Ecojustice
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
B+
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.
77%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 77 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Ecojustice:
Ecojustice is a 4-star rated charity with an above-average results reporting score. It is financially transparent and has overhead costs within Ci’s reasonable range.
Founded in 1991, Ecojustice uses legal action to defend nature and fight climate change. Through its legal cases, Ecojustice aims to establish laws and rulings that protect environmental rights. The charity’s main office is in Vancouver, with four regional offices in Calgary, Halifax, Ottawa, and Toronto. Ecojustice has fought a total of 143 cases as of F2022.
Ecojustice groups its advocacy into three main program areas: Climate, Healthy Communities, and Nature. It did not provide a spending breakdown for its programs in F2022.
Ecojustice’s Climate program pursues legal action relating to global warming, carbon emissions, and weak climate regulation. The charity advocates for serious climate action to stop the long-term effects of climate change.
The Healthy Communities program involves legal cases that deal with pollution, chemical waste, and local sustainability.
The charity’s Nature program urges governments to protect oceans, watersheds, forests, and other vital habitats. Ecojustice also protects national parks from projects that would threaten native wildlife.
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Results and Impact
Under its Climate program, Ecojustice helped propose Bill C-12 (Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act), which was passed in June 2021. This Act requires that the federal government hold all levels of government accountable for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Healthy Communities program, Ecojustice launched a lawsuit against the Ontario government. The charity states that the Ontario government’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act was introduced without proper consultation and makes major changes to the province's environmental laws. Ecojustice won this lawsuit in July 2021, protecting the Duffins Creek Wetlands from a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO). The charity also won its lawsuit against De Beers Canada, which failed to report mercury pollution at its Victor Diamond Mine. De Beers agreed to make all past and future mercury monitoring public, pay a fine of $100, and donate $50,000 to charity.
Under the Nature program, Ecojustice won a lawsuit against Keurig Canada for misleading consumers about the recyclability of its plastic coffee pods. Keurig Canada had to pay a $3 million fine and donate $800,000 to an environmental charity.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Ecojustice’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).
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Finances
Ecojustice received $12.7m in Canadian donations in F2022, up 49% from $8.5m in F2021. It also received $23k in international donations.
Administrative costs are 10% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 14% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 23%. For every dollar donated, 77 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Ecojustice has reserve funds of $8.8m which can cover one year and three months of annual program costs.
According to its annual filing with the CRA, Ecojustice used external fundraisers in F2022. It paid a total of $106k to external fundraisers during the year. Ecojustice does not report how much these agencies raised. The charity states that these fundraisers do not collect any revenue, but instruct donors to send funds directly to Ecojustice instead.
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Ecojustice for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 26, 2023 by Kiara Andrade.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending October
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.6% | 11.5% | 13.2% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 13.9% | 18.6% | 20.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 23.5% | 30.1% | 33.9% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 126.5% | 115.4% | 114.9% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 12,696 | 8,530 | 7,301 |
| International donations | 23 | 679 | 635 |
| Government funding | 0 | 0 | 382 |
| Investment income | (372) | 56 | 262 |
| Other income | 10 | 88 | 242 |
| Total revenues | 12,357 | 9,352 | 8,821 |
| Program costs | 6,978 | 5,493 | 4,555 |
| Grants | 2 | 31 | 451 |
| Administrative costs | 1,224 | 1,068 | 1,128 |
| Fundraising costs | 1,759 | 1,590 | 1,514 |
| Other costs | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Total spending | 9,963 | 8,195 | 7,648 |
| Cash flow from operations | 2,394 | 1,157 | 1,173 |
| Capital spending | 28 | 79 | 18 |
| Funding reserves | 8,828 | 6,375 | 5,751 |
Note: Ci reported international donations from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA and removed these amounts from Canadian donations. To report on a cash basis, Ci included deferred revenues, affecting revenues by ($209k) in F2022, $1.1m in F2021, and $119k in F2020. Ci reported program, administration, and fundraising costs from the charity’s T3010. Ci removed amortization from program, administrative, and fundraising costs on a pro-rata basis.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
6 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
These comments were provided for a previous version of this profile.
Ecojustice is committed to operating at the highest standard. Toward this, Ecojustice is certified to the Imagine Canada Standard demonstrating operational excellence and leadership. Additionally, Ecojustice is committed to achieving justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion across our organization and to ensuring our work is consistent with and where possible advances reconciliation.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 604-685-5618