Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver
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.
B
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Fair
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.
21%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 21 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver:
Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver is a 2-star charity. Even though it is financially transparent, its overhead spending is well outside Ci’s reasonable range. This is due to high fundraising costs (65% of donations). Before you give, please read Charity Intelligence’s report.
Founded in 1978, Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver (BBGV) matches children with adult mentors. BBGV states that the pandemic resulted in a lack of social connection and increased depression and anxiety among children. It also states that one in three Canadian children report being bullied. Its mentor programs aim to create healthy role models and coping mechanisms for stress.
BBGV's website reports six mentoring programs: Big Brothers Community Mentoring, In-School Mentoring, Teen Mentoring, Game On (group mentoring focused on physical activities), Mentoring with Math, and Roots Mentoring (indigenous mentoring program). The charity reports it spends 50% of program expenses on Group Mentoring and the remaining on Community (36%), Teen (11%), and School (3%). It is unclear how much of program spending is allocated to six programs named.
In F2023, the charity reports serving 741 children. Of this number, 260 were community matches.
BBGV has a separate charity, Renew Crew Foundation. It operates as a social business, collecting donated clothing and selling it to Value Village. The profits are then used for BBGV’s programs.
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Results and Impact
Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver reports that children with mentors are 53% more likely to report good mental health compared to their peers without. It is unclear where and when this data is sourced from.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has rated BBGV as Fair impact based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair
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Finances
Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver received $692k in donations and special events revenue in F2023. It also received $247k in government funding, representing 9% of total revenue. Most of its revenue comes from its Renew Crew clothing drive. In F2023, it generated $1.7m in net revenue for BBGV, representing 61% of total revenue.
Administrative costs were 18% of revenues (less investment income). Fundraising costs were 61% of donations. Total overhead spending was 79%. For every dollar donated, 21 cents are available to go to the cause. This is well outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. High fundraising costs are the primary cause of this. BBGV has consistently been outside of Ci's reasonable range due to its fundraising costs.
Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver had $1.9m in reserves in F2023. Of these, $28k were donor-endowed funds. Excluding these funds, its reserves can cover just under one year of annual program costs.
Ci consolidated the financial statements of the charity, its associated foundation, and its clothing donation foundation to compile this financial review.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on June 17, 2024 by Stellar Zhang.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending July
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 18.0% | 18.9% | 11.8% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 60.7% | 57.4% | 63.3% |
| Total overhead spending | 78.7% | 76.3% | 75.1% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 94.7% | 109.1% | 89.6% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 409,753 | 507,283 | 377,774 |
| Goods in kind | 51,473 | 57,587 | 17,835 |
| Government funding | 247,303 | 338,003 | 692,934 |
| Business activities (net) | 1,705,000 | 1,550,000 | 1,825,000 |
| Special events | 335,048 | 307,798 | 341,033 |
| Investment income | 89,163 | (50,672) | 40,768 |
| Total revenues | 2,837,740 | 2,709,999 | 3,295,344 |
| Program costs | 2,025,808 | 1,818,323 | 1,762,627 |
| Donated goods exp | 51,473 | 57,587 | 17,835 |
| Administrative costs | 493,613 | 521,858 | 385,426 |
| Fundraising costs | 452,064 | 467,517 | 454,759 |
| Total spending | 3,022,958 | 2,865,285 | 2,620,647 |
| Cash flow from operations | (185,218) | (155,286) | 674,697 |
| Capital spending | 338 | 24,622 | 15,665 |
| Funding reserves | 1,945,390 | 2,017,459 | 1,607,080 |
Note: Total revenues and expenses were affected by $2.0m in F2023, $1.9m in F2022, and $1.3m in F2021 during consolidation. These figures represent the transfer of funds between the foundation and operating charity. Ci adjusted for deferred donations and government funding for both the operating charity and its foundation, affecting revenues by $266k in F2023, $227k in F2022, and $193k in F2021. Ci reported the amount received from Renew Crew social enterprise as business activities. Ci reported donated goods in kind separately and removed the amounts from special events and fundraising expenses as indicated on the charity's audited financial statements. The foundation's amortization was removed from administrative costs to be reported as a separate cost. The operating charity’s amortization was removed pro-rata from fundraising, administrative and program costs to be reported as a separate cost.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
1 |
$40k - $80k |
8 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 604.876.2447