Terre Sans Frontières

About Terre Sans Frontières:

Founded in 1980 by the Brothers of Christian instruction, Terre Sans Frontières was initially a million-dollar fundraising campaign for various initiatives in the African Great Lakes region. The organization became Terre Sans Frontières in 1986. Since then, Terre Sans Frontières has joined forces with other professionals to offer programs such as Optometrists Sans Frontières, Dentists Sans Frontières, Acupuncture Sans Frontières, Chiropractors Sans Frontières and Homeopaths Sans Frontières. The charity’s programs focus on community development, education, humanitarian aid and health in developing countries in the Caribbean, South America and Africa.

Terre Sans Frontières started work in Haiti in 2014, targeting education, and children and maternal health. It runs the Maison de l’Avenir Jacqueline-Lessard, a home for 51 underprivileged children with a primary school for 163 students. The charity also runs L’École Les Mains Ouvertes, which has an enrollment of 1,200 students from the poorer communities in Les Cayes, Haiti.

Terre Sans Frontières runs multiple community development programs in Mali through the Sahel 21 program which is supported by the Marcelle et Jean Coutu Foundation. In F2016, the program installed two wells and established three new literacy centres. On the food security side, the program established three gardens and three water piping systems in three villages. It also provided 670 women with training on self-sufficient food consumption.

Beginning in F2015, through a partnership with Global Affairs Canada, Terre Sans Frontières began a volunteer run health program in Bolivia, Honduras, Tanzania and Mali. Through its Dentists, Optometrists and Homeopaths, it provides training to local professionals as well as healthcare for local communities.

In the News: March 1, 2019 CBC News reports concerns about Terre Sans Frontieres homeopathic treatments for tropical diseases in Hondorus. This is a small program of TSF relative to its $10.8 million spent on international programs yet raises valid concerns about evidence, results and impact.

Financial Review:

Terre Sans Frontières is a large-cap charity with donations and lotteries revenues of $11.6m in F2016. The charity’s administrative costs are 3% of revenues and fundraising costs are 5% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 92 cents goes towards the charity’s programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $4.3m in funding reserves, which covers a little under 5 months of program costs.

This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by Terre Sans Frontières. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 22, 2017 by Josh Lam.