A note to the reader
Canmore Legacy exists to explain a funding model, not to operate it.
This article describes the design principles and long-term commitments that guide how the model is structured and how it is intended to behave over time. It is written to make the system understandable, inspectable, and worthy of trust.
This is a statement of purpose and structure.
Why a commitment is needed
Many good ideas fail not because they are flawed, but because they drift.
They start with clear intentions and gradually become something else as circumstances change, people change, or pressures accumulate.
Canmore Legacy was created to explain a system that is meant to operate for decades, not just for a few years. That requires more than good intentions. It requires:
- Clear structure
- Clear roles
- Clear principles that do not change with convenience or circumstance
This article describes those principles.
The core purpose
The purpose of the Canmore Legacy model is simple:
To create a durable, recurring source of funding for the Canmore Hospital Foundation using everyday electricity and natural gas service.
- This is not a fundraising campaign.
- It is not a time-limited initiative.
- It is designed to be structural and ongoing.
The Hospital Foundation as the permanent anchor
The Canmore Hospital Foundation is the anchor beneficiary of this system.
This is intentional:
- The hospital serves the entire community
- It operates on long time horizons
- It already has governance, accountability, and reporting structures in place
The role of Canmore Legacy is to help explain and support the funding stream. The role of the Foundation is to decide how that funding is used.
That separation is not incidental. It is a core design feature.
The separation of roles
The system is intentionally structured with three distinct roles:
- Guardian Utilities operates the utility service and executes the model.
- The Canmore Hospital Foundation receives the funds and governs their use.
- Canmore Legacy explains the model and documents its purpose and structure.
Canmore Legacy is:
- Not a company
- Not a charity
- Not a foundation
- Not a governing body
It does not control money. It does not make allocation decisions. It exists to make the system legible and accountable to the public.
Why Guardian Utilities is a for-profit company
Guardian Utilities is a for-profit, regulated utility retailer. This is not a contradiction to the mission. It is a requirement for the mission to work.
For this model to be durable, the operator must be able to:
- Remain financially healthy
- Retain earnings
- Build reserves
- Hire staff
- Withstand market and regulatory changes
A system that cannot survive stress cannot support anything else.
Profitability, reserves, and conservative financial management are not opposed to the community purpose. They are what make that purpose possible over the long term.
Transparency as a permanent feature
Trust requires visibility.
In this model:
- Donations are made regularly
- Totals are published
- The recipient Foundation issues official charitable receipts
- The flow of funds is meant to be understandable by any interested reader
This is not a temporary practice. It is a structural requirement of the model.
What “permanent” means in practice
“Permanent” does not mean “unchangeable.”
It means the model is designed to:
- Operate without needing to be restarted
- Survive leadership changes
- Survive economic cycles
- Remain boring, predictable, and reliable
This is not a system built for headlines. It is built for continuity.
How this is meant to evolve
Over time, the structure and governance around this model may evolve if — and only if — that evolution:
- Strengthens the mission
- Strengthens the operator’s ability to survive and function
No change should ever weaken the underlying business to the point that the mission itself becomes fragile.
The underlying ethos
We are not trying to build the biggest company. We are trying to build the most durable funding engine for the Canmore Hospital that we reasonably can.
A final boundary
This article describes principles and structure.
It is not a legal contract. It is not a guarantee. It is a statement of intent and design.
Its purpose is to make the system understandable — and to make drift visible if it ever occurs.