Plan International Canada

About Plan International Canada:

Founded in 1968, Plan International Canada (PIC) is the Canadian affiliate and fundraising arm of Plan International. PIC supports and contributes to the international charity’s activities. PIC’s mission is to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of children, families, and communities in developing countries. PIC states that it helps people of all faiths and cultures and works to advance children’s rights and equality for girls.

Child sponsorships are Plan International Canada’s largest source of donations ($74.7m - 33% of total revenues in F2017). PIC states that it pools these donations and directs them to community development projects that benefit all the children and families living in the community. In F2017, Plan International worked with 53,311 communities in 75 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In F2017 Plan International Canada spent $182m on programs (91% internationally and 9% in Canada). This includes 32% on maternal, newborn, and child health and development projects, 16% on education projects, 11% on emergency & food assistance projects, 11% on sexual and reproductive health projects, 5% on economic security projects, 5% on water & sanitation projects, and 4% on child protection. The remaining 3% includes child participation and sponsorship & programmatic communications. Plan International Canada states in its most recent 2017 annual report that it had 1,788 active projects; based on total operating costs for the year, the charity spent $124,675 per project, up from $79,825 in F2016. Total operating costs remained relatively steady from F2016 to F2017, but the number of active projects fell by 31%.

Plan International's child sponsorship model follows a community funding model, where it funds community development projects and works in each community for 10 to 12 years. In its 2017 annual report, Plan International reports helping 12.5 million people through health programs, 7.9 million people through education programs, and 6.4 million people through water and sanitation work. Plan International supported 703,026 girls before, during, and after emergencies; improved reproductive and sexual health for 588,106 girls; improved water and sanitation for 1,325,496 girls; provided better access to education for 2,762,211 girls; trained 333,585 people in child protection; and trained 397,118 people in gender equality. Plan International had 89 disaster response programs globally in F2017, up from 67 in F2016.

Because I am A Girl is one of Plan International’s major initiatives. It addresses gender inequality and promotes girls’ rights, aiming to improve girls’ access to clean water, food, healthcare, education, and protection from violence and exploitation. No information was found on how much of Plan Internationals spending is on I am a Girl programs. Donations are blended with Plan International's ongoing programs.

Results and Impact: In F2017, Plan International and Global Affairs Canada launched a project to help vulnerable school-aged children from Syria and Egypt. Within the project, 620 teachers completed training and 80% showed improvements in knowledge on delivering gender- and conflict-sensitive curricula. The same year, by changing perceptions of girls in Delhi’s slums and providing young women with job skills training, 5,500 young people have found jobs, of which 3,400 are women.

Financial Review:

Plan International Canada is a Major 100 charity, meaning that it is one of Canada’s 100 largest charities in terms of donations. In F2017, Plan Canada received $100.3 million in donations, up from $99,2m in F2016. Donations to child sponsorship is $74.7m, a slight decline from $77.5m in F2016. Plan Canada received $31.3m from Global Affairs Canada and other provincial governments. In addition, Plan Canada received $58.2m from the UN, Plan International and other multilateral organizations for its international programs. Plan Canada also receives donated goods-in-kind, $16.4m in donated food and $12.8m in donated anti-malaria bed nets.

Plan Canada's administrative costs are 7% of revenues, and fundraising costs are 24% of donations. For every dollar donated, 69 cents go to the cause, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Plan Canada has funding reserves of $57.8m, including a $2.8m endowment fund. Excluding endowed funds, the charity’s reserves can cover under four months of program costs. This shows a need for funding. 

The charity used external fundraisers in F2017. The charity paid $11.5m to raise $38.5m from the external fundraiser for a cost of 30 cents per dollar raised. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Plan International Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 18, 2018 by Joeyanne Cheung.