Spirit North
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.
B+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
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.
81%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 81 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Spirit North:
Spirit North is a 4-star charity. The charity has a B+ Results Reporting grade, which is above average. Its overhead spending is 19%, within Ci’s reasonable range, and its reserve funds can cover 11 months of annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
Founded in 2017, Spirit North aims to use sports activities to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous youth. The charity offers land-based activities, such as cross-country skiing, mountain biking, cross-country running, canoeing, and multi-community activity days. Spirit North is based in Canmore, Alberta, and runs programs across Canada. The charity has three guiding pillars: education, community, and health. In F2024, the charity ran an average of seven programs per day and held ten festivals to bring youth from neighbouring communities together.
In F2024, Spirit North had 16,078 youths participating and 18,875 teachers and community members facilitating the programs to 223 schools and 128 communities. In its Unstoppable Youth Leaders initiative, 36 past participants became program leaders.
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Results and Impact
Spirit North reports that 91% of teachers found that the program had a positive impact on their students, with 84% of students showing increased focus and 72% of students improving their attendance.
The charity reported that 90% of participants reached or exceeded 60 minutes of physical activity per day. It reported that 92% of students showed an improvement in knowledge and understanding of activities, while 92% demonstrated increased confidence and motivation to participate. 91% of participants reported increased confidence and 89% indicated better student-to-student relationships.
Spirit North reported that 93% of community members agree that Spirit North programs have encouraged and inspired other community members to be active.
This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r), this does not impact its star rating.
This may not be a complete representation of Spirit North’s results and impact.
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Finances
Spirit North’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, which does not align with best practices. This means that Ci referred to its T3010 filings with the CRA to report program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
In F2024, Spirit North recorded Canadian donations of $4.0m and international donations of $1.3m. It recorded $91k in investment income.
In F2024, Spirit North spent $5.0m on its programs. The charity spent $527k on administration, which is 9% of revenues. The charity spent $378k on fundraising, which is 10% of donations. This means that the total overhead costs are 19%. For every dollar donated, 81 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range for overhead, which is between 65 and 95 cents. The charity recorded a deficit of $8k and has net funding reserves of $4.6m in F2024. The reserves can cover 92% or just over 11 months. This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable limit of 300%.
Profile updated by Leah Holmes on June 9, 2025. This charity report is an update that has been sent to the charity for review. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.1% | 9.1% | 10.6% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 9.5% | 3.1% | 2.4% |
| Total overhead spending | 18.6% | 12.2% | 13.1% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 92.3% | 160.0% | 159.3% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 3,970 | 2,831 | 3,127 |
| International donations | 1,330 | 1,179 | 150 |
| Goods in kind | 0 | 40 | 0 |
| Government funding | 281 | 1,680 | 34 |
| Investment income | 91 | (41) | (60) |
| Other income | 203 | 116 | 11 |
| Total revenues | 5,877 | 5,805 | 3,262 |
| Program costs | 4,980 | 3,123 | 1,928 |
| Administrative costs | 527 | 531 | 353 |
| Fundraising costs | 378 | 89 | 76 |
| Total spending | 5,885 | 3,743 | 2,357 |
| Cash flow from operations | (8) | 2,062 | 905 |
| Capital spending | 32 | 37 | 56 |
| Funding reserves | 4,599 | 4,998 | 3,072 |
Note: Ci adjusted for deferred contributions, affecting revenues by $412k in F2024, ($295k) in F2023, and $118k in F2022. Ci adjusted for deferred government funding, affecting revenues by ($31k) in F2024, $11k in F2023, and 247k in F2022. Ci included amortization of capital assets in donations according to the audited financial statements. Ci adjusted for deferred capital contributions, affecting revenues by ($1k) in F2024, ($5k) in F2023, and ($12k) in F2022. Ci reported international donations from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA and removed the amount from Canadian donations. Ci reported program costs and administrative costs from the charity’s T3010. Ci reported fundraising costs from the audited financial statements and reconciled the difference between the numbers reported on the audited financials and the T3010 in program costs. Ci reported goods in kind in F2023 from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
2 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
3 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 403-675-1211