Melanoma Canada is a 3-star charity. It has an average results reporting score and is financially transparent. However, the charity has high overhead spending.  

Founded in 2009, Melanoma Canada supports skin cancer patients with resources and advocacy. The charity also educates the public about skin cancer and actions people can take to avoid it. Each year, over 89,000 Canadians are diagnosed with melanoma. The risk for the disease increases with exposure to the sun or tanning beds.   

Melanoma Canada works through three main programs: Support, Education, and United Voice. The charity does not provide a breakdown of its spending on its programs.  

The Support program provides information and assistance to people diagnosed with skin cancer. In F2022, Melanoma Canada led virtual information sessions that had 409 attendees. Afterwards, the charity posted recordings online, which received 33,407 views. Melanoma Canada also answered 82 support calls and 282 support emails in F2022. 

The Education program works to inform the public about the risks of skin cancer. Melanoma Canada offers Continuing Medical Education (CME) accredited courses for health care professionals. In F2022, it added two new courses. These courses helped inform people how to diagnose skin cancer early and how to detect skin cancer in people of colour. Melanoma Canada also mailed out 3,600 guidebooks and 5,700 mole tracking cards in F2022.  

The United Voice program uses advocacy to improve policies for people with skin cancer. This program also works to prevent skin cancer. In F2022, Melanoma Canada distributed over 15,000 Sun Aware bracelets. These bracelets educate people about how to stay safe in the sun. In F2022, 90 people signed up to receive monthly email reminders to check for skin cancer. 

Melanoma Canada received $1.2m in donations and special events fundraising in F2022. It also received $8k in Canadian government funding, representing 1% of revenues. Administrative costs are 11% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 27% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 38%. For every dollar donated, 62 cents go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Melanoma Canada’s fundraising costs increased from 19% in F2021 to 27% in F2022. 

Melanoma Canada has $1.1m in funding reserves. This means the charity can cover 205% or around two years of annual program costs with its existing reserves.  

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

Updated on June 19, 2023 by Clive Stevens.