97 Kendal Avenue
Toronto, ON M5R 1L8
Executive Director: Steven Gottlieb
Board Chair: Tom Robson

Charitable Reg. #:12422 5855 RR0001

STAR RATING

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

[Charity Rating: 5/5]

✔+

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.

High

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.

92%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 92 cents are available for programs.



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OVERVIEW

About The Boundless School:

The Boundless School is a top-rated 5-star charity with high demonstrated impact. It is financially transparent, has an A+ results reporting grade, and has reasonable overhead costs.

 

The Boundless School (Boundless) was founded as an outdoor adventure centre for at-risk youth in 1984. Since becoming a charity in 1989, Boundless has worked to motivate 20,000 students to succeed academically, physically, and socially. The charity awards high school credits, allowing teens to achieve academic success in what the charity describes as an exquisite non-traditional learning environment. Boundless has facilities located on 600 acres of land in Palmer Rapids, Ontario. The property includes 3,000 feet of Madawaska River shoreline. Approximately one-third of the charity’s total program spending was allocated to Indigenous programming in F2023.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

In F2023, Boundless worked with 317 high schoolers from low-income families who were not on pace to graduate on time. This compares with 264 students in F2022 (20% increase) and 113 students in F2021 (181% increase). These students all experienced long-term school interruptions and struggled with diagnosed mental illness or learning challenges. Additionally, 11% had criminal histories, and 18% had been suspended or expelled from their previous school. In F2023, Boundless served 122 Indigenous students, compared to 108 in F2022 (13% increase) and 66 in F2021 (85% increase).

 

The charity’s boarding school program operates between September and March. Students participate in 30-day (two credits) or 40-day (three credits) sessions, working to earn credits to graduate high school. The sessions require tuition payment, but students who Boundless’ community partners refer receive a full scholarship. In F2023, Boundless delivered 7,728 student days, and 96% of students completed the program.

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Results and Impact

In F2023, 63 students completed their high school diploma at Boundless, increasing their chances of future success and financial independence.

 

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of the Boundless School’s results and impact.

 

Charity Intelligence has evaluated the Boundless School and found the charity to have a High impact per dollar spent.

 

A Charity Intelligence 2022 Top 10 Canadian Impact Charity

Impact Rating: High

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Finances

Boundless received donations of $1.4m in F2023. The charity also received $623k in tuition fees (28% of revenues) and $126k in government funding (6% of revenues).

 

Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income), and fundraising costs are 4% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 8%. For every dollar donated, 92 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

 

Boundless has $3.3m in reserve funds (cash and investments), which could cover 199% or almost two years of its annual program costs.

 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to the Boundless School for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

 

Updated on August 14, 2023, by Sydney Olexa.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending March
202320222021
Administrative costs as % of revenues 3.8%3.6%4.5%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 3.8%3.3%3.6%
Total overhead spending 7.6%6.9%8.1%
Program cost coverage (%) 199.0%176.6%193.5%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $s
202320222021
Donations 1,406,4751,503,8041,311,676
Government funding 125,595303,639336,297
Fees for service 622,861626,685315,686
Investment income 85,2434,03817,713
Other income 46023347,225
Total revenues 2,240,6342,438,3992,028,597
Program costs 1,672,7621,644,3401,157,203
Administrative costs 80,84087,31289,487
Fundraising costs 53,60849,09447,406
Total spending 1,807,2101,780,7461,294,096
Cash flow from operations 433,424657,653734,501
Capital spending 4,8307,68713,743
Funding reserves 3,329,6192,903,3232,239,223

Note: To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted for deferred donations, capital contributions, fees for service, and government funding. This affected revenues by ($179k) in F2023, ($7k) in F2022, and ($96k) in F2021. Ci included unrealized investment income, affecting revenues by $6k in F2023, ($9k) in F2022, and ($17k) in F2021. Salary information relates to F2022, the most recent CRA T3010 filing year available at the time of this report.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 12

Avg. compensation: $69,102

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
0
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
1
$80k - $120k
2
$40k - $80k
7
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

Dear Reader:

Charity Intelligence uses a relentless data driven approach when rating charities and we are grateful to them for their exhaustive efforts. But the numbers don't always tell the story. As such, we thought we would profile a few of our students to give the reader a sense of who we work with, and their prodigious accomplishments at Boundless.

We have altered the names and a few details to protect the privacy of these precious Boundless kids.

Izzy – Irony of Ironies

Izzy, sometimes a they, at other times a she, came to us two years ago bearing the bone-crushing burden of her Metis ancestors.

