Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary & Area is a five-star, financially transparent charity. Its results reporting score is A, which is above average. It has been rated as Average demonstrated impact per dollar spent and its overhead spending is outside Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 1994, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary & Area (BBSCA) matches children and youth facing adversity with adult volunteer mentors. These mentoring relationships strengthen children’s social and emotional learning, executive functioning skills, and resilience. In F2024, BBSCA reported that upon intake, the children it served reported the following: 70% were experiencing bullying, 61% were experiencing mental health issues in their family and home lives, 55% were experiencing social isolation, and 55% were experiencing financial stress.

A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity.

BBSCA operates two mentoring programs: Community Mentoring and In-School Mentoring. Matched mentors and mentees meet weekly for at least a year. It does not report how much it spends on each program.

Community Mentoring takes place in the evenings and on weekends. It serves children aged 6-24. Adult volunteers participate in sports, cooking, cultural events, movies, and hiking with their young mentees. In F2024, BBSCA reported facilitating 324 community matches. These benefitted 301 community mentees.

In-School Mentoring serves elementary school children (aged 6-12) who have been referred by their school. Mentors meet with children for one hour a week for the duration of a school year. BBSCA facilitated 715 in-school matches to benefit 619 in-school mentees. In F2024, BBSCA identified literacy rates as an area of focus. For the first 20-30 minutes of each session, mentors participate in activities designed to strengthen literacy. Students can also complete the Wee Read learning platform, designed to make reading enjoyable for youth. In F2024, 812 children earned the completion certificate for Wee Read. 

In total, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary & Area operated 1,039 matches in F2024, serving 1,436 youth and children. Its 947 volunteers logged 31,357 hours of programming. 

In F2024, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary & Area received $1.6m in donations and special events revenue. It also received $1.5m in government funding, representing 44% of revenue. Administrative costs were 17% of revenues, less investment income. Fundraising costs were 19% of donations. Total overhead spending was 36%. For every dollar donated, 64 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

In F2024, the charity spent $2.5m on program costs, which is 75% of total revenues, excluding goods in kind. BBSCA had $2.5m in funding reserves (cash and investments). Its reserves can cover one year of annual program costs. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary & Area for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.  

Updated on August 6, 2024 by Stellar Zhang.