ORBIS Canada
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Most recent Audited financial statements 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.
Low
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.
49%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 49 cents are available for programs.
You may also like:
My anchor
Programs
About ORBIS Canada:
Founded in 1984, Orbis Canada is one of eight fundraising branches of Orbis International. Orbis works to train medical professionals in poor areas so that blindness can be treated and prevented. It is estimated that 189 million people are blind or visually impaired but could see more clearly if they had access to surgery, medicine, or glasses. Not being able to see affects an individual’s likelihood of getting an education, earning a steady income, and caring for their family.
Orbis prevents and treats blindness in 18 countries in South America, Africa, and Asia. The charity advocates for eyecare centres to be established in poor areas and provides training to local professionals. In some countries, Orbis also screens for blindness-causing illnesses and administers the necessary treatment or vaccines.
Orbis operates an airplane as the world’s only Flying Eye Hospital. Surgeries are performed on the plane and up to 46 local medical professionals watch in live 3D from the onboard classroom. Orbis teaches procedures based on the most significant threats to eyesight in the area. During its two-week stay in Barbados, the Flying Eye Hospital used virtual reality so that trainees could perform a hands-on, simulated surgery before operating on patients.
Orbis’ Cybersight program provides free lectures, surgical videos, and textbooks electronically to eyecare professionals. Cybersight allows for professionals in remote areas to access the best information. In 2017, recorded videos were played 35,000 times and 78 live webinars were accessed in 125 countries. The Cybersight program also allows for eyecare professionals to communicate for mentorship and diagnoses of complex cases.
My anchor
Results and Impact
Orbis collaborated on a study examining the effect on productivity of providing Indian, tea-picking workers with glasses. The results were published in The Lancet Global Health, finding that the $2.60 glasses improved a visually-impaired worker’s productivity by 22%. For workers over 50, the productivity increase was 32%. It is estimated that if all visually-impaired Indians working in agriculture were provided glasses, the industry would produce $20 billion worth of additional product.
With restored or improved eyesight, people are able to work or are more productive at their job. Orbis Canada reports that every $1 spent on eye health in poor countries produces $4 in economic gain.
Charity Intelligence has given Orbis Canada a Low impact rating for demonstrated impact per dollar.
Impact Rating: Low

My anchor
Finances
Orbis Canada is a Small charity, with donations and fundraising revenue of $868k in F2017. Administrative costs are 13% of revenues and fundraising costs are 38% of donations. For every $1 donated, 49 cents go to the cause, falling outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Orbis Canada has $942k in funding reserves which could cover program costs for almost two years.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Orbis Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on August 13, 2018 by Madison Kerr.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 12.8% | 8.6% | 12.2% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 38.0% | 22.2% | 29.3% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 192.7% | 133.2% | 239.0% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2017 | 2016 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 867,720 | 1,134,519 | 810,372 |
Government funding | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Investment income | (2,215) | 177 | 321 |
Other income | 0 | 1,347 | 0 |
Total revenues | 865,505 | 1,136,043 | 810,693 |
Program costs - International | 488,965 | 614,069 | 440,054 |
Program costs - Canada | 0 | 39,308 | 30,326 |
Administrative costs | 111,371 | 97,551 | 99,103 |
Fundraising costs | 329,715 | 252,320 | 237,522 |
Cash flow from operations | (64,546) | 132,795 | 3,688 |
Funding reserves | 942,321 | 870,058 | 1,124,001 |
Note: For F2016 and F2015, Ci used international program costs reported in the charity’s T3010 CRA filings. The charity’s F2017 T3010 was unavailable at the time of this report so all program costs have been allocated to international programs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
1 |
$40k - $80k |
1 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2016
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.