They are the great-granddaughter of a man who stole a cow to feed his starving Manitoba family, was imprisoned, soon escaped, and then became Canada’s most wanted fugitive for a year, only to be captured and gunned down by the RCMP.

The trauma, and also the fierceness, are embedded in Izzy’s genetic code. Meaning, you don’t want to piss Izzy off. Nor do you want to ignore her heart. So open, indeed, that her affection and support bound the entire Boundless community together at critical moments.

Izzy told us, way back when Covid hit, that she was almost grateful for the virus because she could “hide behind my mask”. Later that year, she had to pull out of Boundless for two months because her mom passed away. Izzy had to sign the DNR order at the ripe old age of 18.

In spite of formidable learning and mental health issues, Izzy earned a full diploma at Boundless. Her tears at leaving us were like an existential waterfall.

Izzy Zoomed us just eight weeks later, shrieking with delight. They have been accepted into the Toronto police academy. It’s not the RCMP – maybe that comes later – but for this bundle of angst to join the ranks of any police force – well this may be a story of the world healing itself.

Maggy is Moving On

An immigrant from Jamaica, Maggy arrived in Toronto as a toddler along with her older siblings and mom and dad. They lived in poverty, but her parents kept the family together. She tearfully remembers her dad as “Mr. Music”. He died eight months before she arrived at Boundless. Her life was shattered.

Maggy, a keenly sharp knife in any drawer, did not fit with her mainstream school, an institution that is well attuned to the needs of struggling learners; but with limited resources, can sometimes leave the gifted to fend for themselves.

When Mr. Music died, Maggy would not get out of bed. For months. She missed a year of school, and told us afterwards that she was just going to give up on academics altogether.

A caring, loving and heroically competent social worker somehow managed to woo Maggy to give Boundless a try.

Her first few months felt like she was attending a silent retreat. But Maggy was present. For everything. And then Sap arrived, a student that swept in from Iqaluit via Ottawa. Sap and Maggy became best buds in an instant, and drew each other out of their respective shells.

Maggy soon devoured our curriculum, excepting that darn biology credit which beguiled her to the end. Along with Izzy (above), she graduated with great honours and dignity. She leaves in her wake many embroideries, invaluable feedback for our Art curriculum, and connections to other continuing students who shall feel like the place is empty without her. 

She told us on the eve of her departure, “I must be moving on.”

Maggy plans to be a doctor or a nurse.

Quiche – Out of the Penalty Box

With his mom of Cree descent, and his father from Tobago, Quiche has grown up in an “in-between world,” according to his child and youth support worker from Toronto. “These kids are not fully accepted by either community.”

Quiche was floundering in mainstream school – basically not going - and on the cusp of trouble in his GTA neighbourhood. At the urging of his worker, he gave Boundless a try for 30 days. He clicked here, but remained distrustful, both of himself in his capacity to finish things he starts, and with all authority figures.

When offered a spot for the following September, he was quick to accept. But on day one, he stood us up. This is a big deal because there were other eager kids who could have filled his spot.

Sheepishly, he contacted us eight weeks later. “Things aren’t working out. Can I come back?”

We said no. We are leery about crying wolves. We would not be left hung out to dry again and deny a space to another student. This broke his heart. And yet, the weight of responsibility was felt by his impulsive decision, even one made by youngling without the maturity to make a choice of this magnitude.

When he persisted, we put him through the ringers in a 90-minute zoom. Our principal rolled the dice and asserted, “He’s been in the penalty box long enough.”

He has been with us ever since, with the understanding that he must earn his place here every day with selfless acts.

And he has. So much so that Quiche has become the first of two students now engaged in a five-year plan to train youth to become leaders at Boundless, and serve the same communities they represent.

He is slated to graduate at Boundless in December 2023.

After this, the sky’s the limit. He has already earned first aid credentials, and is now working on wilderness survival skills. In years 3-5, he’ll focus on teaching, facilitation and leadership. Much more to come, we hope, with this vanguard of a young man we affectionately call Quiche. But one year at a time.

Charity Contact

Website: www.theboundlessschool.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-951-7059

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Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities for donors to be informed and give intelligently. Our website posts free reports on more than 800 Canadian charities, as well as in-depth primers on philanthropic sectors like Canada’s environment, cancer, and homelessness. Today over 500,000 Canadians use our website as a go-to source for information on Canadian charities reading over 1.6 million charity reports. Through rigorous and independent research, Charity Intelligence aims to assist Canada’s dynamic charitable sector in being more transparent, accountable and focused on results.

 

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001