Letter from our CEO
As a membership club representing more than a third of Alberta households, AMA has long understood that the sheer number of people who put their trust in us is one of our greatest strengths. But when we welcomed our millionth member in 2023, the idea of “strength in numbers” took on a life of its own.
From community mobilization projects to grassroots advocacy, we continued our storied legacy by investing in even more ways to make a difference in our communities, working hand in hand with fellow Albertans who shared our passion for positive change.
The road ahead was clear: to make a bigger collective impact, we needed to focus on smaller individual goals. We needed to imagine what would happen if a million people each did one small thing to create a better tomorrow. The world around us required it.
A record number of Canadians don’t have enough to eat. Climate change is having radical effects across the province, from devasting wildfires to extreme weather. The economy is forcing some families to make difficult choices.
It’s a lot to take in, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But when you parcel out small, manageable actions across a large group of people, our prospects as a province don’t feel quite so scary. In fact, they feel exciting.
Hopeful, even.
We each create impact—our very own ripple effects—through the choices we make. Our second annual Impact Report highlights some of the ways AMA staff, board members, and members chose to do that in 2023, showing once again that taking care of each other is in Alberta’s DNA.
Because together, our ability to create a better tomorrow is beyond measure.
Michelle Chimko
President and CEO, Alberta Motor Association
We’re living in a time of remarkable change—from virtual health care to developments in clean energy, to artificial intelligence that will forever change the way we live and work. But what’s even more extraordinary is the fact each of those changes began with one person believing things could be different, then taking steps to make it happen.
Our unique strength as a province is our willingness to rally around the causes, issues and challenges that matter to us. In fact, that’s how AMA got its start in 1926: auto enthusiasts in Calgary and Edmonton banding together to lobby for lower fuel taxes and safer roads.
Nearly 100 years later, the ripple effects of that decision have multiplied exponentially to create the club we know today—a million members strong, residing in every corner of Alberta.
The AMA Community Foundation, established in October 2023, is our way of tapping into that spirit and scale for the greater good. Previously known as the AMA Foundation for Traffic Safety—which for decades has funded traffic safety research—the newly named AMA Community Foundation expands our commitment and now includes childhood safety, climate good, and food security.
It’s an exciting evolution that allows us to better mobilize our members around the issues that matter to them. Each of the Foundation’s four pillars of focus has one thing in common: supporting lasting change for the next generation of Albertans.
Donations to the AMA Community Foundation can be made at amacommunityfoundation.org, directly supporting programming within our province. Imagine the good we could do if every AMA member donated just $1.
That’s the power of a million.
Jane Flower
Vice-President, Corporate Purpose
