Ci's Process…Or How Ci Recommends a Charity
Ci takes giving seriously. We, the Ci team, are funders who donate to charities. We value our money and our clients' money. We also care about how this money can be best used to help those in need. Ci seeks to direct generosity where we believe it can have can have the greatest impact in helping Canada.
Perhaps we attended one too many black-tie charity galas. At yet another event, we began asking: how much of what we paid for in tickets actually goes to the charity, what exactly does this charity do, and does our giving do any good? To answer these questions, we applied investment analysis techniques, which are by no means the best tools, but are the only ones we know how to use. We found the answers shocking.
The Ci team believes giving is good. But if the charities we had been giving to were mediocre at best, which charities should we give to? We began turning the tables on charities, asking hard questions to those who asked us for funding, and calling charities across Canada seeking excellence.
To find excellence, Ci researches and assesses charities. Our assessment of charities extends far beyond just the numbers. However, since Ci beginnings in 2006, the greatest interest in Ci's work has been on the numbers. Perhaps it is for the first time that funders are seeing these on charities. While we believe the numbers are important, they are only a small part of Ci's process. Number crunching is only 10% of the evaluation process Ci undertakes on a charity.
Ci sifts charities through a four-step process of ever-tightening screens looking for those charities that we believe offer the highest-impact giving opportunities.
1. Transparency and Accountability—The Basics
We undertake due diligence reviewing the charity's regulatory filings, checking for red flags, and doing financial analysis. We evaluate whether the charity needs funding, and calculate its administrative and fundraising costs using consistent methods.
2. Program Evaluation—The Hard Part
Here, the sociologist takes over and reviews the charity's programs, what it seeks to change and the evidence-based need for this change in Canada, how the charity works with Canadians in need, and the impact its work has.
3. Benchmarking—Measuring Up
We compare a charity with other charities providing a similar service and/or working with similar clients, looking for charities that offer the best results at the lowest cost. These offer funders the biggest bang for their buck.
4. The Recommendation Committee
Five volunteers with over 75 years' experience in investing and business review all the charities "nominated" by Ci's research department. These volunteers value the work charities do in Canada, and have experience working with and for charities, and they understand the challenges charities face. As funders, they use their experience to select those charities that need only funding to be able to help more clients and offer the greatest potential impact.
Their top picks are Ci's Recommended Charities.
This year, Ci is introducing an easier way to donate to the Recommended Charities. As a registered charity ourselves, Ci has created a "mutual fund" of charities. Funders can write one cheque, which Ci will forward to the charities according to your instructions. Furthermore, you can either have either all your money go to your designated charity or charities, or, if you wish, you can provide a stipend to support on going Ci's research. Your money, your choice.Members of the Ci team have been using this process to make charitable donations since 2006. It is a radical departure from traditional giving—writing cheques to unknown charities from across Canada with whom we have no relationship, relying on rational analysis rather than emotional pitches from those we know. We understand that impact-giving is a paradigm shift in thinking and giving. We have tried out this different way of giving with our own money, becoming quiet partners with some outstanding charities, and have been awed by what relatively small amounts of donations can achieve when given to the right charity. We are now all rabid supporters of this impact-giving method.
If you are looking for impact on your giving, or perhaps simply want to know that your donation goes to a really good charity, try donating through Ci. Understandably, you already have favourite charities you support. We do not expect that you will give all your charitable giving through Ci, but ask rather that you experiment. Throw us a bone, try allocating a small portion of your charitable giving to impact giving…and we hope to win you over with the results.
And we will get back to you with the results. Ci holds the Recommended Charities accountable. We monitor the Recommended Charities and assess how they have spent your money, and evaluate the results they achieve. Being a Recommended Charity is a challenge but, nearly unanimously, it is a challenge they relish. They too would like to be judged by their performance in getting results for clients, rather than by glossy brochures and emotional appeals.
These are turbulent times and charitable giving will likely suffer significant declines. Ci believes that now, more than ever, is the time to give intelligently. See that the money you can afford to donate goes where it can do the most good. Please, before giving, check out the charities you donate to, request their audited financial statements, and understand how they spend your money. This does take time and a little financial literacy, but there are no shortcuts. Ci believes your generosity is worth it.
Become informed, give intelligently, have impact.