You may have noticed a bevy of Top Ten lists on our website. We are proud of each and every one of them! At first glance it may seem like the same recognition over and over, but each of those Top lists represents a different segment of the charitable world that our humble, hard-working, home-grown charity has risen to. This year, for the first time, we have achieved this:
Please note: we are the only charity
on the list that is east of Ontario!
Not that Canadians are ever, ever
competitive, but we just want to go on record that we are proud to represent
this half(ish) of the nation:
A growing niche of donors each year is looking for terrific charities to support, particularly those that have measurable, proven, and high impact.
Most charities claim that they “make a difference” in the lives of those they work with, but it is very difficult for donors to tell how much of a difference any given charity is making. Charity Intelligence’s rigorous analysis measures this difference, or the impact, charities actually make to see how each dollar we give can create the most positive change. It’s a different way to think about giving.
Over $19 billion was given to charities by Canadian donors last year and a significant portion of that is going to less effective charities. When a donor gives to a charity that creates very little change and they could have given to a charity that would have helped significantly more people, much of their donation is wasted. Canadians need better information to help them give better. Measuring a charity’s impact helps to reduce this waste.
“Some charities create a lot of change with the donations given to them. Others have almost nothing to show for the money coming from donors” says Greg Thomson, Director of Research at Charity Intelligence. “Of the 300 Canadian charities we have analysed for impact, these Top 10 have the highest measurable demonstrated impact.
This year’s overall Top 10 includes frontline charities providing education and addiction recovery in Canada as well as international programs bringing evidence-based programs to developing countries, like food and clean water, health, and education programs. Our calculations estimate this group of Top 10 Impact Charities delivers average returns of roughly 7 dollars for every dollar donated, compared with overall average charity returns of only about 1.5 dollars.
I think you'd agree that
inclusion in this list is
something to celebrate.
Our impact ratings
continue to be high. We
are almost off the charts!
For more information, please read Charity Intelligence's overview of us for 2024:
EPIC Society is a 5-star charity with an above-average results reporting score and high impact. Its overhead costs are within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending and it has reserve funds to cover program costs for nine months. For every dollar donated to the charity, 95 cents are available to go to the cause.
Founded in 1996, the Educational Program Innovations Charity (EPIC) Society runs educational programs for at-risk youth. It operates in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The charity has three programs: Youth Peer & Outreach, Parents PEACE, and Scholarships and Awards. Ci calculates that EPIC Society spent $221k on its programs in fiscal year 2023 (F2023). This differs from the $232k reported in the charity's Annual Report because Ci removed administration and fundraising costs.
Youth Peer & Outreach was 96% of program spending in F2023. It offers after-school tutoring and mentoring to at-risk youth ages 8-18. The program ran at seven sites in F2023. Schools and other partner agencies, like Mental Health and Community Services, refer at-risk youth. High school and university students act as volunteer tutor-mentors for youth participants. Programming consists of an hour of one-on-one tutoring. After, there is an hour of social mentoring, art, music, and games. In F2023, EPIC reported 136 active youth participants and 134 active tutor-mentor volunteers. EPIC also reported 8,496 hours of academic and social activities in F2023.
Parents PEACE was 2% of program spending in F2023. It aims to support caregivers who want to improve their relationships with their children. Caregivers meet Monday nights to discuss parenting issues with a facilitator. In F2023, an average of five caregivers attended each session. In F2023, five EPIC partner agencies sent guest speakers. Guest speakers led discussions on anxiety reduction, substance issue services, gender identity well-being, school services, and employment support for out-of-school youth.
Scholarships and awards was 2% of program spending in F2023. Scholarships are for graduating high school students from Eskasoni, Membertou, and African-Nova Scotia communities. Volunteerism awards recognize graduating post-secondary student volunteers in Youth Peer & Outreach. The humanity award recognizes graduating high school students who show community giving. In F2023, EPIC awarded three $500 scholarships, two $500 volunteerism awards, and one $500 humanity award.
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