The foundation was established by a group of community-minded citizens to meet a wide variety of social, cultural, educational, health, environmental, and community charitable needs in Calgary and the surrounding area.
The foundation undertakes this work through the distribution of income from endowments and other funds established by donors.
[1] The foundation distributes five percent of the market value of each fund on an annual basis.
[3] Hawkes remembered the generosity of the Red Cross Agencies that took care of him while serving as a soldier in World War II and vowed to return the favour one day.
In the early 1960s the foundation received its first infusion of capital when twenty founding donors contributed $5,000 each.