Impact Report
Compassion Canada | 2022-2023
Letters from...
Allison Alley
President and CEO
Mark Fletcher
Board Chair
Rated as one of Canada’s best charities for financial integrity
Global impact
Here’s where you made an impact
In 2023, 2,322,285 registered children and 30,760 Survival program participants are being assisted through Compassion’s ministry in partnership with 8,357 local churches in 29 countries around the world.
Thanks to your support and generosity, in 2023, Compassion is serving 36,037 more children and youth and 3,702 more Survival program participants compared to 2022.
CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
South America
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- Peru
Africa
- Burkina Faso
- Ethiopia
- Ghana
- Kenya
- Malawi
- Rwanda
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Uganda
- Zambia
ASIA
- Bangladesh
- Cambodia
- Indonesia
- Myanmar
- Philippines
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
The faces of Compassion’s ministry around the world
Egodine, 8, Burkina Faso
Without a clean water source, Egodine experienced the health and social impact of scarce resources. Compassion supported the community with a borehole, providing immediate access to clean water.
Read more
Holman, 15, and Joseph, 8, Nicaragua
When Holman and Joseph’s roof began to leak heavily and their parents couldn’t afford to fix it, everything felt impossible. The boys found encouragement in their sponsor’s letters—and practical help in a generous gift.
Read more
Bobita, 18, Bangladesh
With flash foods, Bobita’s village was cut off from food supplies. The Compassion centre immediately distributed emergency food packs to her community, ensuring Bobita can attend school.
Read more
Deinner, 1, Colombia
When Deinner’s mother passed away after giving birth, the Compassion Survival program supported his grandmother Bridis in taking him in by providing food, supplies and resources to earn an income.
Read moreStrategic priorities
Here’s what we believe: We have a responsibility to strategically steward and invest our resources to maximize impact today and for the future.
Globally, Compassion has a multi-year priority to scale our ministry to advance life outcomes with more children and youth more quickly. Rooted in our unwavering Christ-centred, child-focused and church-driven foundations, Compassion is making strategic investments globally and domestically to achieve this important multi-year priority.
What that looks like around the world
Compassion’s teams around the world are working hard to operationalize a robust theory of change and ambitious program transformation efforts. Our goal is to advance evidence-based outcomes with more children and youth more quickly. See examples of evidence-based outcomes under Evidence of Impact below.
Adopting an approach to program that empowers local church partners to implement highly contextualized programs while continuously learning, improving and achieving outcomes.
New country launches that will enable Compassion to reach hundreds of thousands more children living in poverty.
Moving into areas of greater need within the countries where we currently work to ensure our investments are making the greatest possible impact.
New and innovative program models to ensure maximum effectiveness in each context where we work.
What that looks like in Canada
Compassion Canada’s organizational planning starts with Compassion Canada’s foundations, including our mission and strategic anchors. From our foundations, we pursue our multi-year goals:
Steward our resources:
Maximize organizational effectiveness and efficiency through learning, innovation and a posture of continual improvement.
Love our neighbours:
Deepen supporter and partner engagement and impact through meaningful and personalized connections to the mission.
Expand our reach:
Grow and diversify our supporter base and revenue through targeted efforts to reach and engage new individuals and institutions in Canada.
Financial details
Annual revenue and expenditures
Over the past few years, Compassion Canada was blessed to accumulate an operating surplus in part due to the sale of property and of course, thanks to the sustained generosity of our supporters. Now, we are on a multi-year plan to draw down this surplus, putting these accumulated funds to work building the capacity and capabilities we need to expand our reach and impact.
| Fiscal year: | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | |||
| Program Revenue | |||
| Child & Youth Development | 63,347,397 | 62,567,114 | 63,192,836 |
| Complementary Interventions | 7,057,957 | 8,184,138 | 4,656,725 |
| Survival | 2,643,128 | 2,605,441 | 2,093,322 |
| Disaster | 837,662 | 1,278,980 | 3,980,610 |
| Total Program Revenue | $73,886,144 | $74,635,672 | $73,923,493 |
| Other Revenue | |||
| Investment Income | 684,975 | 9,997 | 327,993 |
| Other Revenue | 11,496 | 27,645 | 1,104,856 | Total Other Revenue | $696,471 | $37,642 | $1,432,849 |
| Total Revenues | $74,582,615 | $74,673,315 | $75,356,342 |
| Expenditures | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
| Program Expenditures | |||
| Child and Youth Development | 54,745,678 | 50,923,219 | 52,039,749 |
| Complementary Interventions | 5,646,366 | 6,797,311 | 3,729,326 |
| Survival | 2,114,502 | 2,084,353 | 1,674,658 |
| Disaster | 670,130 | 2,203,874 | 3,184,488 |
| Total Program Expenditures | $63,176,676 | $62,008,757 | $60,628,221 |
| Operating Expenditures | |||
| Fundraising | 8,617,341 | 7,037,871 | 6,262,803 |
| Administration | 5,432,608 | 5,896,223 | 4,518,685 |
| Total Operating Expenditures | $14,049,949 | $12,934,094 | $10,781,488 |
| Total Expenditures | $77,226,625 | $74,942,851 | $71,409,709 |
| Ratios* | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
| Program | 83.4% | 83.9% | 84.2% |
| Fundraising | 9.8% | 9.5% | 9.6% |
| Administration | 6.8% | 6.6% | 6.2% |
*Ratios are reported based on a rolling 5-year average.
