ALS BC is a 3-star charity. It is financially transparent and has overhead costs within Ci's reasonable range and above-average results reporting.

Founded in 1981, the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of British Columbia (ALS BC) aims to support people affected by ALS and their families to ensure they have the best quality of life. ALS BC is one of eight independent charities that belong to the ALS Societies across Canada. The charity states that roughly 3,000 Canadians over 18 are currently living with ALS. The disease slowly paralyzes people by preventing the brain from communicating with muscles. Over time, people with ALS will lose the ability to walk, talk, eat, swallow, and breathe. Each day, two to three people in Canada die of ALS. In F2022, ALS BC helped 572 people with ALS along with their families and caregivers. The charity has three main programs: Patient Services, Research, and Outreach and Public Awareness. Its head office is in Richmond, BC.

Patient Services is ALS BC’s largest program. This program contains six subprograms: equipment loans, support groups, psychological treatment services, mobile clinics, Day of Caring for caregivers, and Camp Alohi Lani. For equipment loan, in F2022, the charity delivered 1,690 pieces of equipment to ALS patients. The charity purchased lower-cost patient equipment instead of loaning to avoid expensive delivery charges. In F2022, 96 support group meetings were held virtually for people affected by ALS. Furthermore, ALS BC provides free psychological support counseling to ALS patients, their families and caregivers. In F2022, the program supported 35 families with 240 sessions. ALS BC’s mobile clinics provide virtual treatments to patients who have travel concerns. In F2022, two Mobile Clinics took place in Chilliwack and Nanaimo. Additionally, the charity organized five Caregiver Days in Kelowna, Nanaimo, Prince George, Surrey, and Victoria in F2022. Lastly, ALS BC runs camp Alohi Lani for youth who have a parent or grandparents living with ALS to allow them to meet others in similar circumstances.

Research program funds ALS research studies. In F2020, ALS BC launched ALS BC PROJECT HOPE, a research endowment fund aimed to provide access to ALS clinical trials in BC through a partnership with the University of British Columbia. The charity did not grant any research funding in F2022. In F2021, it granted $5.3m to ALS BC PROJECT HOPE for research. It aims to raise $20.0m to support PROJECT HOPE in three years (until 2025) or sooner.

Outreach and Public Awareness program maintains four websites and five social media platforms and posts newsletters, articles and radio campaigns to promote ALS BC’s fundraising events and inform people about the disease. ALS BC connects with its audience through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn, and email. For their multimedia campaign, each of their posts reached an audience from 136,000 to over two million.

Recent news: In 2022, the ALS Society of BC joined the International Alliance of ALS/MND Associations. The International Alliance is a global gateway for information about ALS. People living with ALS in BC can access worldwide knowledge of clinical trials and potential treatments through webinars and publications.

ALS BC had donations and special event revenues of $4.0m in F2022. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 7% of donations and special events. This results in total overhead spending of 12%. For every dollar donated, 88 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

ALS BC has $9.4m in reserve funds, of which $2.5m is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could cover 688% or 6.9 years of annual program costs with current reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Society of British Columbia for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on May 30, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.