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.
High
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.
93%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 93 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About The Compass:
The Compass is a 5-star, Top 10 Canadian Impact Charity. The charity is financially transparent and has High demonstrated impact. It has a strong results reporting grade and its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. The Compass has $1.4m in reserve funds, which can cover annual program costs for ten months.
Founded in 2002, The Compass is a Christian food bank and outreach centre serving the Mississauga region. It is formally known as the Lakeshore Community Outreach Centre. It focuses on food distribution to those in need and running client support programs to improve conditions in its local community.
A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity
The Compass’ food bank consists of 14 member churches and one supporting church in Mississauga. Churches and community groups hold food drives and meal events. They also provide financial support and volunteers to the charity. The charity’s programs include its food bank and faith-centred client programs.
Compass’ Food Distribution program is 75% of its program spending. It focuses on providing food supplies to clients. In F2023, Compass served 69,650 meals, and had 6,567 unique clients. It spent $740k on food purchases in F2023. Overall, it distributed 1,025,613 lb of food, a 79% increase from F2022.
Compass’ Client Programs account for the remaining 15% of its program spending. These programs are non-food related services intended to address the underlying causes of food insecurity, such as poverty and addiction. In F2023, Compass provided backpacks filled with school supplies to 430 children between the ages of 4 and 17. It helped file 273 tax returns. In the F2023 holiday season, Compass distributed Walmart gift cards to 1,259 households totalling $110,375, for an average of $175 per household. Compass also refers clients to partner organizations in the Peel region. For example, in F2023, the Peel Addiction Assessment & Referral Centre helped 288 Compass clients.
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Results and Impact
The Compass distributed 1,025,613 lb of food in F2023, including 34,528 litres of milk, 19,693 dozen eggs, 7,623 containers of yogurt, and 86,320 lb of frozen protein. Its tax programs resulted in a total of $1,089,413 in client tax returns.
While Charity Intelligence highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of The Compass’ results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has rated The Compass as High impact based on demonstrated impact per dollar, making it a Charity Intelligence 2022 Top 10 Impact Canadian Food Bank.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
The Compass received $1.6m in donations in F2023. The charity does not distinguish between in-kind donations and cash donations. Administrative costs were 6% of revenues and fundraising costs were 1% of donations, for a total overhead spending of 7%. For every dollar donated to The Compass, 93 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
The Compass’ T3010 filing does not reconcile with its audited financial statements. The charity’s T3010 administration costs are lower than reported on the audited financial statements and its T3010 fundraising costs are higher than reported on the audited financial statements.
The Compass has total reserve funds of $1.4m. It can cover the cost of its F2023 programs for ten months.
As of F2023, The Compass employs mostly part-time employees. In F2023, it has 11 part-time employees and one full time employee. In F2022, it employed no full-time employees and nine part time employees.
This report is an update that has been sent to The Compass for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 27, 2024 by Ben Dobozy
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.8% | 4.1% | 3.7% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 1.0% | 0.6% | 0.8% |
| Total overhead spending | 6.8% | 4.8% | 4.5% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 85.0% | 114.7% | 210.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,610,276 | 1,207,394 | 1,181,566 |
| Government funding | 22,575 | 18,292 | 43,513 |
| Special events | 208,272 | 165,867 | 87,970 |
| Investment income | 36,095 | 5,899 | 905 |
| Total revenues | 1,877,218 | 1,397,452 | 1,313,954 |
| Program costs | 1,698,821 | 1,298,836 | 801,798 |
| Administrative costs | 106,453 | 57,654 | 48,201 |
| Fundraising costs | 18,044 | 8,796 | 10,426 |
| Total spending | 1,823,318 | 1,365,286 | 860,425 |
| Cash flow from operations | 53,900 | 32,166 | 453,529 |
| Capital spending | (41,881) | (137,999) | 30,226 |
| Funding reserves | 1,443,678 | 1,489,942 | 1,687,618 |
Note: Ci backed out government funding from donations based on the charity’s T3010 CRA filings, affecting donations by ($26k) in F2023, ($18k) in F2022, and ($44k) in F2021. Ci adjusted for deferred donations, affecting revenue by $30k in F2023, ($35k) in F2022, and ($20k) in F2021. The Compass restated its donation revenue in 2022 due to a donation of $71k that arrived from Canada Helps in Jan 2023 that the auditors determined to have been collected in Dec 2022.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
1 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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