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Make A Wish Canada
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.
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.
41%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 41 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Make A Wish Canada:
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada is a 1-star charity with low demonstrated impact. The charity has overhead spending outside Ci's reasonable range and can cover almost four years of annual program costs with its reserve funds. Before you give, read Charity Intelligence’s report.
Founded in 1983, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada (Make-A-Wish Canada) grants wishes to children with critical illnesses. The charity covers all costs of a qualified child’s wish. Some of the most requested wishes include travel, computer systems, and meeting celebrities. The hope is children will feel happier and stronger after having their wishes come true. Make-A-Wish Canada is an affiliate of Make-A-Wish International, the largest wish-granting organization in the world. Across Canada, there are 14 Make-A-Wish locations. Its head office is in Toronto.
In F2022, Make-A-Wish Canada no longer reports the exact number of wishes provided each year, but it reported that it granted more than 1,000 wishes, compared to 900 in F2021 and 1,000 in F2020. From Make-A-Wish Canada’s total F2022 spending of $28.7m, Ci calculates an average cost per wish of $28,000.
On October 1, 2019, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada, its regional chapters, and Children’s Wish Foundation of Canada merged to form Make-A-Wish Foundation of Canada.
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Results and Impact
In 2015, Make-A-Wish Israel conducted a study to measure how wishes affect medical outcomes. The results revealed wishes improved a child's physical and emotional health.
Another study in 2022 surveyed wish kids and their families. Of the surveyed wish recipients, 96% reported that wishes improved their mental and emotional health. 99% said that their child felt happier because of the wish. 92% reported that their family bond became stronger through the experience. The charity does not report the number of past wish kids this survey reached.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Make-A-Wish Canada’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Make-A-Wish Canada a Low impact rating based on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low
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Finances
Make-A-Wish Canada had total donations of $22.0m in F2022, representing 97% of its revenue. This compares with donations of $20.3m in F2021 and $23.5m in F2020. It used $15.2m to grant more than 1000 wishes in F2022.
Administrative costs are 9% of revenues, and fundraising costs are 51% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 59%. For every dollar donated, 41 cents go to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Make-A-Wish Canada has $59.6m in reserve funds, of which $1.5m is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could cover almost four years of its annual program costs.
This charity report is an update sent to Make-A-Wish Canada for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on May 23, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending September
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 8.8% | 10.5% | 17.2% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 50.6% | 37.7% | 40.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 59.4% | 48.2% | 57.8% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 385.5% | 642.4% | 269.2% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 21,964 | 20,257 | 23,530 |
| Goods in kind | 3,510 | 460 | 4,756 |
| Government funding | 15 | 3,245 | 2,802 |
| Investment income | (2,876) | 6,608 | 1,891 |
| Total revenues | 22,613 | 30,570 | 32,979 |
| Program costs | 15,160 | 9,729 | 19,677 |
| Administrative costs | 2,239 | 2,518 | 5,339 |
| Fundraising costs | 11,114 | 7,636 | 9,565 |
| Total spending | 28,513 | 19,883 | 34,581 |
| Cash flow from operations | (5,901) | 10,687 | (1,602) |
| Capital spending | 85 | 8 | 138 |
| Funding reserves | 59,626 | 63,580 | 54,131 |
Note: Ci included unrealized gains (losses) in investment income, affecting revenues by ($5.7m) in F2022, $4.6m in F2021, and $522k in F2020. Ci adjusted deferred donations of ($958k) in F2022, ($393k) in F2021, and $152k in F2020. Ci removed amortization from administrative costs according to the charity's audited financial statements and removed the remainder of amortization from program and fundraising costs on a pro-rata basis.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
1 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
3 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comment added by Make-A-Wish September 7, 2022
At Make-A-Wish Canada, our mission is to grant life-changing wishes to children with critical illnesses. To fulfill this mission, we raise funds across the country and prioritize use of these funds to grant wishes through mission program expenses. We are passionate about efficient fundraising, effective stewardship and delivering impact so that we can deliver on our important mission.
As with many charities, our fundraising programs faced significant headwinds during the pandemic. These challenges required us to halt in-person events and reimagine new virtual approaches to inspire and engage our community of supporters. We are immensely grateful that the support of our donors remained strong throughout the past year. In 2021, Make-A-Wish Canada granted 43% fewer wishes than the previous years due to restrictions from the pandemic. More than 70% of our wishes typically require travel for wish children and their families. To ensure the safety of our wish children and families, and to comply with all provincial and federal public health restrictions, we halted all travel during this 2021 year. At present, between new intakes and the significant backlog of wishes created by the COVID-19 pandemic situation, Make-A-Wish Canada has 4,000 wishes waiting to be granted.
Funds raised to deliver these wishes remain on our balance sheet and will be spent to fulfill these life-changing wishes once it is safe to do so. As a result of this short-term situation, our total mission program expenses were reduced by 50%. It is our sincerest hope that we can safely fulfill the life-changing wishes of many children waiting for their wishes across Canada which will significantly increase our mission program expenses. As we emerge from the pandemic, enabling public health restrictions to be lifted across Canada, Make-A-Wish Canada aims to accelerate delivery of our wishes and fundraising activities which will restore our ratios to pre-pandemic levels.
To read our complete Impact Report and access our financial statements, please visit https://makeawish.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/impact-report-2021.pdf
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-224-9474