Compassion 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.
Good
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.
85%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 85 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Compassion Canada:
Compassion International aims to release children from poverty while creating deeper personal relationships with the Church. It describes this approach as Christian holistic child development, which aims to alleviate poverty while spreading the love of Jesus Christ. Compassion International has affiliated chapters around the world. Its Canadian branch, Compassion Canada, was founded in 1963. In F2020, Compassion International reports that its chapters and local partners reached 2,204,762 children in 25 countries. Compassion chapters mostly receive funding through sponsorships, or arrangements where donors commit to supporting individual children over the course of their education.
In F2020, Compassion Canada spent 91% of program costs on child sponsorships. The remaining 9% of programs included survival, water and hygiene, stability, disaster relief, education, health, and various church programs.
Compassion Canada’s child sponsorship program provides children with education, medical care, food, religious support, and life skills. In F2020, Compassion Canada helped to sponsor 112,010 children, up from 111,727 children in F2019. The charity also encourages sponsors to buy extra “Gifts of Compassion” to support children and their families. In F2020, Canadian donors purchased 1,662 emergency kits, 193 safe water bundles, and 1,520 chickens for sponsored children.
Aside from child sponsorships, Compassion Canada states that it funded 102 projects in 21 countries. By the end of F2020, the charity reports that it has delivered 2.7 million food packs and 1.7 million hygiene kits. Compassion Canada also helped more than 95,000 people access medical care.
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Results and Impact
Compared to unsponsored children, Compassion Canada states that Compassion children are 27% to 40% more likely to finish high school. Compassion children are also 35% more likely to have professional careers and are 40% to 70% more likely to become church leaders.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Compassion Canada’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Compassion Canada a Good impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Good

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Finances
Compassion Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada's largest charities, with $70.1m in donations in F2020. Administrative costs are 6% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 9% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 15%. For every dollar donated, 85 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.
Compassion Canada’s funding reserves of $13.5m can cover 24% or less than 3 months of its annual program costs. This low program cost coverage reflects Compassion Canada's high dependency on continued sponsorship from individual donors. In F2020, child sponsorships represented 90% of total revenues.
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Compassion Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on May 27, 2021 by Eric Zhao.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 6.2% | 6.4% | 5.4% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 8.7% | 10.3% | 9.4% |
Total overhead spending | 14.8% | 16.6% | 14.8% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 23.4% | 23.4% | 21.0% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 70,135 | 67,718 | 65,351 |
Investment income | 384 | 358 | 333 |
Other income | 14 | 24 | 23 |
Total revenues | 70,532 | 68,100 | 65,707 |
Program costs - International | 54,389 | 52,312 | 50,744 |
Program costs - Canada | 3,568 | 3,922 | 4,425 |
Grants | 2 | 4 | 14 |
Administrative costs | 4,315 | 4,299 | 3,547 |
Fundraising costs | 6,064 | 6,974 | 6,141 |
Total spending | 68,338 | 67,511 | 64,870 |
Cash flow from operations | 2,194 | 589 | 837 |
Capital spending | 247 | 389 | 193 |
Funding reserves | 13,541 | 13,158 | 11,561 |
Note: Ci reported international program spending from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA, and removed the amounts from Canadian program costs. Ci reported gifts to qualified donees from CRA filings, and included them in grants rather than Canadian program costs. Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis from Canadian program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2020
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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