Our commitment to our donors
Development and Peace is committed to responsible spending practices and has in place internal policies, accounting standards and rules of governance to ensure that we handle all donations in compliance with the norms and laws governing charitable organizations. We value the trust that our donors and supporters have placed in the work of Development and Peace since 1967, and want to ensure that each donation is well spent. Our Gift Acceptance Policy is available in our Policies section.
As part of this commitment, we want to make our financial statements and other pertinent information about our expenses easily accessible to our donors and supporters. The following section provides information on how your money is spent.
Please read our Financial Statements and 2010-2011 Annual Report for further information.
If you still have questions, you can contact us at any time at info@devp.org or by telephone at 1 888 234-8533.
2010-2011 Expenditures
Expenses for Development and Peace (in $)
International programs: $26,874,688 (77%)
Education and awareness programs in Canada: $3,054,093 (9%)
Fundraising and communications: $1,766,131 (5%)
Governance and administration: $3,179,982 (9%)
Total expenses 2010-2011: $35,085,253
Our international programs, including our emergency relief work, constitute the main component of the organization’s work. In 2010-2011, Development and Peace devoted $26.8 million to financing programs in the Global South.
Our regular programs finance some 250 projects and initiatives in 25 countries in the Global South. These projects are managed from Development and Peace’s head office in Montreal. In general, Development and Peace does not operate offices overseas. Rather, projects are put forward and carried out by local partners as Development and Peace believes that they are in the best position to do so. In 2010-2011, the organization spent $16.6 million on its regular programs (including operational costs). A portion of these funds is contributed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
Development and Peace also works with communities affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. Part of the funds collected are used to help answer emergency needs (food, medicine and shelter), while another part is allocated to rebuilding in the longer term. For instance, the organisation has raised funds for the 2010 floods in Pakistan, the earthquake in Haiti or, more recently, the drought in the Horn of Africa. In 2010-2011, Development and Peace spent $7 million on emergency programming. In the specific case of emergency relief, the sums collected by the organisation are not spent entirely in the year they are collected. They are spent gradually, as reconstruction may require several years. It should be noted that Development and Peace applies a 15% administrative fee to donations made for emergencies. To learn more, click here.
Development and Peace also manages bilateral projects (special activities) with financial support from CIDA. These specific projects are shorter than those that form the regular programs. In 2010-2011, the organisation spent $3.3 million on these types of projects.
Education and awareness programs in Canada
Development and Peace has a second mandate as part of its mission, which is to educate and raise awareness of Canadians on social justice issues affecting communities in the Global South. The aim of the program is to create solidarity between Canadians and the poor and vulnerable of the Global South, and to mobilize Canadians, particularly the 10,000 members of the organization, into action through awareness campaigns. Over the years, this program has addressed such topics such as GMOs, water privatization, mining issues, and others. In 2010-2011, Development and Peace spent $3.1 million on this program.
Fundraising and communications
Development and Peace organizes special fundraising activities and other initiatives to raise the visibility of the work of the organisation. In 2010-2011, the total cost of these activities was $1.8 million.
Administrative expenses for the organization totalled $3.4 million in 2010-2011. These expenses are required to cover costs related to running the organization, such as those associated with governance, general management, administrative services, office space and other various expenditures needed to support the overall functioning of the organization.
It should be noted that Development and Peace applies an administrative fee of 15% for donations made for emergencies in order to cover associated financial and administrative costs along with the cost of developing and managing emergency relief programming more generally. This 15% fee is divided as follows:
- 5% is needed to cover the extra work generated by the emergency, such as accounting procedures, registration of donations, answering phones, fundraising, sending receipts, etc.
- 10% is allocated directly to the costs of managing emergency relief programs and staff, to offset operational costs, for travel, communications, etc.
