Founded in 1965, Save a Family Plan (SAFP) is a Canadian-based international charity that raises funds for Save a Family Plan India. SAFP reduces inequality and poverty by working with impoverished families in rural India. It empowers families by supporting the creation of small businesses to avoid foreign aid dependency and to create a sustainable economy. SAFP works through its 40 NGO partners and its 2,000 field-level action teams. SAFP’s core program is its Family Development program. It also runs Disaster Management and Special Projects programs. 

Family Development: SAFP’s Family Development program (79% of annual program costs in F2020), is the charity’s core program. It helps families meet their basic needs and provides them financial and development support to allow them to establish small businesses. The recipient families are selected by the community based on need and given money and training for six years so that they can build a sustainable income. Training topics range from nutrition to basic accounting. After six years of support, families graduate from the program having learned essential skills with the goal that they will become self-reliant. These graduated families are intended to teach other families acquired skills through SAFP-facilitated, local self-help groups. In F2020, SAFP reached 9,076 families in 5 states in India. Entrepreneurial training was given to 814 families, and 2,840 families started small businesses.

Disaster Management: The Disaster Management program (11% of program spending) helps India's impoverished when disasters strike, such tsunamis, torrential rain, or disease outbreaks. With the arrival of the covid-19 pandemic, this program has adapted to provide extra support to families. Covid-related support may include the provision of medical masks, food or supplementary financial aid due to reduced work.

Special Projects: SAFP’s Special Projects program accounts for 5% of spending. It includes a variety of services that help people identify and act on the poverty-related issues they face. For example, SAFP helped the communities of Karnataka and Maharashtra access clean water, sanitation facilities, and government grants in F2020. SAFP was also responsible for the construction of 30 wells and 540 toilets. Furthermore, SAFP helped 114 families build new houses, and 62 families buy land.

The remaining 4% of program spending went to SAFP’s SPED program, which falls under SAFP's community development projects.

In F2020, SAFP received $2.8m in Canadian donations and $304k in international donations. Administrative costs are 12% of revenues and reported fundraising costs are 0.1% of donations. Thus, total overhead spending is 12%. For every dollar donated, 88 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. SAFP holds $10.2m in funding reserves, which can cover annual program costs for 3.5 years.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Save a Family Plan for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated May 31, 2021 by Rachel Leteta.