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Canadian charities

Vancouver, BC · Private foundation

Chris-Spencer Foundation

The foundation contributes to registered charities whose aims and goals in whole or in part are intended to make young people better citizens of canada

C$144k
Granted FY2024still arriving
20
Grants FY2024still arriving
1
Regions reached
C$10k
Largest
01What you fundRead
02Your edgeRead
03Your fieldRead
01What you fund
01FY2024 · 20 grants

Where the money goes

Your grants by size, and where they go.

By grant size · FY2024

  • Under C$10k11 grants · C$54k
  • C$10k–50k9 grants · C$90k
C$9,600
Median grant
1
Regions reached
C$2.5M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (UBC)C$10,000
Lumara Grief & Bereavement Care SocietyC$10,000
Leave Out Violence (LOVE) BCC$10,000
Growing Chefs SocietyC$10,000
West Coast Kids Cancer FoundationC$10,000
NEED2 - Suicide Prevention Education and SupportC$10,000
KidsPlay Youth FoundationC$10,000
Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives AssocC$10,000
Axis Theatre SocietyC$10,000
Access Youth Outreach Services SocietyC$9,600
Zee Zee Theatre SocietyC$5,000
Victoria Brain Injury SocietyC$5,000
Green Thumb Players SocietyC$5,000
Blind Beginnings SocietyC$5,000
Take a Hike FoundationC$5,000
02Your edge
repeat funding

Who you back again

Which organizations you funded more than once, and which you funded a single time. Each grantee is matched to its own filings.

48%of every dollar goes to organizations you’ve funded before.
C$400k · 31 repeat orgsC$439k to everyone else

And the relationships you keep tend to grow: grantees you re-up on have seen median revenue of +34% since the first grant, against +25% for the ones you funded once.

31 repeat relationships — 6 still active in FY2024, 25 since wound down; 14 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

31
57

Total granted

C$400k
C$329k

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+34%
+25%

Still filing today

100%
82%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 24% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; C$110k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

First-time = a grantee’s first year in your filing window; renewed = funded in an earlier year too. As a portfolio matures the renewed share naturally climbs — once funded, an org stays “renewable” — so the signal is the years that buck it (a new-grantee intake wave). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as “new.”

Backed again, and grew

  • BB
    BACKPACK BUDDIES
    3× · 2019–2023 · C$25k · revenue +605%
  • TA
    Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation
    4× · 2017–2024 · C$23k · revenue +639%
  • ZC
    ZERO CEILING SOCIETY OF CANADA
    3× · 2019–2023 · C$22k · revenue +244%

Funded once

  • LD
    LEARNING DISABILITIES SOCIETY OF GREATER VANCOUVERgraduated
    one grant, 2021 · C$10k · revenue +69%
  • LB
    LEARNING BUDDIES NETWORK OF THE LOWER MAINLAND SOCIETY
    one grant, 2021 · C$10k
  • UG
    UNION GOSPEL MISSION
    one grant, 2021 · C$10k · revenue -14%

Repeat = funded in two or more distinct years; growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent CRA filings.

03Your field

The map has a center of gravity: the average direction from the rest of the sector toward the organizations the foundation funds — the shape of its giving. Scoring every nonprofit along that direction surfaces the ones that look most like the portfolio. These are the closest matches that aren’t grantees — a resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Vancouver Youth Theatre Society

Charitable activities include ongoing programs that fulfill vyt's mission statement: a creative partnership between young actors and authors with adult theatre professionals co-creating plays from young peoples' ideas across kids' writes…

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2
Story Studio Writing Society

Story Studio is an award-winning BC-based charity that inspires educates and empowers youth to be great storytellers transforming lives and strengthening communities. The charity supports the well-being of children youth and families…

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3
Fresh Air Learning Society Vancouver

Forest And Farm Education Programs For 3-12 Year Olds. Professional Developments For Teachers. Adult And Teen Programs To Develop Their Connection To The Land Forest And Farm

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4
Indian Summer Arts Society

Indian Summer Arts Society commissions and presents significant local national and international programming that catalyzes and inspires dialogue and global citizenship and reflects Vancouver's position as a harbour for diverse arts ideas…

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5
Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society

The society produces the Vancouver Fringe Festival a 12 day theatre festival each September. The Vancouver Fringe serves as the home for independent performing arts in Vancouver following the Fringe Theatre Movement that spans across North…

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6
Vancouver Jazz Orchestra Society

Conducts a competition to award scholarship to bc youth studying music. provide educational workshops master classes and seminars to young musicians in british columbia.

