Regent Park School of Music

About Regent Park School of Music:

Founded in 1999, Regent Park School of Music (RPSM) offers affordable music lessons to kids from low-income families in the Toronto neighborhoods of Regent Park and Jane & Finch. Children and youth aged 3-18 can take group and private lessons which teach concepts like rhythm, melody, harmony, and tone, and aim to encourage creativity. Program costs are subsidized based on household income, and students are loaned instruments and music books for free.

Regent Park School of Music reports that 1,000 students participated in its programs during F2017. This includes 500 students in Regent Park programming, 200 in Jane & Finch, 141 at First Nations School of Toronto, 107 who learned alongside the Syrian Children’s Refugee Choir, and 52 in various pilot projects. In F2017, pilot projects involved youth with special needs, in refugee camps, and within the justice system. Per student, operating cost less amortization is $1,129.

RPSM runs some programming from the Daniels Spectrum building where a fire occurred on May 30, 2018. Affected programs are expected to continue offsite until the space is fully functional in Fall 2018.

Results and Impact: Regent Park School of Music reports that its programs help students build self-esteem, grow into confident leaders, and be well-equipped to succeed in life. In F2017, 12 students graduated from RPSM, all of which are expected to attend college or university.

Financial Review:

Charity Intelligence has scored Regent Park School of Music 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.

Charity Intelligence has consolidated the financial statements from the Regent Park School of Music operating charity and Regent Park School of Music Foundation.

Regent Park School of Music is a Small charity, with donations and special events revenue of $942k in F2015. Administrative costs are 28% of revenues and fundraising costs are 7% of donations. For every $1 donated, 65 cents go to the cause, falling just within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. RPSM has $2.4m in funding reserves of which $139k is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could operate programs for 2.9 years using funding reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Regent Park School of Music for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 30, 2018 by Madison Kerr.