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.
A
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
High
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.
77%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 77 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Indspire:
Indspire is a 5-star rated charity with high impact, best practice in financial transparency and above average in accountability to donors as seen in the A results reporting grade. Its overhead costs are 23% meaning that for every dollar donated, 77 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci's reasonable range.
Founded in 1985, Indspire helps Indigenous students in Canada complete their education by providing funding and other resources. The charity’s head office is in Ohsweken, Ontario. Overall, 44% of Indigenous students complete post-secondary credentials compared with 63% of non-Indigenous students. For Indigenous students, lack of funding is one of the biggest barriers to completing post-secondary education. The Centre for the Study of Living Standards estimates that higher education for Indigenous peoples would increase their average annual income by $11,236 by 2031. Closing the education gap for Indigenous students in Canada could increase Canadian GDP by $261 billion by 2031.
Building Brighter Futures (BBF) is Indspire’s largest program, representing 84% of program costs in F2021. Indspire grants bursaries, scholarships and awards to Indigenous students needing financial aid to complete post-secondary education. In 2021, BFF awarded over $20m to 6,245 students. This was the largest amount of yearly funding ever awarded by Indspire, noted by a 9% increase over $17.7m funding awarded in F2020. Building Brighter Futures represents the largest scholarship and bursary program for Indigenous students in Canada aside from the Government of Canada. The three most popular areas of study for students receiving funding were health, business, and social services.
Indspire Awards represented 4% of program costs in F2021. While the 2021 gathering was postponed due to covid-19, 12 First Nations, Inuit, and Metis individuals received awards for their outstanding achievements.
The Student Success program represented 11% of program costs in F2021. This program was created in F2020, following the completion of Indspire’s K-12 Indspire Institute program. Included is Rivers to Success, an Indigenous student mentorship program that underwent an overhaul in F2021. This program now provides virtual one-on-one support for Indigenous students in high school, in post-secondary and in career transition. The program had a total of 1,000 participants in F2021. In F2021, the charity also held its National Gathering for Indigenous Education. The charity states that this event is an annual conference for educators and others who work with K-12 Indigenous students to improve their educational outcomes. Attendees share promising practices and collaborate to translate theory into workable strategies for the classroom. In F2021, the event was held virtually and saw more than 900 attendees from across Canada.
Soaring is Indspire's annual Indigenous Youth Career Conference, which educates high school students on career and education options. The conference made up 1% of program costs in F2021 as it was postponed due to covid-19.
The Research Knowledge Nest (RN) is another new addition to Indspire's programs in F2020. The program hopes to create Indigenous participation in research and data science. The charity reports an absence of tracked post-secondary and workplace data for Indigenous students in Canada. RN hopes to fill this gap by analyzing and reporting indigenous education outcomes in Canada. The program also analyzes Indspire's program data, allowing for program knowledge and improvements. Indspire reports RN is the first Indigenous research program of its kind in Canada.
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Results and Impact
The charity reports that Research Nest produced seven key reports detailing Indigenous post-secondary and post-graduation experience.
According to Indspire's report on the BBF program, nearly 90% of students that have received financial aid have graduated from a post-secondary institute. Approximately 89% of these graduates have obtained employment and approximately 45% of these employees work in fields that support Indigenous communities.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Indspire’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has rated Indspire as High impact based on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent. This charity is a Charity Intelligence 2021 Top 10 Impact Charity
Read our report on Indspire's impact to learn about its return on investment and how we calculated it. Charity Intelligence estimates Indspire creates $5 of social value for every dollar spent.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
In F2021, Indspire reported total donations of $12.7m. Indspire received $15.2m in government funding representing 52% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 9% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 13% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 23%. For every dollar donated, 77 cents go to the cause. This falls inside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Indspire has $40.9m in funding reserves. With current reserves, the charity could cover 170% or about a year and 8 months of annual program costs.
In F2021, Indspire paid external fundraisers $45k to collect $32k in donations meaning it costs Indspire $1.39 to raise $1 using external fundraisers.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Indspire for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 30, 2022 by Angelina Curwin.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.3% | 9.5% | 9.3% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 13.3% | 13.4% | 13.6% |
| Total overhead spending | 22.6% | 23.0% | 22.9% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 170.3% | 130.8% | 141.6% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 12,662 | 12,595 | 11,847 |
| Goods in kind | 419 | 65 | 221 |
| Government funding | 15,218 | 14,282 | 13,784 |
| Business activities (net) | 0 | 650 | 600 |
| Investment income | 521 | (148) | 2,807 |
| Other income | 177 | 333 | 431 |
| Total revenues | 28,997 | 27,776 | 29,690 |
| Program costs | 4,019 | 6,119 | 6,459 |
| Grants | 20,013 | 17,738 | 16,331 |
| Administrative costs | 2,648 | 2,659 | 2,502 |
| Fundraising costs | 1,688 | 1,692 | 1,605 |
| Total spending | 28,368 | 28,207 | 26,896 |
| Cash flow from operations | 629 | (431) | 2,793 |
| Capital spending | 221 | 262 | 0 |
| Funding reserves | 40,922 | 31,206 | 32,281 |
Note: Ci adjusted for restricted fund donations and investment income, affecting revenue by $921k in F2021, $247k in F2020, and $3.3m in F2019. Ci backed out awards and scholarships of $20.0m In F2021, $17.7m in F2020, and $16.3m in F2019 from program costs and included these figures in grants. Ci reported administrative and fundraising costs from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA. Ci removed amortization from program, administrative, and fundraising costs on a pro-rata basis. Ci could not break out changes in government vs. non-government deferred contributions and therefore could not adjust for deferred donations. Similarly, Ci could not differentiate between donor-endowed and board-endowed funds and therefore could not adjust the reported funding reserves accordingly.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
1 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
4 |
$120k - $160k |
2 |
$80k - $120k |
3 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2021
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
For inquiries please contact:
Cindy Ball, CFRE, Vice President, Development
Direct: 416-987-0251
1-855-INDSPIRE (463-7747) x0245
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 1-855-463-7747