Fighting Blindness Canada
Charitable organization · Toronto, Ontario · BN 119129369RR0001 · Foundations · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($5,727,173) as filed with the CRA.
Fighting Blindness Canada is a charitable organization based in Toronto, Ontario, classified by the CRA under foundations. In its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, it reported $5.6M in revenue and $5.7M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 39% from donations, 16% from other charities. In 2024, 42 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $1.1M.
Compared with 1,554 grantmaking charities of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 28% of peers. Its fundraising cost per donated dollar was higher than 86% of that peer group. Its highest-paid position fell in the $200,000–249,999 range. The charity reported 20 permanent full-time positions.
It reported gifts to 13 qualified donees totalling $1.2M in 2024, the largest being $230K to The Governing Council of the University of Toronto. Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 12 names.
In its own words
Fighting Blindness Canada leads the fight against blindness by advancing research in to vision loss and blindness education and public awareness. To advance vision research we fund qualified donees researchers and clinicians to investigate treatments and cures for vision loss and blindness. We educate the public and those affected by vision loss their impacts on individuals and the latest research in to treatments and cures. We do this online through publications and at in-person events. We also raise public awareness about vision loss and related research.
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $5.6M | $5.7M | $3.1M | $1.7M | $1.2M | $1.7M |
| 2023 | $6.7M | $6.7M | $1.7M | $2.6M | $1.5M | $1.9M |
| 2022 | $7.7M | $7.8M | — | — | $2.2M | $1.8M |
| 2021 | $6M | $5.7M | $3.1M | $2M | $1.8M | $2M |
| 2020 | $5M | $4.3M | $847K | $1.7M | $1.3M | $2.7M |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Granted $1.2M to 13 qualified donees:
- The Governing Council of the University of Toronto$230K
- The Governors of the University of Alberta$194K
- Sunnybrook Research Institute$130K
- Trustees of University of Pennsylvania$127K
- L'Institut de Recherche du Centre Universitaire de Santé McGill The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre$107K
- University of Waterloo$100K
- Johns Hopkins University$75K
- The Hospital for Sick Children$70K
- The Ottawa Hospital Foundation/la Fondation de l'Hopital d'Ottawa$66K
- Dalhousie University$60K
- University of Wisconsin Madison$36K
- Université Laval$18K
- University Health Network$10K
Received $1.1M from 42 charities:
- Charitable Gift Funds Canada Foundation$382K
- Aqueduct Foundation$202K
- Green Sanderson Family Foundation$100K
- Munday-Maxwell & Gaylene-Association$90K
- RBC Foundation$50K
- RBC Foundation$50K
- Trev Deeley Foundation$25K
- Canadian Online Giving Foundation$24K
- BenefAction Foundation$23K
- Canadahelps Canadon$19K
- Canadahelps Canadon$19K
- Ernest Bradshaw Estate$15K
- The Highwater Foundation$15K
- CHIMP: Charitable Impact Foundation (Canada)$11K
- Hobgoblin Foundation$10K
- Jean IP Foundation$10K
- The Bloodroot Fund$10K
- The Lang Family Foundation$10K
- Nicola Wealth Private Giving Foundation$10K
- The Calgary Foundation$8,240
- Strategic Charitable Giving Foundation$6,467
- The Don And Nita Reed Family Foundation$6,000
- The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation$5,000
- PayPal Giving Fund Canada$3,368
- The Philip Smith Foundation$3,000
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $200,000–249,9991 position
- $160,000–199,9992 positions
- $120,000–159,9993 positions
- $80,000–119,9994 positions
- Permanent full-time positions20
- Total compensation, all staff$2.3M
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Mary Ashbourne Smith; Michel Cayouette; Selena Friesen; Mike Harwood; Tara James (chair); Jim Riley; Mike Seed; Tahir Shafiq; George Sheen (vice chair and treasurer); Pradeepa Yoganathan; Michael Minos; Tiffany Goodlet.
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Fighting Blindness Canada’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 119129369RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.