ATCO Receives International Philanthropy Award

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - Oct. 1, 2014) -

Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release.

ATCO has been selected by the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) to receive the 2014 Award for Outstanding Corporation for the company's many extraordinary contributions to philanthropy and the charitable sector.

In particular, the award recognizes the ATCO EPIC (Employees Participating in Communities) program. Every year, each ATCO company carries out an employee-led ATCO EPIC campaign that combines fundraising events, volunteerism and employee pledges to support charitable organizations. ATCO enhances its peoples' generosity by matching pledges made to human health and wellness organizations. The company also covers all administration costs for the program to ensure that the charities benefit from 100 per cent of the donations.

"I am truly amazed by the collective spirit and efforts of the people of ATCO as they come together each year to make a difference through our ATCO EPIC campaigns," said Nancy Southern, Chair, President & Chief Executive Officer, ATCO Group. "I am so proud to see their generosity and their commitment to building better communities recognized by the AFP through this award."

ATCO was nominated for the award by Inn from the Cold, which provides emergency shelter, support and programs to homeless children and their families in Calgary.

"Over the years ATCO and its people have donated time, resources, skills and dollars to ensure that the Inn can fulfill its mission and that the city's most vulnerable children are not forgotten," said Janeen Webb, Director, Donor Relations - Inn from the Cold. "Our most heart-felt congratulations to ATCO on receiving this award and our gratitude for everything the company and its people do to support charities and communities across Canada and around the world."

Based on more than a century of ongoing community support by ATCO and its employees, the ATCO EPIC program was launched in 2006 as a way to unite all the of the ATCO companies' fundraising efforts and make a more meaningful impact in communities. Since that time, the program has raised more than $24 million for more than 500 charities while also facilitating hundreds of thousands of employee volunteer hours.

The award will be presented at AFP's National Philanthropy Day® Honors - A Celebration of People and Impact event on Saturday, November 15 in Washington, D.C.

The AFP, which represents more than 32,000 charities and charitable fundraisers around the world, has previously recognized Hewlett-Packard Company, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, and Bell Canada with this award.

With more than 9,000 employees and assets of approximately $17 billion, ATCO is a diversified global corporation delivering service excellence and innovative business solutions through leading companies engaged in Structures & Logistics (manufacturing, logistics and noise abatement), Utilities (pipelines, natural gas and electricity transmission and distribution) and Energy (power generation and sales, industrial water infrastructure, natural gas gathering, processing, storage and liquids extraction). More information can be found at www.atco.com.

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