Author: administrator

July 4, 2017: Great news.
A new charity, Colorectal Cancer Canada, is formed through the merger of two small charities  https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/665-colon-cancer-canada Colon Cancer Canada and  https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/693-colorectal-cancer-association-of-canada Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada. Canada’s very fragmented cancer charity space just got a bit less so. At last count, Canada has more than 278 cancer charities. Charity Intelligence has seen significant areas of overlap in activities of many of these charities. This merger has natural fit with both charities working on the samecancer with similar activities. Colon Cancer Canada and Colorectal Cancer Association both focus on public awareness, advocacy for screening, and providing support for Canadians with colorectal cancer. This merger is a great example for other charities to consider. When it comes to donor dollars being used most efficiently, duplication in efforts needs to be eliminated.
This is the second cancer charity merger in the last 12 months. The merger between  https://www.charityintelligence.ca/news-and-views/ci-articles?id=213 Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and Canadian Cancer Society announced in October 2016 is a mega-merger, 100 times bigger than this merger. Combining Colon Cancer Canada’s $1.1 million in annual donations and Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada’s $0.9 million from donations and special fundraising events will create a charity with about $2 million in total size. The combined Canadian Cancer Society and Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation will be an estimated $209 million.
Both Colon Cancer Canada and Colorectal Cancer Association are relatively new charities, founded in 1996 and 1998, respectively, and run by people affected by colon cancer. Colon Cancer Canada was founded by Bunny Schwartz who lost both her sister and husband to colon cancer, both of whom were only 46 years old. Colon Cancer Canada was co-founded with Amy Elmaleh, who lost her mother, Bunny’s sister. This aunt-niece combination built Canada’s largest colon cancer charity. Similarly, Colorectal Cancer Association was founded in 1998 by Barry Stein, a Stage 4 metastasis colon cancer survivor. Stein becomes the new charity’s President and CEO. This personal experience focuses charities on impact and filling the gaps.
 
What Colorectal Cancer Canada may look like
Going forward, Colorectal Cancer Canada intends to balance its budget, reversing yearly deficits. On a pro-forma basis, it had a significant deficit of $120,182 in 2014 and a $17,757 deficit in 2015. Colon Cancer Canada brings more cash;  the combined funding reserves will be $807,311, covering just over half a year’s program costs, indicating a need for funding. With Colorectal Cancer Association’s greater cost efficiency, the amalgamated charity will be within what Charity Intelligence deems a reasonable range with 69 cents of every dollar donated going to the cause.
Research grants will likely be curtailed or discontinued. With amalgamation, all previous donor funding commitments will be honoured. Colon Cancer Canada had previously spent 16% of its operating budget on research grants. With donations dropping in 2015, research grants were 8% of program spending. Going forward, research grants is likely not an area where Colorectal Cancer Canada sees the highest impact. Cancer research is very expensive for smaller charities. While cancer research is a popular area for giving, donors should recognize that, with colorectal cancer, more research isn’t the most pressing need. The greatest way to save the most lives is promoting early screening.
Charity Intelligence hopes Colorectal Cancer Canada will have full financial transparency, posting its audited financial statements on its website, and reporting to donors its progress in annual reports. With this, Colorectal Cancer Canada would be highly-rated and one of the top-rated cancer charities in Canada. Charity Intelligence will be reporting on Colorectal Cancer Canada in the future.

 
Canada’s “shockingly low” colorectal screening rate kills an estimated 2,050 Canadians a year
Hopefully, as one voice, Colorectal Cancer Canada (CCC) can be a louder advocate for colorectal screening. Canada’s low screening rates lead to an estimated 2,050 preventable deaths each year.
Early colorectal screening saves lives. Survival rates for colorectal cancer are 80%-95% for Stage I colorectal cancer, dropping to 55%-80% for Stage II. Since most Canadians don’t get screened, only 40% of colorectal cancers are found in these early stages.
One of CCC’s top priorities is getting Canada’s screening rate to 60%-70% for people over the age of 50. Ontario currently has the highest provincial screening rates at only 35%-40% and, no surprise, the highest survival rates at 67%. For context, screening rates average 58% in the UK, which Bowel Cancer UK calls “shockingly low”¹. Canada’s current screening rates are below “shockingly low”.
 

 
As mammograms led to lower breast cancer deaths, scientists estimate colonoscopies and fecal occult blood tests could reduce colorectal cancers by 33%-90%. For every 1% pickup in screening rates, colorectal deaths are estimated to drop by 3%.
Colorectal cancer is Canada’s second most diagnosed cancer (13% of annual cancer diagnoses²) and second deadliest cancer, accounting for 12% of all cancer deaths. The 5-year survival rate for colorectal cancer improved from 55% to 64% from 1994 to 2008, the most recent reported figures. In 2017, an estimated 9,400 Canadians will die of colorectal cancer.
 
