Welcome to The Edmonton Financial Literacy Society

Welcome to the official web site of the EFLS (The Edmonton Financial Literacy Society). Our non-profit organization has been established for over 13 years. We are currently going through an expansion phase that will see us develop from the premium delivery agent of financial literacy education training in Edmonton to providing these services throughout Canada, please click here for further details.  

EFLS  received the 2007 Silver Laurel Award for its Aboriginal Financial Literacy project.

EFLS financial literacy courses don’t just teach budgeting skills and tracking one’s expenses; the curriculums look in depth at the human emotions that drive spending and money management and help people to have a healthier relationship with their personal finances. The unfortunate reality is that 20% of Edmonton citizens live with low income and often struggle to make ends meet. 

EFLS focus is to assist people become more effective with the financial resources they have at their disposal; from the basics of tracking household finances and getting out of debt to saving for a down payment on a home. EFLS strongly believes that one key element in reducing poverty is to provide the impoverished with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively manage the limited financial resources they have. EFLS also believes that every person can improve their circumstances with the correct supports and education.

For people not classified as low income; EFLS wholly owned subsidiary company, The Smart Save Corporation is able to provide more advanced courses that also focus on investments and property portfolios. These courses can be offered to the general public, or provided to strengthen the workforce of companies who recognize the benefits that they will receive from providing their staff with enhanced skills, knowledge and controls of personal money management. Ultimately, this will have a positive impact in alleviating decreased work productivity which often results from the daily financial pressures and stress of individual employees.

EFLS takes a unique role in development and delivery with its partnership model, which builds on the strengths of other local agencies to provide its services. EFLS’S project management approach uses the skill set of their Executive Director; Nigel Kidd very effectively. Nigel has spent over 15 years in Retail Management/Staff Training, and 5 years as a Bank Manager / Sales Manager. EFLS looks to tailor any materials to more effectively suit the needs of the groups it delivers to, and draws from a pool of specialized contract facilitators with different skill sets to effectively deliver its courses.  EFLS can provide courses, or a Train the Trainer progam to assist other organizations in delivery of EFLS materials.

EFLS focus is not only to provide the best programs and training possible, but also to provide funders with the best return for their donations.  Statistics form the 2007 Donner Canadian Foundation Awards indicate that EFLS $ cost per hour of programing and $ cost per client are both over 50% lower than the national average.

If you would like to know more about how we can changes people’s lives with our courses, please click here to watch the video “Changing Lives” where women from one of our courses talk about the positive impact that financial literacy has had on their lives.