Plan 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.
65%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 65 cents are available for programs.
You may also like:
Citizens' Foundation Canada
My anchor
OVERVIEW
About Plan Canada:
Plan International Canada is a 3-star rated charity with Fair impact seen in its international development programs. The charity has an average results reporting grade and best practices in financial transparency. Its overhead costs are just within Ci's reasonable range at 65 cents to the cause.
Founded in 1968, Plan Canada is the Canadian branch and fundraising arm of Plan International. Plan International works to advance children's rights and equality for girls worldwide. The charity reports that 130 million girls are not attending primary or secondary school. Plan also reports that over 70% of people experiencing food insecurity right now are girls and women. Plan was founded during the Spanish Civil War in 1937. During World War II, it was known as Foster Parents Plan and aimed to help displaced children across Europe. As Europe recovered, Plan pivoted to focus on international development.
Presently, Plan International is a partnership of 20 national branches that raise money for international development projects in over 75 countries. Plan Canada is the second-largest partner and raises 18% of Plan International's global revenues (Plan Germany is the largest, raising 26%). Plan Canada works to help children around the world in five core areas: education; health care; safety, protection and participation; nutrition and well-being; and dignity and protection in emergencies. In F2021, Plan Canada supported over 4.5 million children across all its programs.
In F2021, Plan Canada's three largest programs were Health, Water and Sanitation; Humanitarian Response; and Sexual and Reproductive Health.
Health, Water, and Sanitation comprised 31% of total program spending in F2021. Plan Canada reports that it reached 4.5 million children with life-saving protection against disease and provided 31,787 children with clean water.
Humanitarian Response programs accounted for 25% of program spending in F2021. It states that it provided 134,000 personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene items to people in need. The parent organization, Plan International, reports that it reached 37.7 million people through disaster relief work, including 9.8 million girls.
Sexual and Reproductive Health represented 15% of programs in F2021. Plan International works to tackle menstruation taboos and provide girls and women with access to menstrual products and information about their menstrual cycle. In F2021, 116,951 children, adolescents and new mothers received health support and education.
The remaining 29% of program spending included Education (11%), Child Protection (7%), Strengthening Human Rights and Civic Engagement (5%), Economic Security (3%), and Sponsorship Communications (1%).
In F2021, Plan Canada spent $17.6m of its program costs in Canada (excluding amortization), or 10% of total cash program expenses. The charity states that Canadian spending includes personnel, travel, and other expenses related to supporting its international programs. This spending also included costs incurred in Canada for promoting youth and public engagement in international development. Plan Canada states that it engaged 7,804 Canadian youth in its children's rights and youth empowerment initiatives during the year.
My anchor
Results and Impact
Plan Canada states that it has found significant improvements in maternal and child health based on program results measured in five countries in 2013. It reports that the proportion of children vaccinated against measles increased by 25%. In addition, 18% more women received care from a skilled health provider during their pregnancy.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Plan Canada's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Plan Canada a Fair impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair

My anchor
Finances
Plan Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada's largest charities in terms of donations. In F2021, Plan Canada received $97.3m in Canadian donations, down from $103.6m in F2020. Around 69% of donations were for child sponsorships and 31% were general contributions. Plan Canada also received $69.2m in international donations, or 29% of revenues, and $40.0m in Canadian government funding, or 17% of revenues. In F2021, the charity received $30.2m in donated goods, such as food, bed nets, and medicine.
Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 28% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 35%. For every dollar donated, 65 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.
Plan Canada has $94.1m in funding reserves, of which $3.7m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Plan Canada can cover six months of annual program costs.
In F2021, Plan Canada provided $132.3m in funding to Plan International, 74% of total cash program spending.
Plan Canada used external fundraisers in F2021. The charity paid $8.9m to raise $28.3m through external fundraisers, at a cost of $0.31 per dollar raised.
