Founded in 1991, Evergreen is an urban environmental charity that aims to transform public landscapes into community spaces with environmental, social and economic benefits. Currently with 23 projects across Canada, Evergreen works with municipal governments, corporate partners, schools, and community groups to improve urban environments. Evergreen focuses on four key areas: engaging young people to connect with the natural world, empowering Canadians to restore and conserve nature in urban landscapes, empowering Canadians to live active, healthy and green lifestyles, and advancing ideas and innovation for building sustainable cities. The charity’s head office is in Toronto.

In 2010, the charity opened Evergreen Brick Works (64% of program costs in F2017), Canada’s first large-scale community environmental centre. This public venue in Toronto teaches visitors how to live, work and play more sustainably. Several social enterprise businesses are run at Evergreen Brick Works, each devoted to sustainable and ethical business practices. In 2010, Evergreen finished the initial $55 million redevelopment of a collection of deteriorating heritage buildings.

In 2017, Evergreen began the second major construction project, the redevelopment of the Kiln Building. The renovation of this 53,000 square foot building involved many "green" (low-carbon) features that are expected to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions by 95% and its energy consumption by 75%. In 2017, Evergreen spent $5.3m on The Kiln Building redevelopment (capital expenditures not shown in program costs below). The Kiln Building is now the national hub for Future Cities Canada, which is a new initiative that will bring together city builders across the country to accelerate innovation and address challenges facing cities today. The charity reports that more than 500,000 visitors attend Evergreen Brick Works each year.

Evergreen runs other national programs (36% of program costs) to engage Canadians in creating healthy and dynamic urban environments in schools, public spaces, housing and transit systems. In 2017, the charity launched the Don River Valley Park Art Program. This program is part of Evergreen’s strategy to revitalize the Valley, build more trails and connections to nearby neighbourhoods, and restore the area’s ecological health. 2017 was the final year of Toyota’s 17-year commitment to Learning Grounds, Evergreen’s program to transform Canada’s school grounds. In 2017, Evergreen visited 551 schools and involved approximately 40,000 students through this program.

Evergreen’s audited financial statements do not break out government funding and investment income from donations, foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, and fees for service. Charity Intelligence has taken this information from the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA. Ideally Evergreen's management would present this information in its audited financial statements. 

Evergreen is a Large charity with donations of $13.0m in 2017 which include a $5.3m capital contribution for The Kiln Building. Evergreen also received $10.2m in program services and fees during the year that, with $1.6m in Ontario government funding, brings total revenues to $24.9 million. In 2017 Evergreen had capital expenditures of $5.5m that are not shown in its program costs or operating cash flow, but are reflected in its funding reserves.

Administrative costs are 7% of total revenues and fundraising costs are 4% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.89 goes towards its programs, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Evergreen’s funding reserves of $1.0m cover 1 month of annual program costs, showing a need for donations.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Evergreen for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 28, 2018 by Derek Houlberg.