Charities often use urgency or news events to pressure donors into immediate giving. Despite this focus on negativity, many great things also happened in 2023 around the world that did not make headlines. In his New York Times article, Nicholas Kristof reminds us that recognizing the world's progress can inspire us to keep doing good. Kristof highlights three areas of improvement. First, child mortality decreased to its lowest level ever in the history of humanity at 3.6%. Second, the percent of people living in extreme poverty reached its lowest rate ever at 8.6%. Finally, polio and other ne ..read more

The charity sector has a new problem: SROIs A decade ago, the discussion around charity metrics was focused almost solely on overhead costs. Donors asked about administrative costs, salaries, and the cost to raise a dollar. Almost nobody was talking about any impact metrics. That was a problem. Today we have a new problem: SROI values. Anyone who knows me would think that I just fell off my chair and bumped my head. Me saying that Social Return on Investment (SROI) values are a problem seems so opposed to what I’ve spent the past ten years of my career doing. But hear me out. A decade ago, th ..read more

The charity sector has a new problem: SROIs A decade ago, the discussion around charity metrics was focused almost solely on overhead costs. Donors asked about administrative costs, salaries, and the cost to raise a dollar. Almost nobody was talking about any impact metrics. That was a problem. Today we have a new problem: SROI values. Anyone who knows me would think that I just fell off my chair and bumped my head. Me saying that Social Return on Investment (SROI) values are a problem seems so opposed to what I’ve spent the past ten years of my career doing. But hear me out. A decade ago, th ..read more

It is that time of year again: "Donate now and double your impact" or "Time is running out to triple your impact." Every Giving Tuesday I am inundated with emails claiming that if I donate today, my impact will be doubled.  This is pure mumbo jumbo. The claim is that the charity has found one donor who is willing to give them up to $10,000 (or $200,000, or whatever) on the stipulation that other donors will also donate, matching their gift.  Wait, no, I’ve got that backwards. Or do I? The claim they told ME was that if I donate today, another donor will give the same ..read more

  Dear Friends of Charity Intelligence, Here's a long overdue update of what we've been up to,  how we've spent your donations, and some awards picked up along the way. Summer 2023 Research Update Over the summer, your Charity Intelligence team cranked out 513 charity reports. This is 18% more than the 436 charity updates completed over summer 2022 and sets a new high-water mark for what Charity Intelligence can do.  We hope you find the updated charity reports useful as the 2023 Giving Season kicks-off. Search for your f ..read more

Earlier this month, Morocco’s rural regions at the foot of the Atlas Mountains were hit by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. Early news reports estimate 2,400 people died.  Instantaneously Canadian charities launch fundraising appeals despite Morocco’s King Mohammed VI not asking for help. He has accepted emergency response teams from Britain and Spain and aid from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The King has gratefully declined offers of aid from France and the US and has not given the go ahead for other charities to respond.   On the other extreme, Ukraine desperately needs help ..read more

This weekend, Morocco’s rural regions at the foot of the Atlas Mountains were hit by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake. Early news reports estimate 2,400 people died.  Instantaneously Canadian charities launch fundraising appeals. Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has not asked for this help. He has accepted emergency response teams from Britain and Spain and aid from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The King has thankfully declined offers from aid from France and the US. The King has not given the go ahead for other charities to respond.   And, ironically, Ukraine desperately needs help a ..read more

April 17, 2023   Recommendations for improved Financial Transparency: All RCAAAs be required to complete an annual T3010.   All RCAAAs and all Canadian charities, with total revenues over $1 million and/or financial assets over $5 million be required to have audited financial statements.   These audited financial statements be posted on a Federal government website for quick and easy public access.   My name is Kate Bahen and I am the Managing Director at Charity Intelligence. Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities. Our reports and charity star ratings are ..read more

Reading your comments in the weekend newspapers on the events at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, these facts may help your understanding. Lies can travel around the world and back before the truth can tie its boot laces. One of the aims of hostile foreign influence is to destabilize democracies by feeding polarization and distrust, and undermining public institutions. Canada's freedom and openness make us highly vulnerable to this. One antidote is informed citizens. “Democratic values cannot be taken for granted. We must not become complacent in thinking that our long-standing democracies a ..read more

How to choose which charities to support? Doctors Without Borders / MSF Canada  Be informed. Here is the information posted on Doctors Without Borders / MSF Canada's website Here is Charity Intelligence's report on Doctors Without Borders / MSF Canada, a 5 star Good impact charity IDRF Canada - International Development and Relief Foundation Here is the information posted on IDRF Canada's website specifically for the Turkey and Syrian earthquake response Here is Charity Intelligence's report on IDRF Canada, a 5-star Good impact charity   Disaster response is the hardest area to give ..read more