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Plan Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 16, 2022 by Ann Lei.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 6.6% | 6.7% | 8.5% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 28.0% | 31.4% | 25.7% |
Total overhead spending | 34.5% | 38.1% | 34.1% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 50.3% | 50.7% | 34.9% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 97,283 | 103,556 | 106,219 |
International donations | 69,245 | 66,515 | 61,836 |
Goods in kind | 30,173 | 25,499 | 22,881 |
Government funding | 40,040 | 43,522 | 48,938 |
Investment income | 1,066 | 2,029 | 1,310 |
Total revenues | 237,807 | 241,121 | 241,184 |
Program costs - International | 162,328 | 125,157 | 148,938 |
Program costs - Canada | 17,596 | 21,467 | 18,592 |
Donated goods exp | 30,173 | 25,499 | 22,881 |
Administrative costs | 15,538 | 16,014 | 20,371 |
Fundraising costs | 27,196 | 32,550 | 27,245 |
Total spending | 252,831 | 220,687 | 238,027 |
Cash flow from operations | (15,024) | 20,434 | 3,157 |
Capital spending | 4,171 | 517 | 572 |
Funding reserves | 94,054 | 77,854 | 61,504 |
Note: Ci included changes in fair value of investments in investment income, affecting total revenues by $586k in F2021, ($5k) in F2020, and ($146k) in F2019. Ci included endowment fund contributions in donations, affecting revenues by $86k in F2021, $566k in F2020, and $45k in F2019. To report on a cash basis, Ci adjusted international program costs by changes in amounts payable to Plan International, Inc. This affected total expenses by $16.8m in F2021, ($12.5m) in F2020, and ($1.1m) in F2019. Ci removed donated goods used in programs from international program costs to report them separately. Ci removed the amortization of capital and intangible assets from Canadian program, administrative, and fundraising costs on a pro-rata basis.
Salary Information
$350k + |
2 |
$300k - $350k |
1 |
$250k - $300k |
2 |
$200k - $250k |
5 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2021
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
The following comment is from a previous profile (2014). Additional comments may be forthcoming.
Plan International Canada Inc. (“Plan Canada”) has been a member of the Plan International global federation (“Plan”) since 1968. Plan Canada is a not-for-profit corporation, federally incorporated without share capital and granted status as a registered charity under the Income Tax Act (Canada), and continued under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act on September 18, 2014.
Plan is a global movement for change, mobilizing millions of people around the world to support social justice for children in developing countries. Founded in 1937, Plan is one of the world’s oldest and largest international development agencies, working in partnership with millions of people around the world to end global poverty. Not-for-profit, independent and inclusive of all faiths and cultures, Plan has only one agenda: to improve the lives of children. Worldwide, Plan is a global federation made up of different legal entities operating in many countries around the world under the Plan name and brand. Plan International has built a reputation as one of the world's most effective and responsible development agencies.
Accountability to our donors, our partners and to the children, families and communities that we work with across 51 program countries is paramount. Annually, Plan Canada complies with all prescribed annual regulatory requirements including Canada Revenue Agency and Imagine Canada Accreditation Program. Plan Canada’s financial statements are audited on an annual basis by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (“PWC”), who conduct their audit in accordance with the recently issued Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations (“ASNPO”) and are the same standards that apply to our peer organizations. This ensures integrity and transparency of our financial results on a basis that is consistent between organizations. Plan Canada’s and Plan’s current and past annual reviews and financial statements are available at plancanada.ca/financials.
Plan Canada respects Charity Intelligence’s choice to recast financial information using Non-ASNPO measures for the purposes of trying to achieve comparability amongst organizations. Given that these measures are not sanctioned by any regulatory authority and that these measures do not consider an organization’s operating complexity, our belief is that these measures will further confuse users. We fully support a donor's right to do their own independent research and be fully informed as to how they choose to spend their philanthropic dollars. Accordingly, Plan Canada directs interested parties to visit the Plan Canada website at plancanada.ca to see the depth and breadth of information available and to better understand how Plan Canada is contributing to helping children and their communities.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-920-1654