Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Andrew Sharpe and his staff Jean-Francois Arsenault, Julie Charest, Peter Harrison, Alex Murray, Christopher Ross, Anne Marie Shaker, and Simon Lapointe at the Centre for the Study of Living Standards, CFC's research partner on this project.

CFC and the CSLS also thank the following for their assistance in providing data: Statistics Canada (Michael Azzi, Marcel Bechard, Joanne Bureau, Jennifer Callahan, Jasmine Gaudreault, Richard Hodgins, Michel Labranche, Gilbert Mansour, Chantal Fournier MacGillivray, Christine Shea, Philip Paradis, Simone Pascoli, Nancy-Ann Walker, and Jennie Wang), Environment Canada (Celine Audette, Tom Dann), Canadian Real Estate Association (Janet Lemoine), Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (Debra Connor, Kathleen Kenmore), Canadian Institute for Health Information (John-David Stanway and Robert Kyte), Canadian Council on Learning (Jarrett Laughlin) and HRSDC (Marie-Josée Legault)

Photographs in the report appearing in the Globe and Mail on October 16th , 2008 were generously provided by The Calgary Foundation (photographer: Victor Penner)

Writing: May Wong

National Media Relations: Paul Howard

Thank you to all of the community foundations participating in Vital Signs for helping us gather stories about how it is having an impact in their communities and on their work.

Thanks to Our Funders

Special thanks to the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation for providing critical support for the national expansion of the Vital Signs program. And our thanks to the Strategic Charitable Giving Foundation for contributing to this report in partnership with Mackenzie Charitable Giving Fund, and to the Ford Foundation for its ongoing support of Community Foundations of Canada's leadership work.

CFC gratefully acknowledges Mackenzie Investments as Canada's Vital Signs 2008 National Sponsor.