Canadian Council of the Blind

About Canadian Council of the Blind:

Founded in 1944, Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB) works to improve the lives of people who are blind, deaf-blind, or have poor vision. The charity reports that 50,000 Canadians lose their vision each year and 75% of vision loss is avoidable. CCB’s national office in Ottawa works with 80 local chapters in advocacy, providing bursaries, organizing audio book clubs, peer support, finding employment for members, connecting blind people with new technologies, and encouraging sport participation.

CCB reports that people with disabilities can be economically worse off when they get a job because they lose significant financial support. What they earn in income can be less than the disability payments, housing subsidies, and medication provisions that they were previously receiving. CCB is advocating for passage of The Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities Act which would ensure that people with disabilities never lose more than they gain from working.

Canadian Council of the Blind runs a Mobile Eye Clinics program (MEC) which performs eye exams at schools and seniors’ homes. CCB reports that untreated vision problems can negatively impact kids’ learning and puts seniors at a greater risk of falling. From May 2014 to June 2015, MEC examined 1,162 students and 356 seniors.

Results and Impact: Of the students examined through MEC, one or more vision problems were identified in 18% (209) and 11% (133) were referred to further testing. Prescriptions for glasses were given to 172 students.

Financial Review:

Charity Intelligence has scored Canadian Council of the Blind as a zero in financial transparency because the charity has failed to provide full financial statements when requested. The financial analysis completed by Charity Intelligence uses the most recent, full financial statements available to Ci at the time of writing this report.

Canadian Council of the Blind is a medium-sized charity with donations of $2.2m in F2015. Administrative costs are 14% of revenues and fundraising costs are 50% of donations. For every $1 donated, 36 cents go to the cause, falling outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. CCB has $613k in funding reserves which could cover nearly eight months of program costs.

CCB uses external fundraisers as part of its fundraising activities. In its F2015 T3010 CRA filing, the charity reported external fundraising costs of $1.1m. External fundraisers raised $1.9m on behalf of the charity, producing an external fundraising cost ratio of 60%.

This report is an update that has been sent to Canadian Council of the Blind for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Financial analysis updated on August 11, 2017 by Katie Khodawandi. Donor accountability updated on August 27, 2018 by Madison Kerr.