Donate to the “Under-Funded Four” cancers: lung, colorectal, stomach, and pancreatic
Colorectal cancer is one of Canada’s “Under-funded Four” cancers along with pancreatic, stomach, and lung relative to their deadly impact on Canadians³. These Under-funded Four cancers account for 46% of potential years of life lost to cancer in Canada. Donating to these cancers is where donors have the best opportunity for real impact by filling a tragic funding gap. In Canada, 94% of cancer donations fund breast cancer, children’s cancers, leukemia and prostate cancer. The Under-funded Four cancers receive only 1.6% of donations. Breast cancer receives $691 in donations per “potential years of life lost” whereas the Under-funded Four receive only $5 in donations. While cancer giving is very personal, Charity Intelligence hopes donors start giving in terms of lives taken, rather than survivors.
Recently an alarming trend in colorectal cancer has emerged. Rates of colorectal cancer are steadily rising among Millennials and Generation X (born after 1980). Scouring through cancer records from 1981 to 2010, Dr. Prithwish De at Cancer Care Ontario found rates of colorectal cancer rose 6.7% in people aged 15-29⁴. Similar patterns are seen in the US with rising incidence rates in colorectal cancer among adults younger than 50⁵. These reasons remain unknown.
 
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/news-and-views/ci-articles#_ednref1″ name=”_edn1 Sources:
1. Bowel Cancer UK “ https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/media-centre/news-and-blog/delay-in-introduction-of-new-screening-test-is-putting-lives-at-risk/ Delay introducing new screening test”
2. http://www.cancer.ca/~/media/cancer.ca/CW/cancer%20information/cancer%20101/Canadian%20cancer%20statistics/Canadian-Cancer-Statistics-2017-EN.pdf?la=en Canadian Cancer Statistics 2017 p.25
3. Charity Intelligence Canada, “ https://www.charityintelligence.ca/cancer-in-canada Cancer in Canada” April 2011
4. Carmen Chai, “ http://globalnews.ca/news/3283310/why-are-colon-cancer-rates-in-gen-xers-and-millennials-in-canada-rising/ Why are colon cancer rates in Gen Xers and Millennials in Canada rising?” Global News March 2, 2017
5.   Canadian Cancer Statistics 2017 p.25. ibid.
 

 
If you find Charity Intelligence’s research useful in your giving, please consider donating to support our work. Being entirely funded by donors like you maintains our independence and objectivity to help Canadians be informed in their giving. Canadians donate over $17 billion each year. This giving could achieve tremendous results. We hope Charity Intelligence’s research helps Canadians give better.
Legal disclaimer:
The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publicly-available information. Charity Intelligence and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accepts no liability.
The views and opinions expressed are to inform donors in matters of public interest. Views and opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, organization, individual or anyone or anything. Any dispute arising from your use of this website or viewing the material hereon shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to any conflict of law provisions. 

On May 3, 2016 a wildfire engulfed Fort McMurray forcing the mass evacuation of more than 88,000 people. The fire destroyed 2,400 homes. Fort McMurray is Canada’s largest natural disaster. Canadians watched in horror. Fort McMurray was in our thoughts, prayers and top of mind in charitable giving. Canadians donated $323 million – the largest ever response to a Canadian disaster.
Now the fire is out, the people have returned to Fort McMurray, and the overwhelming job of rebuilding begins. While life goes on, it’s important to remember Fort McMurray and track that donations are spent quickly and effectively. Evaluating and monitoring are critical in intelligent giving.
Canadian Red Cross and other charities that responded will post donor reports in the months and years ahead. Charity Intelligence will analyse and evaluate these reports so donors can be informed. In addition, Charity Intelligence will keep a close eye on Fort McMurray’s local charities to ensure they get the money to recover and play their critical role in Fort McMurray’s rebuilding.
“Great to see @CharityIntel keeping @redcross accountable for #FortMac fires donations.”@markyeg July 12, 2016
 
Charity Intelligence reports on Fort McMurray:
images/viewsreports/Not-so-fast-_-Ci-1-year-donor-report-on-Fort-McMurray.pdf” rel=”alternate Not So Fast: Fort McMurray 1 Year Update Canadian Red Cross announced 1-year results on its Fort McMurray’s disaster response. It reports 75% of total funds received are spent and committed. This would be Canadian Red Cross’s fastest response. Except the new wording “spent and committed” conflates two important categories. Canadian donors deserve clear reporting. Looking into the financial numbers and deferred accounting rules, it looks like 61% of total funds are actually spent. 
For the 5 1/3 months ending April 2017, CRC reports:

• $26 million financial lifeline to Fort McMurray small businesses. This has been superbly executed with the entire $30 million commitment completed in 10 months.  
• $18 million for individuals and families. Canadian Red Cross does not disclose information about its programs over this period; its timeline is blank on activities after November 3. New numbers released raise concerns as calls for aid rose by over 40,000 (37%) and families receiving housing support rose by 2,900 (32%).  This could show a spike in demand for help, or simply be old numbers updated with new information. 
• $17 million granted/committed to local charities and community organizations is going slower than hoped. Fuse Social’s independent surveys show many Fort McMurray’s small charities remain in financial need after the fire. 

