Samaritan's Purse Canada is a 2-star charity and one of the largest charities in Canada in terms of donations. The charity is financially transparent and has an average results reporting grade and reasonable overhead spending. Its programs have low demonstrated impact resulting in a rating of two stars. 

Founded in 1973, Samaritan’s Purse Canada (SPC) is a Christian evangelical charity that does essential relief and development work across the world. SPC helps people affected by war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine. The charity is the Canadian chapter of Samaritan’s Purse that has international headquarters in the U.S. and additional branches in Australia, Germany, and South Korea. SPC’s main charitable programs are Operation Christmas Child and International Disaster Relief and Community Program.

Franklin Graham, President and CEO of Samaritan's Purse Canada, has stated strong disbelief in homosexuality and Islam, to which Samaritan's Purse has responded.

Operation Christmas Child - 44% of total program spending: The mission of this program is to share the news of Jesus Christ and make disciples of children across the globe. SPC works with local churches to pack and send Christmas gift boxes filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items to kids across the world. In F2022, the charity reported sending gifts to over 10.6 million children in over 100 countries. Samaritan's Purse Canada distributed more than 415,000 of these shoeboxes. Operation Christmas Child has a follow-up program called The Greatest Journey, which is a 12-lesson program that teaches children how to follow Christ and share him with others. SPC reports that over 4.3 million gift recipients joined The Greatest Journey in F2022, and 2.4 million boys and girls made decisions for Christ.

International Disaster Relief and Community Program - 38% of total program spending: Samaritan’s Purse Canada runs various international programs related to emergency food, water, agriculture, education and health. In response to the flood crisis in Pakistan in F2022, SPC shipped 5,000 kitchen sets, 5,400 water filters, and 10,000 packages of dehydrated vegetable mix, which is equivalent to one million meal servings. In F2022, the charity installed 6,687 household water filters, 32 school and community filters and over 700 handwashing stations in the Philippines. During the same year, it sent 640 healthcare volunteers (32 from Canada) to support 44 hospitals in Kenya.

The remaining 18% of program spending was allocated to Ministry Support Services and North American Ministries.

Samaritan’s Purse Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities in terms of donations. In F2022, it received $45.7m in donations. The charity also received $23.1m in donated goods (33% of total revenue). Administrative costs are 6% of total revenue (excluding investment income). Fundraising costs are 4% of cash donations. This results in total overhead spending of 9%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 91 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s range for reasonable spending.

Samaritan’s Purse Canada has $32.5m in reserve funds. The charity can cover around one year of its annual program costs with its reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Samaritan's Purse Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 14, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.