Plan International Canada

245 Eglinton Ave East, Suite 300
Toronto, ON M4P 0B3
President & CEO: Lindsay Glassco
Board Chair: Rona Ambrose

Charitable Reg. #:11892 8993 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 3/5]

✔+

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.

Fair

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.

63%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 63 cents are available for programs.



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OVERVIEW

About Plan International Canada:

Plan International Canada is a 3-star charity. It is financially transparent and has above-average reporting on its programs with an A grade. However, Charity Intelligence has rated it Fair for demonstrated impact and the charity has high overhead costs.

Founded in 1968, Plan International Canada, commonly known as Plan Canada, is the Canadian branch and fundraising arm of Plan International. Plan International works to advance children's rights and equality for girls worldwide. The charity reports that 129 million girls are not attending primary or secondary school. Plan Canada also reports that globally, 243 million women and girls have been subjected to physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months. Additionally, nearly every two seconds, a girl under 18 is married.

In F2023, Plan Canada helped 9.3 million people, including 6.2 million children. It worked on 132 projects in 53 countries. 

Health – 47% of program spending ($111.9m). Plan Canada works with local partners to strengthen health systems. During the year, the charity ran 39 projects that reached 7,195,720 people. 354,790 children, adolescents and adults accessed improved health services during F2023.

Humanitarian Response – 21% of program spending ($50.5m). Plan Canada responds to emergencies and supports long-term recovery from disasters. In F2023, Plan Canada ran 60 projects that reached 951,490 people. Of these projects, 28 were in West and Central Africa. These projects helped 320,730 people access services during humanitarian crises. 

Education – 16% of program spending ($39.5m). Plan Canada helps ensure that children, especially girls, have access to quality education. The charity reached 1,059,090 people through 21 projects in F2023. It also helped 343,590 people receive improved education or vocational training. 

Youth Leadership and Economic Empowerment – 9% of program spending ($22.6m). This program helps youth in Canada become better advocates for global issues. In Canada, Plan Canada ran eight projects that reached 529,060 youths. Internationally, the charity runs financial literacy and savings programs. Outside of Canada, the charity ran eight projects that reached 7,050 people. 

Protection from Violence – 7% of total program spending ($16.1m). Plan Canada tries to keep children, especially girls, safe by preventing early and forced marriage and gender-based violence. During F2023, the charity ran four projects that reached 272,360 people. 

Some donors support Plan Canada through its child sponsorship model. When you sponsor a child, Plan Canada pools your money with that of other sponsors. It uses this money to improve the child’s whole community. This is an indirect sponsorship model. In F2023, Canadians sponsored 147,110 children.

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Results and Impact

Through its Health programs, in F2023 Plan Canada distributed 3.3 million mosquito nets to 6,007,140 people. Through this distribution, the charity estimates that it saved the lives of 6,870 children under five. 

Through its Humanitarian Responses, Plan Canada reached 498,200 people with emergency cash, vouchers, and 245,200 metric tons of food. In Myanmar, Plan Canada gave cash transfers and vouchers of $8,637,653 to 61,600 people for an average of $140 per person. 

Plan Canada also reports many Education related outcomes. In Sierra Leone, the charity runs an integrated school feeding program. The charity provided 31 million meals to 299,630 children across 1,340 schools. In Nigeria, an estimated 18.5 million kids are not in school. This means they are falling behind on skills like literacy and math. Plan Nigeria already had a successful program to help primary school students catch up, so Plan Canada helped extend this program to 550 secondary school students. By the middle of the project, the percent of students that could add increased from 12% to 50%. The percent that could multiply increased from 3% to 35%. 

As part of its Youth Leadership and Economic empowerment program, the charity helped 500 women in Ghana register their businesses. 

Plan Canada’s Protection from Violence Program works to prevent child marriage and early pregnancy. In Ethiopia, the charity ran the 5.5 year My Choice for My Life project to help girls make more informed decisions about marriage and having children. The percentage of women now ages 18 to 22 who were married before 15 was 28.4% before the project and was 18.5% at the end of the project. The percentage of girls now 18 to 22 married before age 18 was 30.4% at the start of the project and was 22.2% at the end of the project. 

Impact Rating: Fair

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Finances

Plan Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada's largest charities in terms of donations. In F2023, the charity received $100.5m in Canadian donations and $98.0m in international donations. It also received $56.1m in government funding, representing 21% of total revenues. In F2023, the charity received $22.5m in donated goods such as bed nets and food.

