Fighting Blindness Canada
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.
A-
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.
38%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 38 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Fighting Blindness Canada:
Fighting Blindness Canada is a 3-star rated charity with an above average results reporting grade of A-. For every dollar donated, 38 cents are available to go towards the cause. Its reserve funds can cover one year and nine months of annual program costs.
Fighting Blindness Canada (FBC) was founded in 1974 as the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation of Canada. The charity was renamed Foundation Fighting Blindness in 1995, and then Fighting Blindness Canada in 2019. FBC reports that 1.5 million Canadians are blind or partially sighted, with one in five Canadians at risk of vision loss. In 2023, Fighting Blindness Canada spent $1.7m on its programs and $1.5m on its granting. FBC runs two main programs: Research, and Education and Advocacy.
In 2023, Research was 67% of annual program spending. In 2022 (the most recent annual report at the time of the profile), Fighting Blindness Canada awarded $2.6m to 35 research projects. These projects aim to understand the cause and effects of eye diseases, retain and protect vision for people living with eye diseases, and restore lost vision and cure blinding eye diseases.
In 2023, Education and Advocacy was 33% of program spending. The goal of this program is to educate the public on eye diseases and advocate on behalf of Canadians living with or at risk of developing eye blinding diseases. In 2022, FBC had 33 million public service announcement views, 277,000 website views, and 72,400 online followers.
In 2023, FBC granted $1.5m to 18 qualified donees. The largest recipients were University of Toronto ($347k), University of Wisconsin, Madison ($218k), and Hospital for Sick Children ($187k).
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Results and Impact
Luxturna is a ground-breaking gene therapy for those with inherited retinal diseases retinitis pigmentosa and Leber congenital amaurosis. Health Canada approved Luxturna in 2020, but treatment was not publicly funded. In the fall of 2022 in Quebec, this treatment was approved for public funding.
Each year, FBC posts its research breakthroughs. The following results highlight a few of the biggest advancements made in 2024. To see the rest of the research results, visit the links in the “learn more” section at the bottom of this profile.
March 2024: Researchers found that with increased blood vessel growth, the eye also grows more fibroblast cells. The team also found that blocking or removing a specific receptor found in blood vessels (Adora2a) prevented excess of fibroblast cells.
May 2024: FBC got its results from a Phase 1/2 gene therapy clinical trial for LCA10 caused by CEP290 mutations. The trial showed that the gene therapy had no serious side effects and 64% of participants showed improvement in at least one vision measurement.
June 2024: FBC found positive data from its TEASE-3 study showing that early-stage Stargardt patients treated with the oral drug, gildeuretinol acetate (ALK-001), showed no progression of their disease over 2-6 years
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Fighting Blindness Canada’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).
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Finances
In 2023, FBC received $5.5m in donations and special events revenue. The charity also received $24k in government funding. In 2023, administrative costs are 15% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 47% of donations. For every dollar donated, 38 cents are available to go towards the cause. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. In 2023, FBC spent $3.2m on its programs which represents 56% of total revenue.
In 2023, Fighting Blindness Canada had $5.6m in its reserve funds. These reserve funds can cover one year and nine months of annual program costs and granting.
In 2023, FBC reported paying external fundraisers $182k to collect $248k. This means the cost of raising a dollar via external fundraisers is 73 cents.
Profile updated on August 2, 2024 by Abby Stout.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 14.7% | 10.9% | 9.4% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 47.1% | 55.3% | 34.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 61.7% | 66.2% | 43.7% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 172.6% | 169.6% | 248.4% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 4,448 | 4,638 | 5,067 |
| Government funding | 24 | 10 | 146 |
| Special events | 1,091 | 1,360 | 884 |
| Investment income | 188 | 106 | 35 |
| Total revenues | 5,751 | 6,114 | 6,131 |
| Program costs | 1,724 | 1,606 | 1,270 |
| Grants | 1,503 | 2,249 | 1,815 |
| Administrative costs | 817 | 657 | 572 |
| Fundraising costs | 2,606 | 3,316 | 2,042 |
| Total spending | 6,651 | 7,828 | 5,699 |
| Cash flow from operations | (899) | (1,714) | 432 |
| Capital spending | 25 | 11 | 12 |
| Funding reserves | 5,569 | 6,540 | 7,661 |
Note: DEFERRED REVENUE: To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted for deferred revenue. This affected total revenues by ($954k) in 2023, ($1.6m) in 2022, and $140k in 2021. INVESTMENTS: Ci included the change in fair value of investments in investment income. This affected total revenues by $nil in 2023, $nil in 2022, and $6k in 2021. GRANTS: Ci included grant amounts from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA, and removed amounts from program costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
3 |
$40k - $80k |
2 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Learn More:
Fighting Blindness Canada Research News
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-360-4200