EPIC Society
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.
High
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.
96%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 96 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About EPIC Society:
Founded in 1996, the Educational Program Innovations Charity (EPIC) Society aims to “advance marginalized learners through innovation, empathy, volunteerism, diversity and partnership.” The charity’s head office is in Sydney, Nova Scotia. EPIC focuses on the learning needs of Aboriginal, African-Canadian, and other Nova Scotia youth who lack the resources or support system needed for a quality education. Its programs include the Youth Peer program, Breakthrough program, Parents PEACE program, and scholarships and volunteerism awards.
A Charity Intelligence 2020 Top 10 Canadian Impact Charity
EPIC’s Youth Peer program is an after-school one-on-one mentoring and tutoring program for youth ages 8 to 18 in Cape Breton. Mentors help youth overcome personal obstacles, guiding them through social activities and academic achievements. In addition to the Peer program running 5 days per week in Sydney, the charity introduced the Youth Peer Outreach program in F2018. Offering similar services to the Youth Peer program, Outreach ran one session per week in each of Glace Bay, Northside and New Waterford in F2019. Across the two programs, the total number of tutor-mentor matches over the 2018-2019 school year was 1,668. The two programs collectively engaged 107 high-risk youth participants over 7,974 hours in F2019, which is a 32% increase in youth participants compared to F2018.
The charity’s Breakthrough program runs for 2 hours each week for youth ages 15 to 30 who are current or former Youth Peer participants. The program aims to reduce personal and interpersonal risks and promote ongoing social adaptiveness in marginalized youth. Guest presenters are invited monthly to provide additional insights related to mental health, addictions, and other issues arising from group discussion. In F2019, the program served 10 youth, averaging 6 participants each week.
EPIC Society’s Parents PEACE program is a weekly parenting workshop for caregivers with school-aged children. In F2019, an average of 6 caregivers attended each week. During the year, guest speakers covered topics such as adolescent mental health, bullying, addictions, anger management and teen sexuality.
The charity also helps underprivileged youth by providing scholarships and volunteer awards. In F2019, EPIC society awarded 9 graduating high school students $500 each. The charity also provided 6 volunteerism awards worth $500 each to graduating post-secondary students.
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Results and Impact
EPIC society reports that 92% of youth participants served in F2019 were high-risk, which is the highest it has been since the charity’s early years of working exclusively with young offenders. In F2019, EPIC Society pre- and post-tested 49 Youth Peer participants and 23 Youth Outreach participants over a 6-month period. EPIC Society reports that the average improvement in social and academic achievement indicators was 28% for Youth Peer and 19% for Outreach, and “the evidence was compelling that home, school, and social challenges were significantly counteracted by the program”.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Educational Program Innovations Charity Society's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given EPIC an impact rating of High based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: High

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Finances
EPIC Society is a Small charity with donations of $88k in F2019. It also received $114k of funding from the Province of Nova Scotia in F2019, representing 56% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 4% of total revenues. The charity does not report fundraising costs in its audited financial statements or in its T3010 filing. For every dollar donated to the charity, 96 cents go to the cause. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending, but the charity reports that its low overhead costs are heavily attributable to its CEO, who performs his work pro bono.
EPIC Society’s funding reserves of $111k can cover six months of annual program costs, indicating a need for donations.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to the Educational Program Innovations Charity Society for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 22, 2020 by Eric Jose.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 4.3% | 3.8% | 4.2% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Total overhead spending | 4.3% | 3.8% | 4.2% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 50.2% | 87.5% | 46.2% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 88,210 | 135,117 | 129,794 |
Government funding | 113,684 | 73,362 | 40,250 |
Special events | 1,744 | 2,000 | 0 |
Investment income | 1,062 | 4,044 | (2,404) |
Total revenues | 204,700 | 214,523 | 167,640 |
Program costs | 215,629 | 141,726 | 154,032 |
Grants | 5,100 | 3,300 | 3,850 |
Administrative costs | 8,745 | 7,976 | 7,172 |
Fundraising costs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total spending | 229,474 | 153,002 | 165,054 |
Cash flow from operations | (24,774) | 61,521 | 2,586 |
Funding reserves | 110,910 | 126,878 | 72,957 |
Note: Ci reports on a cash basis and thus adjusted for deferred donations, affecting total revenues by ($34k) in F2019, $52k in F2018 and $12k in F2017. Ci included unrealized gains (losses) on investments in investment income, affecting total revenues by ($654) in F2019, $14k in F2018, and $6k in F2017.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
2 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2019
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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