Founded in 1913, Big Brothers Big Sisters Toronto (BBBST) connects children and youth with adult mentors. Children who struggle socially, academically, or developmentally are referred to BBBST by a guardian or social service provider. In 2020, 555 BBBST volunteers mentored 1,025 children and youth through Core Mentoring and Group Mentoring programs. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending on its programs.

BBBST’s Core Mentoring programs provide one-on-one mentoring for children and youth. An adult mentor is matched with a mentee based on shared interests, experiences, and availability. The pair meets eight hours per month for cultural, recreational, and artistic activities such as cooking, hearing a symphony, or going to a zoo, museum, or science centre. Variations of the traditional one-on-one model involve a romantic couple mentoring a single child, in-school mentoring based on reading and games, or a mentee who needs transportation to and from organized sports. In F2020, BBBST made 153 new matches.

In addition to one-on-one mentoring, BBBST also offers Group Mentoring programs. Groups of girls aged 10-14 meet weekly for the Go Girls! program, where two trained mentors present a curriculum designed to increase self-esteem, relationship skills, and conflict resolution. Similarly, boys aged 11-14 participate in Game On!, which teaches boys about gender and masculinity, anti-violence, healthy minds, relationships, and problem solving. Young immigrants to Canada can join the Newcomers Bridging Program, where they are supported in adjusting to life in a different country. Finally, the Pumped for Post-Secondary program provides high school students with guidance as they plan for transitioning to higher education.

In F2020, Big Brothers Big Sisters Toronto received total donations and special events revenues of $2.0m. Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 3% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 10%. For every dollar donated, 90 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

BBBST does not provide a breakdown of administrative and fundraising costs on its audited financial statements. In the past, Ci reported overhead spending from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA. In these years, BBBST’s overhead spending was consistently outside Ci’s reasonable range (43% in F2019, 44% in F2018, 46% in F2017). BBBST’s F2020 T3010 filing is not available at the time of this report and could not be used in Ci’s analysis. As a result, overhead spending in F2020 is likely understated.

BBBST has $1.2m in funding reserves, once $56k in long-term debt is accounted for. The charity could cover 56% or almost seven months of annual program costs with reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Big Brothers Big Sisters Toronto for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 25, 2021 by Sydney Olexa.

This report is generously funded by the E.W. Bickle Foundation.