Founded in 2006, Islamic Relief Canada (IRC) is the Canadian affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide. As per its mission, IRC works with communities to strengthen their resilience to disasters and provides vital emergency aid when disasters occur. The charity is inspired by Islamic values and conducts its programs accordingly. IRC’s core programs include disaster relief, development projects, Feed the Needy, and orphan sponsorship. In F2018, IRC spent $48.1m on international programs and $2.0m on Canadian programs. 

Islamic Relief Canada’s disaster relief programs make up nearly half of total program expenditures. The charity currently has five disaster appeals: drought in Somalia; the Yemen emergency; the Myanmar conflict; the Palestine conflict; and the Syrian war. So far in 2019, IRC’s Yemen response efforts have reached 520 households, nourished 3,640 individuals, and distributed 3,120 food baskets containing 30 pounds of food, enough to sustain a family of 5-7 people. 

Islamic Relief Canada’s development projects are its second largest program in terms of program expenditures. These projects focus on improving various aspects of communities in need: health, education, livelihoods, and women empowerment. IRC’s education projects in F2018 included: improving accessibility for education for 800 visually and hearing impaired children in Chechnya, installing washrooms and providing feminine sanitary supplies to improve access to education for 15,000 individuals in Tunisia, and providing education to 50 Rohingya refugee children in Malaysia. Health projects in F2018 included delivering life-saving medical care to 44,320 individuals in Northern Syria and 30,000 individuals in Palestine. Livelihoods projects for the year included helping 2,441 female-headed households through skills development, income generation, and financial management trainings in Bangladesh, and providing agriculture training and supplies to 17,500 individuals in Yemen. Women Empowerment projects for F2018 included increasing access to education for 4,890 marginalized and refugee girls in Lebanon, Turkey, and Niger, and empowering 560 Syrian and Jordanian women through business skills development in Jordan.  

Islamic Relief Canada’s Feed the Needy program delivers food packages to impoverished people across the world. IRC runs two annual campaigns during the month of Ramadan and for Qurbani in late fall, where it raises money for this program. In F2018, Ramadan food distributions fed 89,184 people and Qurbani food distributions fed 211,900 people. 

IRC’s orphan sponsorship program provides children with education, shelter, clean water, and health and nutrition services. In F2018, child sponsorships totaled 10,692, including 1,463 in Palestine - Gaza, 942 in Bangladesh, 837 in Afghanistan, and 742 in Syria. 

Islamic Relief Canada is a Major 100 charity, meaning it is one of Canada’s 100 largest charities in terms of donations. The charity collected $34.6m in donations in F2018, plus $24.2m in donated goods in kind. Administrative costs are 2% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 13% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 85 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. IRC’s funding reserves of $15.2m can cover just under 4 months of annual program costs.  

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Islamic Relief Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on August 14, 2019 by Caroline McKenna.