Islamic Relief 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.
B+
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Fair
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.
88%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 88 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Islamic Relief Canada:
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.
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Results and Impact
Islamic Relief Canada currently responds to various disaster appeals. In Bangladesh, IRC provided aid to 6,560 victims of Cyclone Bulbul, 5,100 victims of Cyclone Amphan, 8,980 victims of monsoon floods, and 22,425 Rohingya Muslim refugees and host families in F2020. In Lebanon, it provided emergency food supplies to 9,225 people following the Beirut explosions.
Through its Canadian youth programs, IRC helped 19 students of colour graduate from high school and gain acceptance to university in F2020. To help schools reopen during the pandemic, IRC provided PPE supplies for 800 students.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Islamic Relief Canada's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Islamic Relief Canada an Average impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair

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Finances
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.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 3.7% | 2.8% | 2.4% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 8.2% | 14.4% | 13.0% |
Total overhead spending | 11.9% | 17.2% | 15.4% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 33.5% | 36.8% | 53.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 55,921 | 38,717 | 34,287 |
International donations | 560 | 523 | 1,355 |
Goods in kind | 4,703 | 24,994 | 23,146 |
Government funding | 1,545 | 1,000 | 4,008 |
Investment income | 101 | 175 | (66) |
Other income | 205 | 209 | 195 |
Total revenues | 63,034 | 65,617 | 62,925 |
Program costs - International | 43,497 | 31,954 | 24,880 |
Program costs - Canada | 1,326 | 1,737 | 1,076 |
Grants | 2,204 | 973 | 639 |
Donated goods exp | 4,703 | 24,994 | 23,146 |
Administrative costs | 2,334 | 1,832 | 1,524 |
Fundraising costs | 4,604 | 5,591 | 4,448 |
Total spending | 58,667 | 67,080 | 55,712 |
Cash flow from operations | 4,367 | (1,463) | 7,213 |
Capital spending | 1,288 | 128 | 187 |
Funding reserves | 16,691 | 13,642 | 15,166 |
Note: Ci classified donated investments as donations rather than donated goods in kind. Ci classified unrealized investment gains (losses) as investment income rather than other revenue. Ci reported international donations (less donated goods) from IRC’s T3010 filings with the CRA, and removed the amounts from Canadian donations. IRC’s audited financial statements no longer disclose Canadian program spending. Ci used T3010 filings to separate Canadian program costs from international program costs. Ci removed donated goods and grants to qualified donees included in program costs to report them separately. To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted international program costs by changes in amounts payable to Islamic Relief Worldwide. This affected expenses by ($836k) in F2020, ($991k) in F2019, and ($370k) in F2018. Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis from administrative and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
2 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
4 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2020
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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