Founded in 1935, BC Cancer Foundation (BCCF) raises money for BC Cancer. BC Cancer runs six regional cancer centres in Abbotsford, Kelowna, Prince George, Surrey, Vancouver, and Victoria. These centres provide the full spectrum of cancer care to people living in BC, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care. BC Cancer also conducts cancer research. The Foundation’s grants fund research, major equipment purchases, and patient care. BCCF reports distributing $32.3m in grants to BC Cancer in F2020, which includes $1.3m in deferred grants to be paid in future years.

Research was 73% of grants in F2020. Funding goes to research on cancer prevention, genomics and personalized medicine, immunology, and nuclear medicine. The Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG) program is a precision medicine initiative that creates tailored treatment options for metastatic cancer patients using genomics. By reading a patient’s genome to find the cancer-driving genetic markers, doctors can better understand the root cause of the cancer and direct the patient to an appropriate targeted therapy clinical trial, if possible. As of August 2019, BCCF reports that 1,068 patients have consented to be enrolled in POG, and 84% of completed cases produced useful results that the doctor and patient could use in treatment planning.  The Foundation also funds BC Cancer Genome Sciences Centre. The Centre uses genome sequencing and bioinformatics to prevent and diagnose cancer, as well as identify new therapeutic targets for treatment. It is part of BC Cancer, and is the first genome centre embedded within a cancer system. Since it was established in 1999, the Centre has worked on 850 research projects, sequenced 660,000 human genomes, and published nearly 1,300 peer-reviewed articles that have been cited over 95,000 times.

Equipment purchases were 24% of grants in F2020. This funded a second mass spectrometer for BC Cancer. This piece of equipment takes detailed measurements of protein molecules to help researchers understand how cancer cells grow and evade therapies. Prior to this purchase, research teams had to wait up to two years to use the single available spectrometer. A new PET/CT cancer was purchased for the BC Cancer Centre in Victoria, which will increase capacity to scan up to 20 more patients per week. The Vancouver Centre now has a new Fujifilm endoscopy unit with high-resolution cameras. This unit is the first of its kind in Canada.

The remaining 3% of grants in F2020 were for patient care.

BC Cancer Foundation is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest in terms of donations. It received $55.1m in donations and special events fundraising in F2020. Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 24% of donations and special events fundraising. For every dollar donated, 69 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Funding reserves of $166.1m include $52.0m in endowed funds. BCCF’s audited financial statements do not disclose how much of these funds are donor endowed. Including all endowed funds, the Foundation’s reserves can cover annual granting activities at current levels for 5.3 years.

BC Cancer Foundation reports using external fundraisers as part of its fundraising efforts in its most recent F2019 T3010 filing. In F2019, it paid $1.0m to external fundraisers that raised $2.7m. With an external fundraising ratio of 37%, BC Cancer Foundation received 63 cents of every dollar donated to external fundraisers.

This report is an update that has been sent to BC Cancer Foundation for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 22, 2020 by Katie Khodawandi.