Founded in 1983, Emergency Relief and Development Overseas (ERDO) helps children and families in developing countries by providing emergency food and aid, sponsoring children, and supporting community development. In F2018, the charity helped over 500,000 people (400,000 in 2017) in 98 project locations including Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Honduras. ERDO is the humanitarian agency of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and is a member of Canadian Council of Christian Charities.   

In F2018, ERDO allocated 44% of program spending to its child sponsorship program, also known as ChildCARE Plus. Donors supply $41 per month to support the health and education of a child in poverty; 41 of the 98 project locations were related to ChildCARE Plus. In F2018, 8,200 children (8,000 in 2017) were sponsored and 30,700 children received spiritual nurturing through ChildCARE Plus. 

In F2018, ERDO used 39% of program spending for Crisis Response projects. This program supported 334,585 people (216,494 in 2017) affected by natural disaster, political conflict, and chronic poverty. ERDO provides food, clothing, hygiene kits, and shelter to those in need. Crisis Response projects were active in 23 locations in F2018. Moreover, ERDO reports that it provided critically-needed food for 197,247 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In addition, it installed 100 borewells to provide clean water for drinking and personal hygiene. Moreover, ERDO reports that it provided 3,700 South Sudanese refugees with psychosocial support, and 2,500 people with supplementary nutrition. 

In F2018, Community Development received 17% of program spending. Rather than providing “hand-outs” ERDO gives communities a “hand-up” to provide long-term solutions to chronic health and economic problems. The microfinance initiative has given over 1,000 women funds to run their own businesses. In F2018, ERDO also provided supplementary feeding for 6,800 children, and health, nutrition, and hygiene training for 3,200 mothers in Bangladesh. 

Emergency Relief & Development Overseas changed its year end from December to September, thus the F2017 values reported reflect nine months of operations. ERDO is a large charity, with donations of $7.7m in F2018. The charity received $2.2m in government funding, representing 22% of total revenue. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues and fundraising costs are 11% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 84 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.  

ERDO has $6.1m in funding reserves, which can cover annual program costs for eight months.   

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Emergency Relief and Development Overseas for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 17, 2019 by Parker Thomlinson.