Farm Radio International is a 5-star rated charity with High demonstrated impact. The charity has best practices in financial transparency and has an A results reporting grade, which is above average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 67 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci's reasonable range. 

Founded in 1979, Farm Radio International (FRI) is a Canadian-based international aid charity. The charity uses radio broadcasting to educate African farming families on best practices. While its focus is on improving food production and farming yields, it also broadcasts shows to improve health, nutrition, education, and gender equality. Farm Radio is the only international non-profit focused on using radio to inspire change in African farming communities. FRI provided 6,122 hours of radio broadcast in F2022. Its goal is to serve 40 million rural people with a radio project that supports them in making a change in their life by 2025.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

FRI's core program is Radio Projects. It also runs two smaller programs, Radio Resources and Radio Innovation, which improve rural radio provision. 

Radio Projects: FRI’s Radio Projects program partners with African radio stations to create radio projects with a specific goal. Farm Radio International broadcasted topics such as crop and pest management, climate change adaptation strategies, gender equality, health and nutrition, and more. In F2022 the charity partnered with 259 radio stations to implement 33 projects across 17 countries. It reached 61 million total listeners, with 24.5 million of those being regular listeners. The charity reports 2.9 million people improved their farming, health, or nutrition practices.

Radio Resources: Farm Radio International provides local broadcasters resources such as scripts and training to produce relevant radio programs. The charity created 154 new radio resources in F2022. 3,420 broadcasters received resources from FRI in F2022. 49% (326) of the charity’s survey respondents stated they use FRI’s resources every week. The charity gained 164 new members in F2022.

Radio Innovation: Farm Radio International develops digital solutions and engaging approaches to make radio more effective and interactive. FRI's Uliza tool, Swahili for "ask," is its primary innovation. It is used by Farm Radio to allow listeners to communicate with their radio station quickly and for free. By doing so, broadcasters can gauge their engagement with the audience to improve programming. The charity counted over 1.9 million interactions between listeners and radio stations through Uliza in F2022. 256 radio stations used Uliza tools in their programs.

Farm Radio received $8.0m in Canadian and International donations in F2022. Canadian donations represent 26% of donations and 20% of total revenue. Most of its Canadian and international donations came from international development organizations and charities. The charity received $2.2m in government funding in F2022, representing 21% of total revenue. The charity’s administrative costs are 8% of total revenue (excluding investment income) and its fundraising costs are 25% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 33%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 67 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.

The charity has $2.4m in reserve funds. Its reserve funds can cover 26%, or three months of its annual program costs.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Farm Radio International for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 27, 2023 by Liam Chapleau.