Salvation Army
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.
Low
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.
83%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 83 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Salvation Army:
The Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada is a 2-star, Major 100 charity. The charity is financially transparent and has Low demonstrated impact. It has an average results reporting grade and reasonable overhead spending. Salvation Army has $1.5 billion in reserve funds, which can cover two and a half years of program costs.
Working in Canada since 1882, the Governing Council of the Salvation Army in Canada (Salvation Army) is a Christian international organization. It strives to help people struggling with addiction, lacking access to basic needs and experiencing hardships. Salvation Army mainly works in Canada and Bermuda and is the largest non-governmental direct provider of social services in Canada. Today, it serves 400 communities across the country. Its programs focus on social services, emergency disaster relief and shelter. Salvation Army also operates thrift stores. The charity reports helping over 2.6 million people in F2022. It adds that 65% of the children it served were 6 to 11 years old.
Social Services
Salvation Army’s social services include food, addiction rehabilitation, after-school programs, camps and life skills building. In F2022, the charity reports helping 7,7000 vulnerable youth in 44 community programs. It also helped 1.4 million people with food, clothing and other needs. The charity reports serving 3.7 million meals in F2022. Salvation Army sent food hampers and toys to 329,000 people at Christmas. It adds that 195 people completed addiction and rehabilitation programs. Additionally, the charity assisted 1,900 people involved in human trafficking and 43,000 people with rescue and suicide prevention.
Emergency Disaster Services
Salvation Army works with municipal and provincial governments to provide immediate support to those affected by natural disasters. These include earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, forest fires, tornadoes and ice storms. In F2022, the charity helped 5,300 people affected by emergencies such as these. Salvation Army adds that the frequency of these emergencies is on the rise worldwide.
Housing and Shelter
Salvation Army helps people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The charity provides housing services including transitional housing, safe houses for victims of human trafficking and youth and senior housing. In F2022, Salvation Army reports providing 5,500 shelter, addiction, detox and mental health beds.
Thrift Stores
Salvation Army has 98 thrift stores across Canada. The charity states that the fashion industry creates 20% of industrial waste and 8% of global carbon emissions. It explains that the thrift stores have both a positive environmental impact and provide affordable clothes and goods for people with limited resources. Salvation Army’s thrift stores provided 5,158 vouchers to neighbours in need in F2022, totalling $467,232.
The charity also has over 300 churches across the country and supports international education through the Brighter Future children’s sponsorship.
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Results and Impact
Salvation Army reports that its thrift stores diverted 79,836,436 lb of clothing, textiles, household items and electronics from local landfills. It adds that it displaced 809,365 tonnes of carbon emissions and saved 133,989 kilolitres of water.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Salvation Army’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given Salvation Army a Low impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low
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Finances
Salvation Army is a Major 100 charity, one of the largest charities in Canada in donations. In F2022, Salvation Army received $259.6m in Canadian donations. It also received $388.3m in government funding (50% of total revenue) and $54.2m in fees for service (7% of total revenue). Salvation Army earned $35.2m in investment income. The charity holds $1.4 billion in investments. Its portfolio consists of 53% equities, 27% fixed income investments, 15% domestic real estate and infrastructure and 5% cash and cash equivalents.
Administrative costs are 8% of total revenue excluding investment income. Fundraising costs are 9% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 17%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 83 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Salvation Army has $1.5 billion in net funding reserves (net of $58.0m in interest-bearing debts). Its liquid assets also include $32.0m in donor-endowed funds. Salvation Army’s net funding reserves, excluding donor-endowed funds, can cover annual program costs for around two years and six months.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Salvation Army for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 16, 2023 by Victoria Allder.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 7.6% | 7.3% | 7.8% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 9.2% | 10.1% | 9.6% |
Total overhead spending | 16.8% | 17.4% | 17.5% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 254.9% | 252.5% | 214.2% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 259,582 | 244,235 | 238,545 |
Government funding | 388,265 | 362,594 | 259,684 |
Fees for service | 54,206 | 80,446 | 84,942 |
Business activities (net) | 6,544 | (29,426) | (614) |
Investment income | 35,221 | 246,675 | (7,177) |
Other income | 40,371 | 20,513 | 25,587 |
Total revenues | 784,189 | 925,037 | 600,967 |
Program costs - International | 6,349 | 5,274 | 5,163 |
Program costs - Canada | 554,909 | 526,584 | 492,678 |
Administrative costs | 56,894 | 49,748 | 47,639 |
Fundraising costs | 23,825 | 24,617 | 22,971 |
Other costs | 12,035 | 12,228 | 14,241 |
Total spending | 654,012 | 618,451 | 582,692 |
Cash flow from operations | 130,177 | 306,586 | 18,275 |
Capital spending | 47,605 | 35,056 | 37,837 |
Funding reserves | 1,458,609 | 1,370,999 | 1,095,295 |
Note: Ci adjusted for deferred revenue and included this amount in other income, as it is unclear from the charity’s audited financial statements whether this is governement or non-government revenue. This affected revenues by $13.3m in F2022, ($954k) in F2021 and $1.2m in F2020. Ci has reported Thrift Store operations as net of expenses in revenues, reducing total revenues and expenses by $145.5m in F2022, $136.6m in F2021 and $162.3m in F2020.
Salary Information
$350k + |
1 |
$300k - $350k |
3 |
$250k - $300k |
2 |
$200k - $250k |
4 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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