Founded in 1995, Ecotrust Canada (Ecotrust) focuses on developing a sustainable ‘conservation economy’ in Canada by coming up with innovative solutions to current economic and environmental problems. Ecotrust currently works alongside communities on 56 projects across Canada and the United States, of which 46 are located in British Columbia. The charity states that by using its partnership-based approach, innovation capacities and policy expertise, it can contribute to the creation of sustainable economies in these communities. Ecotrust Canada divides its projects into four major sectors: Information Democracy, Business Innovation, Community Development and Social Finance.

Ecotrust currently has 19 Information Democracy projects. Its goal is to make data more open and accessible to the people who need it most. One Information Democracy project is assisting First Nations with referrals management. The charity recognizes that analyzing and responding to referrals in an effective way has proven to be a major logistical and administrative challenge for First Nations today. After surveys and interviews with First Nations and software vendors across BC, it published its findings in Referrals Software — An Analysis of Options in 2017.

Through its 18 Business Innovation projects listed, Ecotrust tries to turn unique and new economic ideas into successful ventures. The charity is driven by the triple-bottom-line, where economic opportunity improves rather than degrades social and environmental conditions. In 2017, it launched its ThisFish program which allows consumers to track their seafood purchases on the Internet. Using a simple tracking code, consumers can judge the quality and sustainability of seafood products they are buying.

Ecotrust lists 12 Community Development projects on its website. It aims to strengthen the country’s economy by increasing community participation in economic activities. One of the charity’s Community Development projects is for the LEDlab program, which provides internships to graduate students of Simon Fraser University to support impact-focused businesses and organizations in Downtown Eastside Vancouver. In its third year of the project, the students found ways to build demand for social enterprise through social procurement, launching a new collaborative income-generating hub for low barrier work, and facilitating micro-enterprise opportunities.

The charity also has 7 Social Finance projects. It reports to take a community development approach to all its lending, investing, and consulting services. In 2017, Ecotrust continued to work with the Heiltsuk Nation to explore financing mechanisms that could allow fish harvesters to offset their fishing costs and gain more freedom from the limits of loan deals with traditional lenders.

Results and Impact: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a globally recognized eco-certification system for forests and forest products. Since 2000, Ecotrust has held two FSC Group certificates. In 2017, after spending more than 18 months supporting the staff of Burns Lake Community Forest, it became the first forest in British Columbia to become FSC certified since 2011.

Ecotrust Canada’s audited financial statements do not report cost allocations for fundraising and administration. Charity Intelligence has taken this important information from the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA. The F2017 annual filing was not yet posted when this report was updated. Ideally the charity’s auditors, KPMG LLP, would report this information in the charity’s audited financial statements. Without this additional information, Ecotrust’s overhead spending and program cost coverage may be misrepresented for F2017.

Ecotrust Canada is a medium-sized charity with donations of $1.2m in F2017, a 62% increase compared to F2016. The charity also received $1.5m for its consulting work and $348k in rental income during the year. Administrative costs are 14% of revenues and the charity does not report fundraising costs in its audited financial statements. Its most recent T3010 CRA filing reports fundraising costs of $30k for F2016. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.86 goes towards its programs, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Ecotrust’s funding reserves of $1.2m can cover 5 months of annual program costs, indicating a need for donations.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Ecotrust Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 28, 2018 by Derek Houlberg.