Breast Cancer Society of Canada
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✖
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements available only through official request for information from Charities Directorate.
C-
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
19%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 19 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Breast Cancer Society of Canada:
Breast Cancer Society of Canada is a 1-star rated charity with no financial transparency and little reporting on its programs and their results. The charity has persistently high fundraising costs leading to overhead spending outside of Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range. In 2021, fundraising costs were 78% of donations.
Founded in 1991, Breast Cancer Society of Canada (BCSC) fundraises and provides grants for breast cancer research in Canada. BCSC aims to save lives through education and research. The charity reports that 27,400 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and 5,100 will die from the disease. BCSC funds research projects translating previous testing results into medical tools and treatments.
In F2021, Breast Cancer Society of Canada distributed $306k in research grants to different research programs. Its three grant recipients were London Health Sciences Institute ($250k), Ontario Institute for Cancer ($51k), and Headwaters Health Institute ($5k).
As part of its commitment to the London Health Sciences Institute, BCSC funded nine projects by researchers in training in F2021. The funding was awarded to masters, Ph.D., and post-doctoral students, from Western University.
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Results and Impact
BCSC partially funded Dr. Gregory Czarnota’s breast cancer research project in 2018. Dr. Czarnota, from Sunnybrook Research Institute developed a radio imaging technology that can predict how a tumour would respond to chemotherapy treatment. The technology accurately predicted the effects of chemotherapy treatment for 90% of the participant pool.
The research project also looked at low-intensity ultrasounds to make tumours more susceptible to small amounts of radiation. Researchers found that tumours were ten times more responsive to low doses of radiation therapy after the ultrasound.
While Charity Intelligence highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Breast Cancer Society of Canada's results and impacts.
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Finances
Breast Cancer Society of Canada received $5.1m in donations and special events fundraising in F2021. Administrative costs are 3% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 78% of donations, up from 47% in F2020. This means that BCSC spent 81% on overhead in F2021 compared to 61% in F2020. For every dollar donated, 19 cents go to the cause. The charity does not report why these costs increased so significantly. Breast Cancer Society of Canada’s total overhead spending has fallen outside Ci’s reasonable range for the past three years.
BCSC has funding reserves of $1.2m, which can cover its annual program costs for one year and eight months.
The charity’s audited financial statements are not publicly available. As such, Charity Intelligence has scored BCSC as not financially transparent.
The charity reports only four full-time employees in its T3010 filing with the CRA; however, it lists six full-time staff in the salary ranges. There is likely an error in its reported information which may translate to an error in our reporting.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Breast Cancer Society of Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated June 3, 2022 by Ann Lei.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 3.4% | 13.6% | 8.5% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 78.0% | 47.3% | 44.0% |
| Total overhead spending | 81.4% | 60.9% | 52.5% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 173.1% | 96.4% | 62.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 526 | 296 | 613 |
| Government funding | 42 | 41 | 0 |
| Special events | 4,540 | 915 | 1,192 |
| Investment income | 95 | (4) | 14 |
| Total revenues | 5,203 | 1,248 | 1,820 |
| Program costs | 364 | 278 | 259 |
| Grants | 306 | 203 | 505 |
| Administrative costs | 172 | 170 | 154 |
| Fundraising costs | 3,952 | 573 | 795 |
| Total spending | 4,793 | 1,223 | 1,713 |
| Cash flow from operations | 410 | 25 | 107 |
| Capital spending | 0 | 8 | 3 |
| Funding reserves | 1,158 | 463 | 478 |
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
4 |
< $40k |
1 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2021
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
The following comment is from a previous profile (2014). Additional comments may be forthcoming.
Inspired by one family’s search for a cure, the Breast Cancer Society of Canada’s mission is to engage in grassroots fundraising that supports patient focused research for diagnosis, treatment and prevention. We are not the only organization funding cancer research, however, our focus and method is quite unique. Rather than looking for specific research projects and researchers, we seek out high calibre research teams that are located in cancer treatment centers, close to the patients. We offer them managed grants to advance research projects into the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Each team has the same dream – working together to improve the quality of life for all breast cancer patients. This team approach fosters creativity and collaboration between institutions and medical experts. As these teams are located in cancer treatment centers there is a closer connection to the needs of the patients; researchers and clinicians work hand in hand. After all, if research does not help the patient what is the point? Our research grants are used in a variety of ways, customized by the individual team for maximum impact at their center. The Breast Cancer Society of Canada has been doing this type of research funding since 1993. It is our hope we will be able to continue this work until breast cancer is eliminated entirely.
For more information please visit www.bcsc.ca.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 519-336-0746