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7
Pacific Coast Stage Company

Nanaimo fringe festival public workshops

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8
Vancouver Creative Space Society
—
9
Greater Vancouver Society to Bridge Arts and Community

BC Culture Days BC Alliance Resource Centre

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10
The Chop Theatre Society

The Chop is a Vancouver-based theatre organization that brings together artists to create new works of theatre for audiences locally across Canada and internationally. The organization often works with communities and individuals who are…

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11
Vancouver New Music Society

Over the 2023-24 season vancouver new music presented many free community based events. these included community workshops public installations and online presentations. in addition the 2023-24 series included many paid concerts

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12
Cts Youth Society

CTS Youth Society is a non-profit organization that aims to connect every youth in Metro Vancouver with their natural environment their community and with each other through life-changing outdoor experiences. We are dedicated to developing…

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For reference, the grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is The Kidsafe Project Society and the most unlike its peers is Glitch Theatre Society. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.

02the grantee network

99 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2024.

Each one resolved to its own CRA returns and tracked year by year — your grant beside their revenue from every source. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

Counted here: distinct organizations you funded across 2017–2024, not grant rows in a single year — so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 99 of the 102 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile; the rest are funded organizations whose filings we could not track year by year.

0
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
24
Early backer (in before they grew)
98/99
Grantees still filing
63/99
Grew since you first funded

Each org by its size and your share of it — top-left is where you’re load-bearing

25%50%75%100%C$100kC$1.0MC$10MC$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ your share of their budgetBACKPACK BUDDIES — C$25,000 over 3y, 1.5% of budgetTake a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation — C$22,500 over 4y, 1.0% of budgetZERO CEILING SOCIETY OF CANADA — C$21,500 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetBig Sisters of BC Lower Maindland — C$20,537 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetNorth Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association — C$18,000 over 3y, 2.1% of budgetTHE KIDSAFE PROJECT SOCIETY (KIDSAFE'S KIDLINK YOUTH PROGRAM — C$17,500 over 3y, 0.5% of budgetBC Wheelchair Sports Association — C$17,500 over 4y, 1.1% of budgetFRASER RIVER DISTRICT CENTER SOCIETY (RIVERSCHOOL EDUCAT.... — C$15,000 over 3y, 1.4% of budgetGREEN TUMB PLAYERS SOCIETY (NEW CANADIAN KID-AN ELEMENTAR... — C$15,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetENVIRONMENTAL YOUTH ALLIANCE — C$15,000 over 2y, 0.7% of budgetMETRO VANCOUVER CRIME STOPPERS ASSOCIATION — C$15,000 over 2y, 1.2% of budgetFraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Assoc — C$15,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetZAJAC RANCH SOCIETY — C$13,500 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetBig Brothers Big Sisters of Langley — C$12,500 over 3y, 1.1% of budgetCHILLIWACK RESTORATIVE JUSTICE — C$12,000 over 2y, 5.3% of budgetCAROUSAL THEATER SOCIETY (TEEN SHAKESPEARE PROGRAM) — C$12,000 over 4y, 0.5% of budgetVancouver Adaptive Snow Sports — C$11,725 over 3y, 3.4% of budgetArts Council of Surrey — C$10,910 over 2y, 3.1% of budgetLEARNING DISABILITIES SOCIETY OF GREATER VANCOUVER — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetUNION GOSPEL MISSION (UGM) — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetNEED2 - Suicide Prevention Education and Support — C$10,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetLumara Grief & Bereavement Care Society — C$10,000 over 2y, 1.0% of budgetRichmond Addiction Service Society — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetBlind Beginning Society — C$10,000 over 2y, 1.4% of budgetSAINT JAMES MUSIC ACADEMY — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetAxis Theatre Society — C$10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetDO WHAT U LOVE FOUNDATION (PROVIDING YOUTH WITH ACCESS TO... — C$10,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetCOMOX VALLEY THERAPEUTIC RIDING SOCIETY (BARN BUDDIES PRO... — C$10,000 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetJunior Achievement of British Columbia (JABC) — C$10,000 over 2y, 0.2% of budgetSome Assembly Arts Society — C$10,000 over 2y, 4.1% of budgetSOS Children's Village BC — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCIRCLE SALT SPRING EDUCATION SOCIETY — C$10,000 over 2y, 2.3% of budgetLANGLEY ANIMAL PROTECTION SOCIETY (LAPS) (YOUTH EMPLOYM.... — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetWest Coast Kids Cancer Foundation — C$10,000 over 1y, 1.3% of budgetVancouver Community College Foundation — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.6% of budgetKidsPlay Youth Foundation — C$10,000 over 1y, 2.7% of budgetATHLETICS FOR KIDS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE (B.C.) SOCIETY — C$10,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetMalcolm Knapp Research Forest (UBC) — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetABBOTSFORD CULTURAL CENTRE — C$10,000 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetVANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL SOCIETY (VICFS) — C$10,000 over 2y, 0.4% of budgetCanadian Society Promoting Environmental Conserva — C$10,000 over 2y, 3.2% of budgetBC NEWCOMER CAMP (SUMMER DAY-CAMPS FOR RECENTLY ARRIVED..... — C$10,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetGrowing Chefs Society — C$10,000 over 1y, 0.9% of budgetURBANPROMISE MINISTRIES — C$9,906 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetAccess Youth Outreach Services Society — C$9,600 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetFamily Services Greater Vancouver — C$8,847 over 1y, 0.0% of budgetTHE VANCOUVER BOOK AND MAGAZINE FAIR (WORD VANCOUVER) — C$8,500 over 2y, 2.7% of budgetCRANBROOK BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB (YOTH IMPACT CENTRE-FREE PR... — C$7,500 over 1y, 0.9% of budget
Go grantee by grantee — a decade per org, and how each moved after you funded them

