In 1999, Ted Kouri co-founded INCITE, a marketing and strategy consulting firm serving Western Canada. Now, 26 years on, Kouri’s business and his life look a lot different. Things have changed personally and professionally, and because of those changes, he is able to give back in a transformative way that empowers his family and community now and into perpetuity.
He couldn’t be happier about this.
Kouri’s path to business ownership didn’t take the traditional route of an entrepreneur throwing caution to the wind and starting a brand based on a huge appetite for risk taking.
“Our business was low risk,” he says about his start as a company owner. “We didn’t have to buy a factory or even have any major capital investments. We had our intellectual property and our network and built that into a brand.”
The Kouri household was one of motivation and ambition. His father, a chartered accountant, spent over 30 years in public practice and his grandfather and great grandfather owned and ran a small town grocery store. Perhaps it was his father’s work as an accountant that tempered the entrepreneurial drive with the caution to take calculated risks.
“In my mind, entrepreneurs are these big, bold risk takers, and that’s not really my personality,” Kouri says. “However, I do love the ability to set my own course and help to make an impact. I do enjoy giving back.”
In fact, giving back is one of Kouri’s fundamental values.
“I go into it with what I think is an altruistic mindset, and yet it almost ends up feeling selfish,” he notes. “You end up learning and gaining so much value from giving back.”
This philosophy was shaped early in his life, particularly during his university years when he became deeply involved with AIESEC, a global student-run organization that operates an international work exchange program. A board member who had participated in AIESEC 25 years earlier left a lasting impression on Kouri. The man, whom Kouri remembers thinking of as “the old guy” at the time, was passionately engaged in mentoring the next generation.
“His view was that it was just this full circle thing where he had benefited so much, and now it was his turn to repay the favour,” Kouri explains. “He inspired me, and now I feel like it’s my responsibility to pay that back.”
The lesson stuck. Today, as “the old guy” himself mentoring through AIESEC and other avenues, Kouri sees giving back as an essential part of building a stronger business and community ecosystem.
“The more you strengthen the fabric of those communities, the better your overall environment.”
He’s pragmatic about the business benefits. INCITE has recruited talented employees and landed new clients through nonprofit work and board involvement.
“We’ve benefited from it, even though our intent was not to do that,” he acknowledges. “It just always winds up coming full circle.”
Kouri’s connection to Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF) began through his wife, who worked there in the early 2000s. However, it wasn’t until years later, during one of the most difficult periods of his life, that he truly understood the organization’s transformative platform.
He and his wife faced a long, challenging journey to start a family—one marked by several pregnancy losses. These are topics that remain largely taboo, rarely discussed openly in corporate settings or even among friends. Although he is now overjoyed to be a father of two, Kouri wanted to honour the experience, while also helping others and opening up conversations around infertility and loss.
“We wanted to find a way to mark what we went through in a way that still felt positive and future-focused,” he explains, “and not just something that we look back on with sadness in the past.”
The answer was the Kouri Family Fund, established through ECF. Initially, it focused on causes related to pregnancy loss and adoption. The fund has evolved over the years to support a broader range of initiatives impacting children and families—youth cancer programs, kids’ sports, and many family support organizations.
The fund’s impact extends far beyond the dollars distributed. It has become a multigenerational teaching tool and a way to transform difficult memories into education and action.
“My parents have gotten involved, so they’ve donated to our fund and helped grow it,” Kouri says, “and my kids are now 16 and 13. Every year we have a family meeting and talk about what we’re going to do with the money that’s been generated through the fund.”
When possible, the family volunteers at the organizations they support, giving Kouri’s children firsthand exposure to community needs and the power of giving.
“It’s just become a really cool legacy for what was a difficult time in our lives,” he reflects. “It’s now become a really positive part of our story.”
What makes Kouri particularly passionate about the ECF model is the concept of endowment giving. This is a unique structure that might seem slow at first but proves remarkably powerful over time. Unlike traditional charitable giving where donations go directly and immediately to causes, endowment funds invest the principal and distribute the interest earnings. This means that modest initial contributions grow substantially over time, creating an ever-increasing impact without requiring constant new donations. It also ensures the fund can last into perpetuity, continuing to have an effect long after the founders of the fund pass on.
“I love this notion that our fund will be around long after I’m gone,” Kouri says. “If I never contribute another cent to my fund, we’ll still be donating thousands of dollars into the community every year, forever. That’s just incredible.”
The math bears this out. The Kouri Family Fund, which started modestly years ago, now generates significantly more than it did initially, largely through compound interest. The family’s experience mirrors ECF’s broader trajectory. The foundation now manages over $800 million in assets, making it the largest non-government source of funding for Edmonton’s community.
