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The Creating Shared Value Fund goes to work in five communities
Guiding committee selects projects in La Glace, Saskatoon Lake, Beaverlodge, Valhalla Centre and Wembley for the inaugural funding.
A kitchen, a set of rink boards, a dehumidifier, a wastewater management system, a stage curtain and acoustic panels. Those are what the first round of the Creating Shared Value Fund supported this year, and every one of them was chosen by a committee from the region.
The Creating Shared Value Fund is how CSV Midstream Solutions acts on Creating Shared Value, the principle that a company should be run so the community around it benefits from the same work that makes the business successful.
Energy infrastructure does not exist in isolation. It’s built on land, affects communities and remains in place for decades, and the Fund is a commitment to making sure those long-term impacts include tangible benefits for the people who live and work in the region.
Unlike a sponsorship or a corporate giving budget, the Creating Shared Value Fund is financed by revenue rather than profit from CSV’s Albright gas plant. Because it’s tied to revenue, it grows as the plant does and will pay out to community initiatives for as long as the plant is running.
The Northwestern Alberta Foundation (NAF), the regional community foundation in Grande Prairie, administers the Fund, taking in applications, helping applicants through the process, and distributing the funds. A guiding committee of local community members who are independent from CSV reviews the applications and recommends the recipients.
Five organizations were selected: the La Glace and District Agricultural Society, the Saskatoon Lake Agricultural Society, the South Peace Centennial Museum Association, the Valhalla Rec Centre and the Wembley and District Agricultural Society.
These are the places where the kids learn to skate, the local history is preserved, and where a community holds its weddings, family reunions and special events. The funding goes towards repairs and additions that keep each of them working.
Each of these projects positively impacts five communities near the Albright facility in the County of Grande Prairie.
CSV’s Albright facility started up in November 2025. That means only a couple of months of revenue to draw from for the Fund in its inaugural year. Additionally, it means that 2027’s number will be higher.
“This is the impact we want to make,” says Daniel Clarke, President and CEO for CSV. “Creating Shared Value means we strive for both business and societal benefit, not one or the other. This Fund is a living example of that.”
“It will be exciting to see how this Fund helps our neighbouring communities with consistent, guaranteed funds continuing to be injected year after year, for as long as our facility operates.”
Applications for the 2027 Creating Shared Value Fund open in January, and details are posted at csvmidstream.com.
Here are this year’s recipients:
La Glace and District Agricultural Society
Location: La Glace
Project: Rink boards for the new arena
La Glace has been building a new arena since 2016, one piece at a time as the money came in, and by this spring it had the ice plant, the floor and everything else it needed except the boards around the ice. With the boards and netting now installed, the arena is set to open for its first season, and La Glace gets a full-size surface for the first time in decades.
Saskatoon Lake Agricultural Society
Location: County of Grande Prairie
Project: Stage curtain, sound system support, and acoustic panels
Saskatoon Lake Community Hall has weddings booked into 2029 on one of the better dance floors in the area, and it has been open since 1981. It also hosts elections, youth club meetings, and a program for mothers and toddlers. The society is replacing a 40-year-old stage curtain, reinforcing the structure behind the sound system, and putting acoustic panels around the walls, so a speech or a band comes through clearly.
South Peace Centennial Museum Association
Location: Beaverlodge
Project: Wastewater management and electrical service upgrades
The South Peace Centennial Museum welcomes as many as 10,000 visitors a year, from wedding guests and festivalgoers to more than 1,200 students on school tours. Much of the power and water on the grounds dates back to the museum’s early years, and the association is now upgrading for the next generation of visitors with a new wash house, septic system, transformer, and power line from the highway.
Valhalla Rec Centre
Location: Valhalla
Project: Community Table Kitchen
The party room beside the arena at the Valhalla Rec Centre has never had a kitchen, so a birthday party there shows up in a cooler and whatever fits in a microwave gets reheated. The board is putting in cabinets, countertops, a sink, a fridge, and a stove, so a room that could only take parties and meetings can now host a supper, a fundraiser, or a community meal.
Wembley and District Agricultural Society
Location: Wembley
Project: Arena dehumidifier rebuild
An electrical fault took out the compressor in the dehumidifier at Wembley’s hockey arena two years ago, and since then condensation has collected on the ceiling and dripped onto the ice, freezing into divots that skaters hit like speed bumps. The society is rebuilding the unit in the busiest winter the rink has seen, with minor hockey fielding two teams in every age group and families driving in from Beaverlodge, Hythe, Horse Lake, Spirit River, and Dawson Creek.
