Founded in 2006, Islamic Relief Canada (IRC) is the Canadian affiliate of Islamic Relief Worldwide. Islamic Relief Worldwide comprises a network of national offices and field partners across 50 countries. As per its mission, IRC works with communities to strengthen their resilience to disasters and escape poverty. The charity states that its activities are guided by Islamic values of compassion and social justice.

Islamic Relief Canada runs five main international programs: Covid-19 Response, Emergency Response, Development Projects, Orphan Sponsorship, and Seasonal Projects. It also runs Our Help at Home, a social services program in Canada. IRC does not provide a program spending breakdown for F2020.

International Programs: In F2020, Islamic Relief Canada helped more than 1.5 million people across 40 countries. During the year, it founded a new program to provide emergency relief and personal protective equipment (PPE) in response to the covid-19 pandemic. In F2020, its covid-19 programs helped a total of 174,068 people across Afghanistan, Palestine, Pakistan, Syria, and Tunisia. IRC currently has seven active emergencies and disaster appeals. These include emergency responses in Gaza, India, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. The charity also runs development projects that focus on six core areas of food, health, shelter, education, livelihood, and water. IRC’s sponsorship programs specifically target children orphaned by wars, disasters, droughts, or disease outbreaks. Islamic Relief Canada encourages donors to sponsor orphans and fund their access to clean water, healthcare, and education. In F2020, IRC helped to sponsor 16,962 children across 26 countries and regions.

Canadian Programs: IRC’s Our Help at Home projects aim to respond to domestic emergencies, support at-risk youth, and reduce poverty in Canada. In F2020, the charity funded responses to three Canadian emergencies: covid-19 in low-income communities, flooding in Fort McMurray, and winter homelessness. In total, its emergency programs helped 67,100 people during the year. It also reached 12,731 people through food packages and meal programs, 3,267 people through youth programs, and 40 people through Indigenous programs.

Islamic Relief Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities, with Canadian donations of $55.9m in F2020. It also received $4.7m in donated goods, $1.5m in government funding, and $560k in international cash donations. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 8% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 12%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 88 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Islamic Relief Canada has $16.7m in funding reserves, of which $945k is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, IRC can cover 34% or around four months of annual program costs with its existing reserves.

Capital expenditures spiked at $1.3m in F2020 due to the purchase of new buildings and building improvements.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Islamic Relief Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 30, 2021 by Eric Zhao.