- Compassion's 2023 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2022 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2021 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2020 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2019 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2018 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2017 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2016 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2015 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2014 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2013 audited financial statement
- Compassion's 2012 audited financial statement
Rated one of Canada’s Highest Rated Charities by Canada’s charity watchdog, Compassion Canada is committed to handling the finances entrusted to us with the utmost integrity. When you give, 83.4 per cent of funds are used for program activities benefiting the children we serve and 16.6 per cent are used for operating expenses to serve our supporters and invite more people in Canada to join the mission.
Compassion Canada is proud to be a member or affiliate of the following networks and associations:
Here’s how donations were used.
Program Expenditures
Child & Youth Development
86.7%
Targeted Response
13.3%
Targeted Response
29.7% Urgent needs
25.1% Survival
18.8% Education
7.9% Disaster relief
6.6% Water, sanitation, and hygiene
4.2% COVID
3.4% Stability
2.1% Sponsorship launch
1.2% Health
1.1% Church plant
The cost of fundraising
Of every dollar we spend, just 9.8¢ is used for fundraising efforts.*
This pays for our fundraising staff, print and media advertising, printing and distribution costs for our mailings, fundraising events and online activities. We take privacy, security and integrity seriously in all our operational activities, keeping donor information secure and ensuring all funds are spent in alignment with our high standards of financial integrity.
Partnerships
Canadians contribute to the life-changing mission of Compassion in a variety of ways, including giving their time and talents, platforms and influence, as well as through financial gifts. We call these partnerships.
Here's just a snapshot of our partnerships in 2022-2023
93,238
supporters gave time, talent and financial gifts
82,429
individuals and organizations gave financially
1,038
active supporting churches and church networks
579
volunteers in communities across Canada
The impact of your support
2,012
moms and babies supported through Compassion Canada
139
survival programs funded by Canadians
102,316
children sponsored by Canadians
110,107
letters sent from Canadian sponsors to the children they sponsor
34,154
children and youth benefitted from water, hygiene and sanitation interventions
6,131
children and youth benefitted from stability interventions
2,752
children and youth benefitted from education interventions
16,566
children and youth benefitted from health interventions
See more of your impact by reading our online Intervention Reports.
Evidence of impact
As we seek to advance evidence-based outcomes with more children and youth more quickly, Compassion is making investments in monitoring and evaluating program outcomes to ensure your generosity has the most impact possible.
Our Global Outcomes Framework is focused on four areas in the lives of children and youth:
- Capacity for economic self-sufficiency: Having motivation, skills and education to economically support themselves and others.
- Youth agency: Having vision, skills and character to positively influence their context.
- Spiritual development: Growing in their spiritual relationships and contributing to and engaging with the community.
- Well-being: Being physically and mentally healthy as well as having a positive self-identity and relationships.
Here are just a few examples of the encouraging outcomes we are seeing around the world in these four areas:
Capacity for economic self-sufficiency
In Ethiopia, youth in Compassion’s program are 26% more likely to complete a higher level of education and 25% more likely to be able to use an income-generating skill than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
Youth agency
In Ghana, youth in Compassion’s program are 96% more likely to have attended leadership training than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
Spiritual development
In Ecuador, youth in Compassion’s program are 25% more likely to serve their church or community than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
In Indonesia, youth in Compassion’s program are 20% more likely to study the Bible in a group than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
Well-being
In Ecuador, youth in Compassion’s program are 14% less likely to have missed school due to illness than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
In Indonesia, youth in Compassion’s program are 13% more likely to have an adult role model than youth who are not Compassion program participants.
How learning drives continued improvements to child development: Compassion’s Program Cycle
Seven decades of serving in holistic child development have shown us that continual learning helps us ensure the best possible outcomes for the children and youth we serve. We continue to learn how local churches and communities understand best what will help them thrive. Since each community’s context and needs are different, it is important each Compassion church partner has the information they need for decision-making that benefits program participants in their communities.