“That’s an incredible ability to make change,” Kouri points out.
He was happy to spend several years on ECF’s board, including two years as board chair, which deepened his appreciation for the organization’s professional operation and strategic vision.
“It’s that cheesy line, ‘the gift that keeps on giving,'” he says with a laugh, “but it’s really true. That’s what endowment giving is all about.”
What sets ECF apart in Kouri’s view is its unique position in the nonprofit ecosystem. While most charitable organizations spend their energy seeking funding just to survive year to year, ECF’s endowment model allows it to take a fundamentally different approach.
“ECF can identify a need, and they come with their own built-in funding and the ability to then help make change happen,” he explains. “If they did not raise a single dollar this year, they still would have the ability to contribute tens of millions into the community just because of the size of the funds.”
This financial stability transforms ECF into what Kouri calls “a catalyst for positive change” able to address emerging community needs proactively rather than reactively, and to take on long-term projects that require sustained investment.
He’s particularly impressed by ECF’s social enterprise fund, a creative program that provides low-interest loans rather than grants to small businesses and nonprofits with social missions. As borrowers repay these loans, the money cycles back into the foundation, creating another mechanism for sustainable growth.
“It’s a very unique model,” Kouri smiles. “Not many nonprofits that I’ve seen in North America, never mind in Alberta, have deployed something like this.”
The foundation’s success, he says, stems from visionary leadership put in place decades ago when three Edmonton families established ECF in the 1980s.
“When something like this starts, it’s kind of small. It seems like the impact isn’t going to be super tangible in the first couple of years, but they had the vision to see where it could go.”
Now, as ECF approaches $900 million in assets, that vision has been validated many times over.
For Kouri, his message to fellow business leaders is that endowment giving through ECF offers unique advantages that make it ideal for corporate philanthropy.
“As a business owner, I think it’s a great way to engage your team,” he explains. “Companies can establish corporate funds, implement employee matching programs and involve staff in selecting which charities to support each year. It’s a great way to teach your team about philanthropy and community engagement.”
The administrative simplicity is another major advantage.
“You don’t have to manage it, you don’t have to do the administration, the backend, the investment management, the charitable receipts, the donation to the charity, the paperwork—all of that is taken care of by ECF,” Kouri says. “You can focus on the parts that are in some ways the most meaningful for your team, and the most fun!”
Beyond the practical benefits, Kouri sees corporate involvement with ECF as part of business’ responsibility to be “a force for good” in the community.
“Business, when done right, is a force for good in the world,” he says. “I think it’s important to step up and show that business can be a positive change agent.”
The Kouri Family Fund now engages three generations: his parents, who contribute financially; he and his wife, who established and steward the fund; and their children, who participate in decisions and volunteer at events. It’s a living example of how structured philanthropy can become more than a financial transaction and transcend education, family bonding and community building.
The transformation from personal tragedy to multigenerational legacy exemplifies what Kouri finds most compelling about the ECF model. What began as a way to honour lost pregnancies and create something positive out of loss has evolved into a tool for teaching, community enrichment, building family traditions around giving and creating impact that will continue for generations.
“It’s just a way to recognize a moment in our life but also creates a future-focused story that our kids and hopefully eventually their kids can play an active role in,” he says.
For other business leaders considering their own legacy, Kouri’s story offers a wonderful example. Whether through personal family funds or corporate initiatives, the EFC model provides a structure for creating impact that compounds over time—both in financial returns and in community benefits.
“It’s hard to make meaningful change that will outlast you,” Kouri concludes, “but ECF makes that easy.”
The seeds of Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF) were planted in 1971 when the province passed the Edmonton Community Foundation Act.
In 1989, John and Barbara Poole, George and Rae Poole and Robert and Shirley Stollery collectively donated $15 million to ECF at the behest of local solicitor and community supporter, Eric John Slatter. By 2024, ECF had distributed $439 million directly to the community, with total assets nearing $900 million.
Donating to, or even starting a fund, is efficient and easy. If an existing fund does not match your passion for helping with causes such as homelessness, food insecurity, youth sports, etc., you can start a fund of your own. Some businesses start funds to honour their founders, some families to mark an important event or cause, such as the Kouri Family Fund. Whatever matters to you the most, there is a fund available to contribute to, or the pathway for you to launch that fund.
When creating a fund, once your agreement is finalized, you provide your gift. The endowment is started with $10,000, which may be provided all at once or over the course of 10 years. The gift is invested and when the fund grows, a percentage of the interest is donated to the cause(s) of your choice.
In this way, you man continue to contribute directly – or not. The investment ensures your gift keeps giving into perpetuity, all managed by ECF who provides transparent, efficient management.
Learn more at ecf.ca.