A decade per grantee — revenue shaded, your grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

The grantmakers whose grantees overlap with yours far more than size alone predicts. Each orbits closer the stronger the alignment; the arcs between them show where they also fund each other. Here it reads as a tightly interlocked camp — most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

The Hamber FoundationOcean Wise Conservati…Lohn FoundationVancity Community Fou…Cknw Kids' FundFirst West FoundationThe McLean FoundationDiamond FoundationTELUS Friendly Future…United Way British Co…Y.P.Heung FoundationNicola Wealth Private…
The Hamber FoundationBC41.3× affinity55 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Hamber Foundation · Ocean Wise Conservation Association · Lohn Foundation · Vancity Community Foundation · Cknw Kids' Fund · First West Foundation · The McLean Foundation · Diamond Foundation · TELUS Friendly Future Foundation - Fondation TELUS Pour un Futur Meilleur · United Way British Columbia · Y.P.Heung Foundation · Nicola Wealth Private Giving Foundation

Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. A research starting point: overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

On method. Every financial figure here is read directly from the Canada Revenue Agency’s published T3010 data — your own annual information return and the multi-year returns of the 102 grantees we resolved across every year we hold, several hundred filings in all (a different count from the grant rows on the cover, which are one fiscal year) — each linked to its source. Grantee achievements and outcomes are each organization’s own program description on its T3010; we read these as association with sustained funding — the foundation is one of several forces — suppress low-confidence name matches rather than guess, and say so where a figure rests on a single grant or filing. Not everything on this page is a filed figure, and the difference matters. Filed is what you reported on your return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without a BN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears. How we build these →

Generated from your T3010 annual information return for the fiscal period ending 2024-12-31, as published by the Canada Revenue Agency in 2024. Amounts are Canadian dollars, as filed and never converted. Registered as a private foundation under foundations advancing education.

Source object 118853886:2024-12-31 · View the T3010 on the CRA register

Play a game based on Chris-Spencer’s filings →