Introduction

Findings

Charity #1: North York Community House

• North York Community House (NYCH) was founded in 1990 to support the diverse community of Toronto with a variety of services.
• The organization is relatively small, with 84 full-time staff members.
• In 2018, 97% of the total expenditures ($1,570,480) for NYCH went towards programs. 
• NYCH spends over half (52%) of its program budget on immigration aid.
• This equates to $792,150.11 spent on immigration aid programming in 2018.
• NYCH has made a significant impact among the more than 20,000 northwest Toronto newcomers (immigrants and refugees) that receive their services each year.
• NYCH provides immigrants and refugees with settlement services including one-on-one support with employment assistance, housing support, immigration and sponsorship forms, and health care.
•  13,377 newcomers to Toronto access NYCH's settlement services each year.
• The organization is run by a board of directors with strong industry experience, including its President, Nina Chandara.
• Nina Chandara is a valuable asset, with an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business, management and consulting experience, and expertise in managing multi-million dollar businesses.

Charity #2: Access Alliance

• Founded in 1989, Access Alliance works to promote access to supportive services and health care for immigrants and refugees in the Toronto area through addressing Health, Social, Economic, and Environmental issues.
• Has a team of 124 full-time staff. 
• The Board of Directors for Access Alliance is highly qualified, bringing decades of experience in policy research and development, building organizational capacity, and nonprofit work experience.
• Settlement service providers for Access Alliance help orient immigrants and refugees to the Canadian healthcare system, rights and entitlement education, assistance with completing forms and applications, program and service referrals, and advocacy to support during the migration process.
• In 2018, Access Alliance spent $12,164,388 on all services.
• The major sources of gross expenditure were personnel expenses (52.6%) and service delivery (30.4%).
• The impact that Access Alliance has had on the Toronto immigrant and refugee community has been overwhelmingly positive, with 97.6% of recipients reporting overall satisfaction with services received.
• Majority of respondents (90.9%) felt that Access Alliance made a positive impact on their community.

Charity #3: COSTI Immigrant Services (COSTI)

• Since 1952, COSTI provides educational, employment, and social services to recent immigrants of Toronto.
• COSTI employs 264 full-time staff to support delivery of settlement services.
• Across the globe, COSTI serves a total of 39,000 individuals in accessing supportive services on an annual basis.
• In the past year, over 10,000 immigrants received settlement services such as supportive counseling, referral and information assistance, and support in translating and completing government forms.
• COSTI is governed by a board of directors, including Leo Sdao, Vice President of the Development Council, who also acts as President of Optimal Assessments and Consulting Inc. and has served in a number of senior positions across "financial management, sales, management consulting and general management".
• In 2018, 90% of COSTI's $30,220,737 expenditures went towards programs.
• Within the 2018 program spending ($27,198,663.30), 44% of the expenditures were for immigration aid.
• The impact on the community by COSTI appears to be substantial, supporting more than 2,000 individuals with finding employment in 2018.
• Further, in 2017-2018 COSTI supported 3,432 families and individuals in securing housing in Toronto.

Charity #4: University Settlement

• University Settlement was established in 1910 as the first community-based social service center in Toronto.
• It provides a range of social, cultural, educational, and recreational services to the community, including a settlement and social services program.
• The organization's President, Maureen Gans, has an impressive background of serving as a Director for a number of community health organizations and previously served as Manager to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for 11 years.
• Executive Director, Patricia Jacobs, also brings a strong background of over 30 years of experience in social services and having served as Executive Director of Mooreland Community Services for 15 years.
• The Newcomer Settlement program (NSP) is available for all newcomers to Canada including "citizens, landed immigrants, convention refugees, refugee claimants and visitors".
• In fact, 35% of the $5,202,233 spent by the organization in 2018 went towards immigration aid services.
• Services offered as part of the NSP include settlement counseling, form filling and interpretation, educational workshops, and social support groups.
• In 2018, the University Settlement's NSP held 2,150 one-on-one counseling sessions with newcomers.
• As reported in the 2018 Annual Report, a student success story demonstrated the effectiveness of the Language Instruction for Newcomers (LINC) course as part of the NSP: a graduate student originally from South Korea gained the confidence she needed to receive a Personal Support Worker (PSW) certificate and go on to work at a Korean long-term facility on the weekends.

Charity #5: Center for Immigrant and Community Services (CICS)

• CICS was founded in 1968 to provide to "provide information, interpretation and translation services to the Chinese residents" in downtown Toronto.
• It now offers a variety of supportive services to the community, including settlement services.
• Specific settlement services offered in at least 9 languages to Toronto newcomers, immigrants, citizens, and refugees include employment and labor assistance, orientation to the local environment, linkages with the community and resources, interpretation and translation, and group activities for social/networking support.
• Employs 109 full-time staff.
• 99% of the $9,735,731 budget in 2018 went towards programs.
• Of the 2018 program expenditures ($9,638,373.69), 29% went towards immigrant aid.
• Led by Executive Director, Moy Wong-Tam, who previously served as Executive Director of an immigrant settlement organization in Ottawa.
• In 2018, 1,100 students received the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program with over 30 classes offered.
• This program was positively received by students, with one student remarking: "I appreciate the LINC classes very much because they help me improve my English and learn about Canadian life".

Research Strategy