To get a better idea of the kind of collaborative, community-based initiatives Suncor’s new Community Investment Strategy is designed to support, you need look no further than Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo (SPWB), a partnership between community leaders in Wood Buffalo and Ontario’s Waterloo Region, the University of Waterloo and the Suncor Energy Foundation. The five-year project aims to increase social prosperity by bringing together leaders from Wood Buffalo and Waterloo to work towards lasting solutions to the challenges facing fast-growing communities, while also supporting and strengthening Wood Buffalo’s non-profit sector. In addition to providing funding, Suncor has seconded an employee, Kim Nordbye as the community-based Project Manager for SPWB.

“Positive change is a process that demands both time and significant commitment, not to mention the belief that change is possible,” says Russell Thomas, a councillor with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. “The Social Prosperity project is enabling an entire community to re-imagine, re-think, and re-energize how it operates at a non-profit, grassroots level. It is happening and it is working.”

Under the priority area known now as “engaging citizens,” Suncor supports the community-minded efforts of our employees and retirees. Our SunCares Employee Grants Program recognizes the charitable giving and volunteers efforts of both groups by supporting the causes they care about. In 2011, this program provided more than 1,900 grants to help 990 organizations by distributing nearly $1.03 million. Suncor employees also continue to be generous supporters of the United Way. In 2011, our United Way campaign raised more than $6.2 million, including contributions from Suncor and the Suncor Energy Foundation (SEF).

In 2011, we saw devastating natural and man-made disasters around the world. The SEF responded by activating its SunCares Humanitarian Grant program three times to support relief efforts related to the:

• Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March,
• Slave Lake, Alberta fires in July and
• Red Cross humanitarian efforts to North Africa throughout the year.

The SEF matched employee, retiree or contractor contributions to the Red Cross or other approved agencies to a maximum of $1,000 Canadian, and directly provided $50,000 to the Red Cross for each event. Suncor’s contribution to humanitarian relief efforts in 2011 totalled more than $258,000.

Suncor continues to work with governments, local stakeholders and organizations like the Oil Sands Developers Group to address the demands that expanded oil sands development places on regional infrastructure. While more needs to be done, the good news is that, well into what could become a second decade of boom times, both industry and government appear better prepared to manage growth. New schools are being built, key roads upgraded and land released for new housing (something that has to be done carefully, to avoid addressing market values of surrounding neighbourhoods).

2011 marked the opening of the Suncor Energy Centre for the Performing Arts at Fort McMurray’s Holy Trinity High School. Funded with the assistance of a $2.5 million grant from the Suncor Energy Foundation and additional support from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, this 350-seat facility is now home to many specialized visual and performing arts programs and has become a cultural hub for community use. We are currently engaged with the MacDonald Island Park Society in the planned expansion of the Suncor Community Leisure Centre and are working through Social Prosperity Wood Buffalo on plans for a new shared space for community and recreational non-profit organizations.

As a member of the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI), Suncor is also involved in pilot projects to help strengthen community life in the Wood Buffalo region. One such project is the school-based StartSmart, which was designed and developed by Sekweha, a community-led, non-profit organization based in the hamlet of Janvier, 97 kilometres southeast of Fort McMurray, and supported by Carleton University’s Centre for Initiatives on Children, Youth and Community (CICYCY) and OSLI’s Sustainable Communities Working Group.

StartSmart is delivered to Early Childhood Services through Grade 4 students at Janvier’s Father R. Perin School, and runs for a half-hour at the start of each school day. Students participate in physical activity, are given a nutritious snack and then engage in a “values discussion” based on the community’s Seven Sacred Teachings:

• respect,
• love,
• honesty,
• truth,
• bravery,
• wisdom and
• humility.

StartSmart is part of a larger effort by Sekweha to create a healthy, safe and sustainable community that helps children and youth gain the knowledge, confidence and skills they need to succeed and give back to the community. Plans are underway to explore the introduction a similar program in Fort Chipewyan.

For further information, including more examples of projects already being funded under our five priority areas, visit www.suncor.com/community

Suncor, through its Petro-Canada brand, has signed a sponsorship agreement extending our support for Canadian Olympic and Paralympic athletes, as well as their coaches and families, for an additional four years — from 2013 to 2016. Suncor’s involvement in the Canadian Olympic movement is a journey that began in 1987, when Petro-Canada organized and sponsored the Torch Relay for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary. The renewed agreement extends Suncor’s support of the Canadian Olympic movement past the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Since 1988, our corporate support has helped over 2,300 young Canadian athletes and coaches, and contributed more than $8 million in direct financial support through the Fuelling Athlete and Coaching Excellence (FACE) program, formerly the Olympic Torch Scholarship Fund. Suncor also believes one of the best ways to promote Canadian athletes is to help their biggest supporters, namely their families. That’s why we launched the Canadian Athlete Family program, which ensured athletes’ families were taken care of during the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. We continue to support a ticketing program that ensures family members have the opportunity to see their athletes compete in the 2012 Games in London as well as Sochi in 2014 and Rio in 2016.