ST. PAUL – St. Paul Abilities Network (SPAN) has faced challenges in the previous years, but the long-running organization remains hopeful for the future. SPAN is a charitable agency that supports people who live with limitations or challenging conditions.
During SPAN’s annual general meeting on Oct. 27, Len Gagne read the president’s report, while reflecting on the past year.
“This past year has been one where there’s almost a feeling of calmer waters after our previous challenges,” stated Gagne in his report. Gagne also explained that SPAN “revamped” its board to a governance board from a policy board.
“This evolvement meant that we were faced with challenges such as grasping or attempting to grasp the complexities involved in understanding our PDD (Persons with Development Disabilities) contract,” which is SPAN’s major source of funding.
Gagne stated the “board took the initiative and dove headfirst into the contract” on Sept. 14, with help from the PDD office.
According to a June 9, 2020 St. Paul Journal report, the PDD contract is awarded by the Province of Alberta, allowing SPAN to deliver “disability programming and services to individuals and families in the St. Paul area.”
“While we continue to deal with the inherited financial challenges we face, I can safely say that we are on the road to recovery and long-term viability as an organization,” stated Gagne. He also credited SPAN’s employees and management team, stating they are “who face the real challenges.”
Awards
SPAN also presented its annual awards on Oct. 27, with the President’s Award of Excellence being given to Jacqueline Janz, in recognition of her personal and professional achievement in service of persons with disabilities.
Janz completed her Institute for Applied Behavioral Analysis training, which she uses to support SPAN.
“Jacqueline utilizes this knowledge on a daily basis in her support to staff, management, individuals and their families, as we move to better the outcomes and positive behavioral supports for individuals,” according to Gagne who presented the award.
The Nancy Yake Memorial Team Building Award was presented to Gloria Ahyasou by Anthony opden Dries, executive director of SPAN.
“Gloria is always willing to step forward and support all program areas,” said opden Dries, adding that Ahyasou also “takes on new responsibility and is committed to excellence empowerment and service and understands that people have purpose.”
The Chief Executive Officer’s Award was presented to Lorraine Berglund in recognition of her “excellence in program growth and development,” according to opden Dries.
“Lorraine manages a very large caseload, and provides guidance, training resources, and mentorship to frontline and management staff who support individuals with complex behavioral needs or challenges,” said opden Dries, adding, Berglund has played a critical role to SPAN’s staff management.
The SPAN Community Award was awarded to St. Paul Education (SPERD). According to opden Dries, SPERD provided SPAN’s DAC Catering with support during the pandemic.
“DAC, with the support of St. Paul Education, is proud to employ people with diverse abilities,” said opden Dries. “I know that our individuals thrive and look forward to working with the students and St. Paul Education on a daily basis.”
Expenses and Revenues
During the meeting, Preet Sandhu with Gallo LLP Chartered Professional Accountants, provided Gallo LLP’s independent auditor report for SPAN’s 2022 fiscal year ending on March 31.
Gallo LLP’s audit opinion based on SPAN’s provided financial statements is that SPAN’s financial position as of March 31, conforms with Canada’s accounting standards for non-profit organizations.
Sandhu said nothing was found to lead “us to believe that the [financial] statements were presented unfairly.”
Included with Sandhu’s 20-page report is SPAN’s expenses and revenue for the fiscal year.
According to SPAN’s statement of revenues and expenditures, SPAN had an actual 2022 revenue of $9.6 million compared to its budgeted revenue of $9.5 million – $50,000 more than the budgeted revenue.
On the other hand, SPAN spent an overall amount of $9.6 million on expenses, which was about $100,000 more than it budgeted.
While SPAN’s expenses for salaries and wages are $500,000 lower than the budgeted amount of $8 million, there was an overall increase of expenses across multiple categories.
Among the categories Sandhu mentioned include expenses for utilities, which is around $45,000 more than what was budgeted.
“The other one that was significant was the insurance,” said Sandhu. SPAN budgeted $40,000 for insurance in 2022, but the actual insurance was closer to $62,000.
SPAN spent $32,000 in insurance last year. “So, when making the budget next year, obviously, that’ll be reflected if there are new policies and new rates,” said Sandhu.
Excess revenue
Overall, SPAN anticipated a loss of $42,000 for 2022, “but because of the increase in the revenue, we actually had an actual surplus of $6,175,” said Sandhu.
SPAN also received a total of $276,805 in government assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which contributed to the surplus.
“We like to keep the government assistance separately, because it’s nice to look at how you did without that part,” Sandhu said. So, in addition to the government assistance, Sandhu said SPAN “actually had an excess of revenues over expenses [to a total] of $282,980.”
Regarding government assistance, Sandhu said, “this is probably the last year we’ll see those numbers.”
The government assistance came from Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS), job grants and the critical workers benefit from the Government of Alberta.
