WE Charity
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✖
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements available only through official request for information from Charities Directorate.
F
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.
85%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 85 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About WE Charity:
Due to irreparable harm from the fallout of the WE Charity scandal, WE Charity announced it is closing the Canadian WE Charity. The US and UK WE Charities continue. WE Charity was a one-star-rated charity. Read Ci's report before donating.
WE Charity (first known as Free the Children) was co-founded in 1995 by Canadian teenagers Craig and Marc Kielburger. WE Charity's mission was to empower students by giving them and their teachers the tools to create transformative social change. WE Charity rose to global fame. WE Charity and Craig Kielburger were on the Oprah show and CBS' 60 minutes.
WE Charity grew and became a global children's charity with development programs in Africa, Ecuador, Haiti, India, and China. WE Charity's international development followed a holistic and sustainable model designed to empower communities to lift themselves out of poverty. WE Charity also ran youth volunteering programs in schools. In 2009, WE Days began. These were massive youth rallies in Canada featuring celebrities and spokespeople to motivate and empower youth to change the world. Students and celebrities alike volunteered in communities and traveled overseas.
The covid-19 pandemic severely disrupted WE Charity's operations. Covid-19 canceled WE Days and overseas student trips. On top of the covid-19 pandemic, WE Charity became embroiled in parliamentary investigations known as the WE Charity Scandal. This was one of Canada's largest news stories of 2020.
WE Charity is currently suing CBC's Fifth Estate, Canada's premier weekly news report, for its investigative look into donor deception. The mother of WE Charity's co-founders is suing Canada's highly-rated podcast, White Saviours. WE Charity's lawyers have corresponded with Charity Intelligence. Please appreciate our report sticks simply to facts.
DONOR ADVISORY: Charity Intelligence issued a donor advisory on July 17, 2020, reflecting WE Charity Canada's turnover in directors. New information came to light about its unique governance structure and the control of the co-founders. WE Charity Canada appointed four new directors in March 2020. WE Charity's board changed again in March 2021 when three of the four newly-appointed directors stepped down in March 2021. Greg Rogers remains as board chair.
In F2022, WE Charity spent $11.6m on its programs and spent $2.9m on grants to external parties. The charity reports that since founding it engaged 7,000 schools in WE Service Campaigns, supported 3,000 charities, and reached one million students through its WE Day celebrations. WE Charity also states that its international programs provided water to one million people, educated 200 thousand children, and launched 30 thousand women-led businesses.
Other Charity Intelligence reports:
WE Charity Closing, the details, June 2022
WE Charity Foundation; the legacy continues, June 2022
Charity Intelligence WE Charity Foundation report, August 14, 2023.
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Results and Impact
Ci could not find any quantified results on WE Charity. This may not be a complete representation of WE Charity's results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given WE Charity a Low impact rating based on its demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low
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Finances
WE Charity does not disclose its financial statements publicly. Ci received WE Charity’s financial statements after requesting them from the government.
WE Charity’s F2022 financial statements are unaudited and redacted. Ci used the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA to report expense information as the charity does not use activity based costing.
The charity received $31k in donations in F2022. WE Charity also received $5.9m from other WE organizations. Ci included the amount within Other Revenue. Administrative costs are 15% of revenue (excluding investment income). The charity does not report fundraising costs. For every dollar donated to the charity, 85 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.
WE Charity has $317k in reserve funds, which can cover 2%, or under one month of its annual program costs.
Due to the public interest in WE Charity and also since its website has not been updated with the most recent audited financial statements, here are WE Charity's audited financials:
For fiscal year ending August 2021
For fiscal year ending August 2020
For fiscal year ending August 2019
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to WE Charity for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on August 15, 2023 by Liam Chapleau.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending August
|
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 15.2% | 8.7% | 3.3% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 0.0% | 26.1% | 2.8% |
Total overhead spending | 15.1% | 34.8% | 6.1% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 2.2% | 11.1% | (5.1%) |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2022 | 2021 | 2020 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 31 | 2,063 | 24,818 |
International donations | 0 | 6,738 | 27,534 |
Goods in kind | 0 | 8,486 | 5,194 |
Government funding | 0 | 3,060 | 6,677 |
Investment income | (2) | (89) | (68) |
Other income | 5,928 | (266) | (68) |
Total revenues | 5,958 | 19,992 | 64,086 |
Program costs - International | 3,246 | 5,676 | 23,869 |
Program costs - Canada | 8,340 | 11,831 | 28,176 |
Grants | 2,903 | 0 | 0 |
Donor-designated donations | 0 | 10,170 | 0 |
Donated goods exp | 0 | 8,486 | 5,194 |
Administrative costs | 903 | 1,738 | 2,103 |
Fundraising costs | 0 | 539 | 692 |
Other costs | 24 | 464 | 602 |
Total spending | 15,416 | 38,903 | 60,637 |
Cash flow from operations | (9,458) | (18,911) | 3,450 |
Capital spending | 0 | (23,709) | 161 |
Funding reserves | 317 | 2,665 | (2,643) |
Note: Ci used the charity’s T3010 to report expenses. The difference in the charity’s T3010 and audited financials is $2.9m. Ci adjusted for amortization of deferred capital contributions affecting revenues by ($nil) in F2022, ($15.9m) in F2021, and ($664k) in F2020. Ci adjusted for covid-19 government assistance affecting revenue and expenses by ($nil) in F2022, $2.7m in F2021, and $4.9m in F2020. Ci included foreign exchange gains (losses) in other income and included interest income, realized and unrealized gains (losses) on marketable securities, and earnings from investments in We365 in investment income. This affected total revenues by $20k in F2022, ($355k) in F2021, and ($156k) in F2020. Ci included interest on long-term debt in other costs and excluded losses (gains) on the disposal of capital assets from expenses. This affected total expenses by ($nil) in F2022, $464k in F2021, and $927k in F2020. Ci included investment income recorded below the line, impacting revenue by ($2k) in F2022 only.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
7 |
$80k - $120k |
2 |
$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:
In August 2023, WE Charity provided a comment that was posted. In March 2024, Charity Intelligence was advised of legal concerns. WE Charity's comment has been temporarily removed for legal review. Charity Intelligence hopes to have this resolved shortly.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Other frequently asked questions from donors:
ME to WE: There is confusion among donors about the blurred lines between WE Charity and ME to WE. Collectively these two distinct organizations are referred to as "WE," "WE organization," "WE movement," or "WE entities." ME to WE is an affiliated social enterprise. In other words, ME to WE is a private business controlled by Craig and Marc Kielburger, WE Charity's co-founders. While WE Charity was founded in 1995, ME to WE started in 2004. ME to WE's CEO is Roxanne Joyal, Marc Kielburger's wife. WE Charity's CFO is also ME to WE's CFO.
WE Charity has a complex structure that is rare in the charity sector. Bloomberg News mapped out the charities and private Kielburger businesses that are WE entities.
WE Charity's response to this article is that while it has charities and businesses in many countries with different rules about social enterprises, states this corporate structure is necessitated by Canada's antiquated charity rules.
Tel: 416.925.5894