Founded in 1995, Ecotrust Canada focuses on developing a sustainable ‘conservation economy’ in Canada by coming up with innovative solutions to current economic and environmental problems. Ecotrust Canada is based in British Columbia, but currently works alongside communities on projects across Canada and the United States. The charity states that by using its partnership-based approach, innovation capacity, and policy expertise, it can contribute to the creation of sustainable economies in these communities. Ecotrust Canada’s major programs include Community Fisheries, various social enterprises, Community Energy, Community Programs, Climate Innovation, and Indigenous Homes.

Ecotrust Canada’s largest program is Community Fisheries. Ecotrust Canada aims to build a sustainable, fair, and vibrant commercial fishery in BC by advocating for policy change, monitoring & managing local fisheries, and creating transparency around illegal fishing. In 2019, Ecotrust Canada trained 12 observers for salmon, groundfish, & crab in Prince Rupert and Tofino, as well as giving a refresher course to 12 returning observers. Ecotrust Canada also launched Spyglass, a cooperative platform that provides open access to a dynamic database of over 3,700 vessel entries and 1,200 company entries tied to illegal fishing.

Ecotrust Canada owns multiple for-profit social enterprises dedicated to environmental sustainability. The largest of these is The Amp, which is a co-working space launched in 2014 to combat the high cost of office space in Vancouver. Currently 80 people working for over 18 organizations occupy the space. Ecotrust Canada also owns 87.5% of Teem Fish, which provides companies with affordable electronic fish monitoring technology. Teem Fish’s website lists five projects it has completed across Canada and the United States.

Ecotrust Canada’s Community Energy program explores policy, program, and project opportunities that provide fair access to clean & affordable household energy, with a key focus on local capacity building. In 2018, the charity replaced 40 diesel furnaces in on-reserve homes with hydroelectrically powered air-source heat pumps. Ecotrust Canada aims to install 400 clean heating installations in on-reserve homes by the end of 2020.

Ecotrust Canada’s Community Programs include the North Coast Innovation Lab (NCIL) - which the charity uses to perform environmental research – as well as Wahkohtowin, a partnership with six First Nations communities in the Northeast Superior region of Ontario. NCIL launched in 2017, and in its first year it engaged 25+ academic institutions nationwide, facilitated 13 gatherings, and had 21 media features that promoted NCIL’s work. As part of the Wahkohtowin partnership, Ecotrust Canada worked on carbon management projects on over 1.5 million hectares of forest on traditional Indigenous territories in F2019.

In 2019, the remaining program spending went to Climate Innovation, Indigenous Homes, and Ecotrust Canada Capital.

Ecotrust Canada’s audited financial statements do not report cost allocations for fundraising and administration. Ecotrust Canada provided Ci with a program and administrative spending breakdown for all three years.

Ecotrust Canada is a Medium-sized charity with donations of $1.9m in F2019, which is a 63% increase compared to F2018. The charity also received $1.5m for its consulting work and $350k in rental income during the year. Administrative costs are 18% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are less than 1% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 82 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Ecotrust Canada’s funding reserves of $1.9m can cover roughly nine months of annual program costs. This indicates 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 20, 2020 by Eric Jose. Revisions made October 13, 2020 by Katie Khodawandi.