Children Believe
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.
A-
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Fair
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.
71%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 71 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About Children Believe:
Founded in 1938, Children Believe Fund (CBF) was formerly called Christian Children’s Fund of Canada. The name change drops its Christian identity making it more open in international programs to children of all faiths and staying true to is Christian roots. Children Believe is an international development charity and a member of ChildFund Alliance, a network of 11 development charities working in more than 50 countries around the world. Children Believe works with children, communities, supporters and other partners to improve health, education and clean water. Children Believe works in 12 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, to support more than 700,000 children, youth and community members. It runs programs in Burkina Faso, Canada, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Nicaragua and Paraguay, and it is partnering on multi-year projects in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Malawi, Mexico and Rwanda.
Children Believe’s health and nutrition programs made up 53% of total program spending in F2018. Children Believe reports that 30,717 children received annual health or dental checkups in F2018. Additionally, 13,498 children in Children Believe's sponsorship program received nutritional support. Children Believe provided 31,810 women with prenatal and postnatal services in F2018.
Education programs made up 26% of Children Believe’s total program spending in F2018. The charity reports that 72,861 students, parents, teachers, and community leaders were reached by awareness-raising campaigns on issues such as education for girls. CB says that during the past year, it provided 54,621 children at 359 schools with 331,652 education supplies.
Children Believe’s programs to strengthen community organizations made up 12% of total program spending in F2018. These programs support involvement in groups, clubs and other social organizations to engage community members. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and sustainable economic growth programs each made up 4% of CBF’s total program spending in F2018.
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Results and Impact
Children Believe reports that its Lead for Education Achievement and Progress (LEAP) program caused an increase in primary school completion rates. Completion of grades one to four increased from 65% before the project to 91% after, and completion of grades five to eight increased from 53% to 59%. As Christian Children's Fund Canada its Saving Brains project improved children’s communication skills (from 62% to 85%), problem-solving ability (from 49% to 64%), social abilities (from 57% to 74%), gross-motor skills (from 57% to 68%), and fine-motor skills (from 34% to 46%).
Formerly, as Christian Children’s Fund of Canada, its programs for sustainable economic growth saw an increase in average monthly earnings in an Ethiopian community from $120 per month to $321 per month from livestock rearing.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of the results and impact reported by Christian Children’s Fund of Canada’s.
Charity Intelligence has given Children Believe a Fair impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair

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Finances
Children Believe Fund is a large charity, with total donations of $26.6m in F2018. Administrative costs are 9% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 20% of donations. For every dollar donated, 71 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Net funding reserves of $6.6m can cover three months of annual program costs.
This charity report is an update and it has been sent to Christian Children’s Fund of Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 30, 2019 by Lauren Chin.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.2% | 9.1% | 8.4% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 20.1% | 22.6% | 21.1% |
Total overhead spending | 29.4% | 31.7% | 29.5% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 23.3% | 27.0% | 16.3% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 26,559 | 26,014 | 27,134 |
Goods in kind | 7,152 | 8,807 | 8,658 |
Government funding | 4,107 | 2,909 | 1,590 |
Investment income | (121) | 623 | 206 |
Total revenues | 37,697 | 38,353 | 37,588 |
Program costs | 28,132 | 28,811 | 28,202 |
Administrative costs | 3,495 | 3,422 | 3,145 |
Fundraising costs | 5,348 | 5,874 | 5,726 |
Total spending | 36,975 | 38,107 | 37,073 |
Cash flow from operations | 722 | 246 | 515 |
Capital spending | 478 | 532 | 719 |
Funding reserves | 6,565 | 7,772 | 4,608 |
Note: Ci adjusted program, administrative and fundraising costs for amortization on a pro-rata basis, reducing expenses by $567k in F2018, $513k in F2017, and $566k in F2016.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
1 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
5 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2018
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 1-800-263-5437