Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
It could be that I am old school, and believe in making change happen in a democratic way, using the system created to make democracy work. When I hear the word activist, the first description of that word reminds me of the word “bully” people who impose their ideals on others.
From their website the following.
The establishment of our regional chapters was the beginning of the path toward building the grassroots, volunteer-drive, activist support base that has been the driving force behind so many of our campaigns across the country.
- Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (formerly the National and Provincial Parks Association of Canada) created in 1963
- Southern Alberta chapter (formerly the Calgary/Banff chapter) formed in 1967
- Northern Alberta chapter (formerly the Edmonton chapter) formed in 1968
- Ottawa Valley chapter formed 1970
- Saskatchewan chapter formed in 1977
- British Columbia chapter formed in 1977
- Wildlands League chapter (formerly Algonquin Wildlands League) formed in 1980
- Nova Scotia chapter formed in 1990
- Yukon chapter formed in 1991
- Manitoba chapter formed in 1991
- Northwest Territories chapter formed in 1996
- Quebec chapter formed in 2001
- Newfoundland and Labrador chapter formed in 2003
- New Brunswick chapter formed in 2004
Follow the money, to get the truth?
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society received $6.5m in Canadian donations in F2021. It also received $2.5m in international donations (19% of revenues) and $3.8m in government funding (29% of revenues). Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 9% of Canadian donations. CPAWS spends 18% on overhead. This means for every dollar donated, 82 cents go towards the charity’s programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society has $12.7m in total funding reserves, of which $3.5m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, CPAWS can cover just under one year of annual program costs.
According to its annual filing with the Charities Directorate, CPAWS paid external fundraisers $101k in F2021. It does not report how much these external fundraisers raised.
We did find that they received funding from the American company North Face but it seems they keep the money trail well hidden. If we find anything new in the future we will amend this investigation.