For example, if a local church partner was focusing on hand-washing education to prevent illness, did it work? Did children learn and begin washing their hands properly? Did it have an impact on health outcomes? If not, what should we adapt or change to improve future outcomes? What learnings can be shared in other communities and countries?
This learning posture is part of the role of Compassion’s Program Cycle, a process that empowers frontline workers to prioritize proven interventions as they respond to their most pressing local issues.
Interventions fall under one of our four outcome areas: Capacity for economic self-sufficiency, youth agency, spiritual development and well-being. Together, these outcome areas are aimed at the long-term goal of young people fully developing their God-given potential and making a difference in their context. Interventions will be tracked over time and play a critical role in helping us continue to learn and improve.
How the Program Cycle works
Besides promoting greater program effectiveness, the goal of the Program Cycle is to create a culture of continuous learning among our local church partners and, as part of our common Global Outcomes Framework, empower church partners to customize their programs to address the unique needs of the children and youth in their community.
The cycle begins with the church partner analyzing robust data on the needs of children and youth in their community. With support from Compassion staff, they design and contextualize a relevant program, drawing on a global catalogue of evidence-informed interventions.
The church will then carry out the interventions, monitoring challenges and successes to inform learning along the way. Evaluating results with Compassion staff, the frontline church determines whether the interventions achieved their goals. Together they celebrate strengths and identify opportunities, with new knowledge and learning to inform adjustments that may be needed as the cycle begins again.
My brother matters too
Donatien and Pierre sit outside with their mother, Afi. In Togo, the family didn’t have the resources to treat Pierre’s tumour. Even though Pierre wasn’t registered in the Compassion program, Compassion centre helped him access life-saving medical care!
My brother matters too
Donatien and Pierre sit outside with their mother, Afi. In Togo, the family didn’t have the resources to treat Pierre’s tumour. Even though Pierre wasn’t registered in the Compassion program, Compassion centre helped him access life-saving medical care!
Leadership
Board of Directors
Mark Fletcher, Chair
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Vice President of Construction Teng Inc.
Clark Kassian, Vice Chair
Calgary, Alberta
Partner, Dentons Canada LLP
Leighton Reimer, Secretary
Caronport, Saskatchewan
EVP & CFO Briercrest College & Seminary
Dr. Jennifer Adkins
Langley, British Columbia
Vice President, Inclusive Excellence, Trinity Western University
David Burton
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Regional Director General - Atlantic, Department of Canadian Heritage
Dr. Marie Geschwandtner
Ottawa, Ontario
Chiropractor, Body Garage
Len Hummel
Toronto, Ontario
Executive Director, Pentecostal Financial Services Group and PAOC Pension
Dr. Andrew Johnson
Calgary, Alberta
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Calgary
Ian Lawson
Lethbridge, Alberta
Itinerate Teaching Pastor
Meetings
Annual General Members Meeting
September 16, 2022
November 18, 2022
Board Meetings
September 15-16, 2022
November 17-18, 2022
February 23, 2023
June 8-9, 2023
Nominating and Governance
November 7, 2022
February 1, 2023
May 31, 2023
Finance and Audit Committee
September 8, 2022
May 24, 2023
Around the world
Read stories of your impact
Reaching the farthest
Honchowing sits on the floor with her fourth grade class and reads a study book. In Thailand, some migrant communities don’t have access to school systems. With Compassion’s support, a local pastor built a school for a remote migrant community.
Reaching the farthest
Honchowing sits on the floor with her fourth grade class and reads a study book. In Thailand, some migrant communities don’t have access to school systems. With Compassion’s support, a local pastor built a school for a remote migrant community.
Compassion’s programs assist children through all stages of their development, from birth to graduation and beyond. Compassion’s Survival program, Child and Youth Development programs, and Complementary Interventions allow children and their families to thrive how they were meant to.
Helping moms and babies in the Dominican Republic
Without enough resources, young families experience great hardship. Babies need medical attention and nutrition in order to grow up healthy. The Survival program supports moms with interventions like job skills training to generate an income and provides babies with medical attention. In the Dominican Republic, this Survival Program helped a mom learn how to make mattresses.
Read moreEducation for girls in rural Thailand
Nawmuenawpho and Nawdalerpaw dream of becoming nurses, but they live in a village that only educates students up to grade 4. Thankfully, their Compassion centre is going the extra mile to find creative ways for students in this rural village to continue their education and reach for bright futures free from poverty.
Read moreHow farming is transforming a community in Nicaragua
With the challenges of the pandemic, food packages were distributed to children in Nicaragua. Compassion centre staff also supported the community with resources to begin practicing agriculture. From spinach to zucchini, families are learning how to grow seeds and water crops. With this new life skill and food to feed their children, families are empowered to build a nourished future.
Read more