Disaster response is one of the trickiest areas for intelligent giving. When the disaster happens, there is little information. One gives solely on promises. Now is when donors need to do their homework to evaluate when the money was spent and how it is helping Fort McMurray. Now is the toughest time of Fort McMurray’s recovery. For the 1 million Canadians who donated, please take the time to read Charity Intelligence’s report and our annotated version of  https://www.charityintelligence.ca/images/CRC-One-Year-Donor-Update—annotated-compressed.pdf” rel=”alternate Canadian Red Cross’s one-year donor update.
title=”Update – Fort McMurray May 30 2016″ https://www.charityintelligence.ca/news-and-views/ci-articles?id=215″ rel=”alternate Fort McMurray 6 Month Update – In the most recent three months, Canadian Red Cross received an additional $20 million in donations and spent $21 million. Spending was primarily on Red Cross programs ($16 million). Canadian Red Cross is doing one-to-one needs assessments. So far it has completed 13,310 client assessments, providing 9,000 families with money for temporary housing, rent, mortgage and utility payments. Canadian Red Cross has spent an estimated $187 million – 59% of total funds available – with $130 million remaining for Fort McMurray’s relief and rebuilding. All of these funds have been committed, but commitments may change with new needs emerging – November 3, 2016
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/images/Ci-Fort-McMurray-Update-3-Months-August-2016.pdf” rel=”alternate Fort McMurray 3 Month Update – Canadian Red Cross announced new spending commitments of $92 million. New commitments include $62 million for more Canadian Red Cross programs and $26 million to Fort McMurray’s small and mid-sized businesses. This allocates the full $299 million in donations and matching government funds. Now the challenge is to move from commitments to execution. After fast disaster response in May, spending slowed. To date, $165 million has been spent – 55% of total funds available. Fort McMurray’s local charities haven’t seen much of the $50 million promised in June. We hope this changes, quickly – September 29, 2016
images/viewsreports/Fort-McMurray-Fires—Disaster-Response-Update-June-30-2016.pdf” rel=”alternate Fort McMurray 2 Month Update – The disaster phase is over. Fort McMurray now transitions to the relief and rebuilding phase. To date, 45% of donations and grants spent, Canadian Red Cross has an estimated $141 million to spend. This report gives donors a review of the disaster response with comparisons to other Canadian disasters Alberta Floods, Lac Megantic and Slave Lake, and brief updates on a few of Fort McMurray’s local charities – July 7, 2016
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/news-and-views/ci-articles?id=206″ rel=”alternate Fort McMurray Local Charities get $50 million commitment from Canadian Red Cross –  June 3, 2016
title=”Update – Fort McMurray May 30 2016″ https://www.charityintelligence.ca/news-and-views/ci-articles?id=198″ rel=”alternate Transition from Disaster to Recovery – May 30, 2016
https://www.charityintelligence.ca/research/charity-profiles?id=205″ rel=”alternate Fort McMurray Fires: Where to Give – May 5, 2016
 
To receive Charity Intelligence’s updates on Fort McMurray, join Charity Intelligence’s Facebook, Twitter @CharityIntel, sign up for Charity Intelligence emails, or check back here for updates.
Future reports expected:
Canadian Red Cross audited financial statements, year-end results for year ending March 31, 2017 – expected September 2017
2 year report – expected May 2018
3 year Final report – expected May 2019
 

 
If you find Charity Intelligence’s research useful in your giving, please consider donating to support our work. Being entirely funded by donors like you maintains our independence and objectivity to help Canadians be informed in their giving. Canadians donate over $17 billion each year. This giving could achieve tremendous results. We hope Charity Intelligence’s research helps Canadians give better.
Legal disclaimer:
The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publicly-available information. Charity Intelligence and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accepts no liability.
The views and opinions expressed are to inform donors in matters of public interest. Views and opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, organization, individual or anyone or anything. Any dispute arising from your use of this website or viewing the material hereon shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to any conflict of law provisions. 