Fundraising costs are 30% of donations and administrative costs are 7% of revenues (less investment income). Total overhead costs are 37%. For each dollar donated, 63 cents go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

Plan Canada uses external fundraisers. In F2023, the charity paid fundraisers $11.5m to raise $43.4m for a total cost of 26 cents per dollar raised. 

Plan Canada has $73.7m in reserve funds. Excluding $3.8m in donor-endowed funds, the charity can cover its program costs for 3 months at the F2023 level. 

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Plan Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on March 11, 2024 by Emily Downing

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending June
202320222021
Administrative costs as % of revenues 7.2%6.6%3.2%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 29.7%26.2%25.7%
Total overhead spending 36.8%32.7%29.0%
Program cost coverage (%) 32.6%47.5%50.4%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s
202320222021
Donations 100,472107,352105,689
International donations 98,03480,09269,245
Goods in kind 22,51545,37730,685
Government funding 56,08851,82040,040
Investment income 3,0321,1201,066
Other income (18,704)6,304234,653
Total revenues 261,437292,065481,378
Program costs - International 192,815166,076161,816
Program costs - Canada 21,47118,43417,596
Donated goods exp 22,51545,37730,685
Administrative costs 18,46719,17815,538
Fundraising costs 29,83128,07127,196
Total spending 285,099277,135252,831
Cash flow from operations (23,662)14,930228,547
Capital spending 674,4664,171
Funding reserves 73,65191,35694,054

Note: Ci included endowment contributions in Canadian donations, affecting Canadian donations and total revenues by $73k in F2023, $40k in F2022, and $86k in F2021. Plan Canada uses deferred accounting. To report on a consistent basis, Ci adjusted for undisbursed designated contributions, affecting Canadian donations and total revenues by ($2.0m) in F2023, $6.2m in F2022, and $8.4m in F2021. Ci also adjusted for undisbursed grants. As this amount contains a mix of international donations and government funding. Ci adjusted for this amount in other revenue. This affected other and total revenues by ($18.7m) in F2023, $6.3m in F2022, and $16.1m in F2021. Ci adjusted for undisbursed gifts in kind, affecting gifts in kind and total revenues by ($6.5m) in F2023, $6.8m in F2022, and $512k in F2021. Ci reported change in fair value of investments as investment income, affecting investment and total income by $71k in F2023, ($1.2m) in F2022, and ($568k) in F2021. Ci reported loss on investment in subsidiary as investment income, affecting investment and total income by ($45k) in F2023, $nil in F2022, and $nil in F2021. Ci adjusted for changes in amounts receivable from Plan International, affecting international program costs and total expenses by ($3.3m) in F2023, $9.0m in F2022, and $6.2m in F2021.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 288

Avg. compensation: $106,463

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
2
$300k - $350k
2
$250k - $300k
1
$200k - $250k
5
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
0
$80k - $120k
0
$40k - $80k
0
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

These comments were provided for a previous version of this profile.

  • Being open and accountable are core organizational values for Plan International Canada and we are committed to transparency and accountability.
  • Annually, Plan International Canada complies with all prescribed regulatory requirements including those by the Canada Revenue Agency and Imagine Canada Accreditation Program.
  • Our financial statements are independently audited by professional auditors and accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC). The statements are prepared in accordance with accounting standards for not-for-profit organizations (ASNPO) in Canada, which sets out generally accepted accounting principles for not-for-profit organizations. Plan International Canada’s current and past annual reviews and financial statements are available here.
  • We fully support a donor's right to do their own independent research and be informed as to how they choose to spend their philanthropic dollars. Accordingly, we encourage interested individuals to also visit the Plan International Canada website and read our Annual Reviews to better understand how we are advancing the rights of children and girls through featured stories and highlights.
  • We respect Charity Intelligence’s choice to recast impact and financial information for the purposes of achieving comparability amongst organizations. Given that these non-ASNPO measures do not consider all factors of operating complexity, they’re not an entirely accurate representation of Plan International Canada’s work with children, especially girls, and their families in more than 75 countries around the world and our longstanding impact built on over 85 years of experience in the humanitarian and development sector. We are working with Charity Intelligence to fulfill the specific needs of their assessment.

 

Charity Contact

Website: www.plancanada.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-920-1654

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001