicated to ensuring that all lives are powered by healthy mitochondria. We are the only Canadian charity dedicated to mitochondrial support, education, awareness and research.
S
STARS is an air ambulance service that provides critical emergency medicine and rapid transport to those who might not otherwise have access to timely, vital care. We reach remote facilities, rural communities, recreational sites, secluded backcountry areas and often isolated incidents. We also facilitate safe patient transfer to major medical centres when time is of the essence and community hospitals don’t have the tools, equipment or expertise to handle cases of severe illness or trauma.
In the decades since, Spinal Cord Injury Canada has been a part of substantial change that has helped individuals with spinal cord injury and other disabilities from coast to coast. The need for services for those with spinal cord injury and other physical disabilities is as important today as it was in 1945. In fact, this need will continue to grow.
T
Trellis is a Calgary-based social services agency that grew from the amalgamation of Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgary and Aspen Family & Community Network Society on June 15, 2020. Growing from a combined history of 117 years, Trellis is building on the work of both legacy organizations to offer a comprehensive continuum of 33 programs for over 9,000 people each year designed to support children, youth, families and communities. The programs and services offered open a path upward for people from all sorts of backgrounds, including those caught at the intersection of society’s most complex needs.
U
Family is the single most important influence in a child’s development. Established in 2009, the UP Foundation works to ensure the sustainability of innovative programs that build strong families and have a positive impact on future generations. Through various fundraising initiatives UP raises funds for and awareness of Catholic Family Service (CFS) programs and services.
Y
We are a non-profit Sanctuary dedicated to driving awareness and education surrounding wolfdog ownership. Our passionate group of animal lovers delivers educational programs, informational resources and assists in homing wolfdogs that have been neglected, abandoned, or otherwise displaced.
