Sierra Club Canada Foundation

P.O. Box 2007 STN B
Ottawa, ON K1P 5W3
National Director: Gretchen Fitzgerald
Board President: Julie Reimer

Charitable Reg. #:11914 9789 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 3/5]

✔+

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.

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.

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 Sierra Club Canada Foundation:

Sierra Club Canada Foundation (SCCF) is a Canadian charity based on the US Sierra Club model, which was founded in 1892 and is one of the oldest environmental organizations in the world. Sierra Club Canada Foundation’s mission is to empower people to be leaders in protecting, restoring, and enjoying healthy and safe ecosystems. SCCF raises money to fund environmental programs run by its four chapters (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, and Prairie), which are membership-based groups.

SCCF’s programs focus on five main areas: Climate Change, Grassroots Action, Health and Wellbeing, Sustainability, and Wildlife and Natural Species. It does not provide a spending breakdown for its programs.

In 2019, SCCF reports that its Wildlife and Natural Species programs engaged more than 25 local partners and community champions. Its Atlantic chapter runs an annual Watch for Wildlife (W4W) program, which raises awareness and educates drivers to prevent vehicle collisions with wild animals. It provided more than 300 educational materials on wildlife collisions in 2019. In Edmonton, Sierra Club members also attended 12 city consultation meetings to discuss revisions of Edmonton’s Municipal Development Plan.

In addition to its advocacy efforts, Sierra Club Canada Foundation runs programs to connect people with nature. SCCF’s Wild Child program provides play-based learning sessions for children and families in natural settings. In 2019, Wild Child engaged 687 people, including 540 participants, 51 teachers, and 96 volunteers. It provided a total of 3,240 hours of outdoor play across 24 nature immersion sessions.

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Results and Impact

Sierra Club Canada Foundation has not yet posted its 2020 annual report at the time of this update. These results refer to 2019.

In February 2019, SCCF states that it helped to defeat Bill 66, Schedule 10, which would have allowed municipalities to ignore regulations of the Clean Water Act and Greenbelt Act, if acting to create new jobs. The charity reports that its letters and advocacy efforts helped to convince legislators to remove Schedule 10 from the bill.

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Sierra Club Canada Foundation’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).

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Finances

Sierra Club Canada Foundation is a ­­­­small charity, with $913k in donations in F2020. It also received $195k in government funding, representing 17% of revenues. Administrative costs are 15% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 8% of 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.

Sierra Club Canada Foundation has $625k in funding reserves, which can cover 128% or around 15 months of annual program costs. Its program cost coverage ratio spiked in F2020 due to an 88% increase in donations during the year.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Sierra Club Canada Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 23, 2021 by Eric Zhao.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending December
202020192018
Administrative costs as % of revenues 14.6%21.4%19.9%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 8.2%14.4%13.3%
Total overhead spending 22.8%35.8%33.2%
Program cost coverage (%) 127.5%45.5%33.1%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $s
202020192018
Donations 912,860485,921460,012
Government funding 194,97677,83178,217
Fees for service 51,74338,60934,506
Investment income 328417(5,007)
Total revenues 1,159,907602,778567,728
Program costs 490,133391,448387,583
Administrative costs 168,894128,941113,931
Fundraising costs 74,84769,89661,351
Total spending 733,874590,285562,865
Cash flow from operations 426,03312,4934,863
Capital spending 001,800
Funding reserves 624,875178,100128,330

Note: To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted donations by changes in deferred revenues. This affected donations and total revenues by $407k in F2020, $27k in F2019, and $3k in F2018. Ci included foreign exchange gains (losses) in investment income, affecting revenues by ($5k) in F2018.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 5

Avg. compensation: $53,703

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
0
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
0
$80k - $120k
0
$40k - $80k
4
< $40k
1

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2019

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

No comments have been added by the charity.

Charity Contact

Website: www.sierraclub.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 613-241-4611

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001