Compassion International aims to release children from poverty while creating deeper personal relationships with the Church. It describes this approach as Christian holistic child development, which aims to alleviate poverty while spreading the love of Jesus Christ. Compassion International has affiliated chapters around the world. Its Canadian branch, Compassion Canada, was founded in 1963. In F2020, Compassion International reports that its chapters and local partners reached 2,204,762 children in 25 countries. Compassion chapters mostly receive funding through sponsorships, or arrangements where donors commit to supporting individual children over the course of their education.

In F2020, Compassion Canada spent 91% of program costs on child sponsorships. The remaining 9% of programs included survival, water and hygiene, stability, disaster relief, education, health, and various church programs.

Compassion Canada’s child sponsorship program provides children with education, medical care, food, religious support, and life skills. In F2020, Compassion Canada helped to sponsor 112,010 children, up from 111,727 children in F2019. The charity also encourages sponsors to buy extra “Gifts of Compassion” to support children and their families. In F2020, Canadian donors purchased 1,662 emergency kits, 193 safe water bundles, and 1,520 chickens for sponsored children.

Aside from child sponsorships, Compassion Canada states that it funded 102 projects in 21 countries. By the end of F2020, the charity reports that it has delivered 2.7 million food packs and 1.7 million hygiene kits. Compassion Canada also helped more than 95,000 people access medical care.

Compassion Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada's largest charities, with $70.1m in donations in F2020. Administrative costs are 6% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 9% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 15%. For every dollar donated, 85 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.

Compassion Canada’s funding reserves of $13.5m can cover 24% or less than 3 months of its annual program costs. This low program cost coverage reflects Compassion Canada's high dependency on continued sponsorship from individual donors. In F2020, child sponsorships represented 90% of total revenues.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Compassion Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 27, 2021 by Eric Zhao.