Book Clubs for Inmates
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.
94%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 94 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Book Clubs for Inmates:
Book Clubs for Inmates is a four-star charity that is financially transparent. It has a B- results reporting grade, which is below average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 94 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci's reasonable range.
Founded in 2011, Book Clubs for Inmates (BCFI) runs book clubs to help inmate literacy and empathy across Canada. The charity states that prison library budgets are often below $1,500, while some prisons do not even have a library. The charity runs three programs: Book Clubs, Library Project, and CHIRP (Children of Inmates Reading Program). BCFI also financially supports the Ephesus project. BCFI does not provide a breakdown of its program spending. Charity Intelligence estimates it spent $682k on its programs in 2023 (including donated books).
Book Clubs: BCFI runs French and English book clubs for men and women in 44 minimum, medium, and maximum-security prisons, and Yellow Brick House. BCFI sends books to prisons to run the book clubs. BCFI reports that the book clubs meet once a month, with discussion led by volunteers from outside the community. Each club has 10-18 members. Book members get to keep the books as personal property. The charity hopes to triple its prison reach by 2024. BCFI reports over 500 inmates are in its book clubs.
Library Project: In 2023, BCFI shipped over 50,000 books to 16 prison libraries. By 2026, BCFI hopes to ship 500,000 new books to prisons in Canada. In 2023, Book Clubs for Inmates recorded ten author visits to prisons.
Children of Inmates Reading Program (ChIRP): Inmates who are a part of the CHIRP read books aloud to their children at home. Inmates select a book for their child and then read that book into a recording device. BCFI then mails the book and recording to the child's family. In 2023, the CHIRP program was active in 15 prisons across Canada, compared to four in 2022. BCFI plans to add eight new prisons by March 2025. The charity also sent 200 $50 gift cards to inmates' children to buy books in 2023. BCFI did not report the amount of recordings sent or inmates in the CHIRP program.
Ephesus: BCFI does not run the Ephesus program, but supports it financially. BCFI encourages Book Club members who want to pursue post secondary education to apply. The Ephesus program educates inmates with King’s University’s courses. A King’s University English professor teaches inmates English both in person and online. The Bowden prison began the year with three students and finished with four.
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Results and Impact
Book Clubs for Inmates conducted a survey of its inmates in 2015. The charity did not disclose the number of surveyed inmates. The results were:
93% reported the book club could help to prevent a re-offense.
85% reported the book club improved their reading skills.
90% reported the book club improved their communication skills.
86% reported the book club as a place to participate in civil discussion.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Book Clubs for Inmates Results and Impact. BCFI has not yet been rated on impact (n/r).
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Finances
Book Clubs for Inmates received $826k in donations and donated books in 2023, a 180% increase compared to $298k in 2022. In 2023, BCFI reported a surplus of $148k (17% of revenue).
Administrative costs are 5% of revenue (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are less than 1% of donations. This results in a total overhead spend of 6%. For every dollar donated to Book Clubs for Inmates, 94 cents are available to go to the cause. In 2023, 54 cents of every dollar raised went to programs (excluding donated books).
BCFI has $485k in reserve funds (cash and investments), which can cover 211%, or 2.1 years of its annual program costs.
This is a new charity report that has been sent to Book Clubs for Inmates for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Profile created on May 30, 2024 by Liam Chapleau.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.2% | 8.8% | 13.0% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 0.5% | 1.6% | 0.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 5.7% | 10.4% | 13.3% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 210.8% | 189.4% | 230.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 379,206 | 179,066 | 160,760 |
| Goods in kind | 447,070 | 118,670 | 0 |
| Government funding | 45,186 | 45,186 | 45,186 |
| Investment income | 5,300 | 2,079 | 307 |
| Total revenues | 876,762 | 345,001 | 206,253 |
| Program costs | 230,049 | 177,587 | 124,270 |
| Donated goods exp | 452,195 | 119,271 | 0 |
| Administrative costs | 45,041 | 30,104 | 26,848 |
| Fundraising costs | 1,907 | 2,816 | 400 |
| Total spending | 729,192 | 329,778 | 151,518 |
| Cash flow from operations | 147,570 | 15,223 | 54,735 |
| Capital spending | 1,672 | 0 | 0 |
| Funding reserves | 484,996 | 336,358 | 286,760 |
Note: 1.DEFERRED ADJUSTMENT: BCFI uses deferred accounting. To show donors this information consistently, Ci adjusts for these deferred revenues. This affected revenue by ($13k) in 2023, $12k in 2022, and ($nil) in 2021. These deferred adjustments are not material. 2.LINE-ITEM COSTING: BCFI uses a blend of activity-based and line-item costing without allocating salaries by activity. Ci referred to the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA for program, administrative, and fundraising expenses in 2022 and 2021. The charity’s 2023 filing with the CRA is not yet available so Ci inputted the expense lines into program and administrative costs to the best of its knowledge. 3.AMORTIZATION: Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis in 2022 and 2021.
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 F2022
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
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