Canadians are asking how to help disaster response efforts for Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. Charity Intelligence Canada analyses Canadian charities; we have no research or recommendations on which charities to support in this disaster response. We’ve found local knowledge is critical in helping donors give intelligently. Without it, Charity Intelligence can’t advise.
American charity research experts like Charity Navigator and Charity Watch can help. Canadians looking to support those hit by Hurricane Harvey should read these charity recommendations.

• https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=5239 Charity Navigator’s recommendations for Hurricane Harvey
• https://www.charitywatch.org/charitywatch-hot-topic/hurricane-harvey-relief/76 Charity Watch’s recommendations

Looking through the charities recommended by Charity Navigator and Charity Watch, these American charities got high praise for their help in Canadian disasters.

• https://teamrubiconusa.org/situation-report-dozens-of-residents-rescued/ Team Rubicon helped Fort McMurray’s fire recovery using military veterans to do the heavy lifting, helping families sift through ashes. 
• https://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/hurricane-harvey/ Samaritan’s Purse was well-regarded in its rebuilding work in the aftermath of the Calgary floods in 2013. 
• https://www.habitat.org/where-we-build/united-states-america Habitat for Humanity – building homes takes longer but Habitat for Humanity repaired and rebuilt homes for those most in need after the Alberta floods. It is doing similar work on a limited scale in Fort McMurray.

Both Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are recommending food banks:  http://www.houstonfoodbank.org/ Houston Food Bank and  http://www.feedingamerica.org/?referrer=https://www.google.ca/ Feeding America (national distributor). In Canadian disaster responses, food banks have always performed exceptionally well. Local food banks will experience a surge in demand as people will have lost all their food supplies.
Canadian donors will NOT receive a tax receipt when giving to US charities. For Canadians that want a tax receipt, you must give to a Canadian registered charity that is doing an appeal for Hurricane Harvey. This includes: 
http://www.redcross.ca/about-us/red-cross-stories/2017/red-cross-responds-to-devastation-caused-by-hurricane-harvey Canadian Red Cross donations will support American Red Cross. Please note, American Red Cross is a separate charity from Canadian Red Cross. Many questions have been raised about American Red Cross’ relief efforts in  https://www.propublica.org/article/the-red-cross-secret-disaster Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Isaac in 2012,  https://www.propublica.org/article/after-mississippi-flooding-red-cross-stumbles-again Mississippi and Louisianna floods in 2016 and the  https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-releases-memo-red-cross%E2%80%99-haiti-earthquake-relief-response-finds-red US Senate’s investigation into American Red Cross operations. 
https://www.samaritanspurse.ca/article/samaritans-purse-in-texas-to-help-victims-of-hurricane-harvey/ Samaritan’s Purse Canada donations will support Samaritan’s Purse US.
 
Giving Tips for Disaster Response

• Make a one-time donation rather than monthly donations. Disaster response charities need money now rather than smaller amounts over the next 12 months.
• Diversify your giving. Spread your donation among charities. Donations given to one charity are not typically shared with other charities. If you are thinking of donating $500, share it among three charities. You can do this by disaster response time: one doing immediate disaster work, one that will help in the cleanup, and one focused on longer-term recovery. Or spread your donation over three different areas like food banks, cleanup responders, animal rescue/shelters, and local United Ways ( https://www.unitedwayhouston.org/ United Way of Greater Houston has established local partner charities, knows its community needs and does share donations with local charities). And while the media focus is on the Houston area, don’t forget Louisiana.
• Support local charities. For donors looking for better impact, local charities historically have better track records in helping their communities recover.
• Give money, not goods. Please do not send food, blankets or other goods to the US. Giving cash is far easier for charities to receive and gives them the flexibility to best meet people’s needs.
• Don’t go uninvited: wanting to go to Texas to help is a natural reaction. Rather than going alone, volunteer with a charity that has been called on to help. Samaritan’s Purse Canada is looking for volunteers and has the disaster response equipment.

 
Media contacts for:
Charity Navigator  – Katie Rusnock 201.818.1288 x 108
Charity Watch –  Daniel Borochoff 773.529.2300
 

 
If you find Charity Intelligence’s research useful in your giving, please consider donating to support our work. Being entirely funded by donors like you maintains our independence and objectivity to help Canadians be informed in their giving. Canadians donate over $17 billion each year. This giving could achieve tremendous results. We hope Charity Intelligence’s research helps Canadians give better.
Legal disclaimer:
The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publicly-available information. Charity Intelligence and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accepts no liability.
The views and opinions expressed are to inform donors in matters of public interest. Views and opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, organization, individual or anyone or anything. Any dispute arising from your use of this website or viewing the material hereon shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to any conflict of law provisions. 

line-height: 1; Read More