MoneySense has taken the 100 largest Canadian charities and rated them, which I think is a great idea.
The charity grading system lists 100 charities across the country under four categories so that donors can make more informed choices.
4 charities fall into the religion category in Charity 100. One of these is a charity I spent a lot of time writing about last year – Crossroads Christian Communications Inc., which according to the 2009 tax return had $ 33,932,509 in assets. MoneySense evaluated the 100 charities using 2008 tax returns.
No reader of BDBO is going to be surprised by the results. 4 criteria are looked at:
How much goes to the cause?
The first factor we looked at was how much of your donated money goes to the cause itself, versus administrative and fundraising costs.How efficient is the fundraising?
Spending big bucks on galas, telemarketing, door-to-door campaigns and TV ads can raise awareness of a charity—which in turn can bring in even bigger bucks. But some charities are more efficient at this than others. So the next factor in our Charity 100 grade is how much each charity spends on fundraising for every $100 raised.Is the charity run properly?
…Half of the points in this category are awarded based on a short governance questionnaire that we sent out to all 100 charities. We based our questions on the Better Business Bureau’s governance standards and adapted them based on the opinions of various Canadian experts about standard practices in well-run organizations. Organizations got half a point for every question they answered “yes†to. Twenty-nine of the 100 organizations we contacted responded to our questionnaire. Those which did not respond at all—even after a follow-up phone call—got zero.
…The remaining points in the governance category were awarded for transparency (bolding mine – BD). Susan Phillips from Ottawa’s Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development, says that of all the factors used for assessing charities, “transparency is the most important.†Charities should expect to be accountable to the public if they rely on the public for donations, and we felt it’s not right for a charity to ask you for money, then refuse to tell you how that money is spent.
So how did Crossroads Christian Communications do?
Why are the questions below so difficult for a media organization which beams into our livingrooms and has 
bragged about being a Canadian presence for 35 years; marketing 100 Huntley Street and CTS as ‘Television you can believe in’ and ‘Life changing media’? Crossroads carries the Canadian Council of Christian Charities seal of approval. As well as media,Crossroads runs children’s camps and Canadian and oversea projects with matching funding  from CIDA.
An example: overseas development internships being offered pending CIDA approval.  Is Crossroads willing to rise to the challenge of bringing up it’s failing grade by dealing with the questions below?
GOVERNANCE (MAX 10 POINTS + 1 BONUS POINT)
1) Half of the points in this category are awarded based on a short governance questionnaire that we sent out to all 100 charities. A charity got half of one point for each of the following questions they answered yes to. If the organization didn’t respond to the questionnaire after a follow up phone call, they received zero out of five points. Here are the questions:
Does the board of directors of your organization approve the budget?
Does the board of directors of your organization approve the CRA filings?
Does the board of directors of your organization approve the audited financial statements?
Does the board of directors of your organization approve the fundraising policies?
Does the board of directors of your organization approve the governance policies?
Does the CEO have a formal CEO performance review at least once every two years?
Does the organization have a formal strategic plan?
Does it have a process in place for measuring program effectiveness?
Does the organization have a conflict of interest policy covering board members and staff?
Has it adopted an ethical code, such as the one created by Imagine Canada?
2) The other five points in this category were given for transparency.
Charities that had completed audited financial statements on their website were given four points. If they posted only partial financial statements online, or if they provided us with complete audited financial statements only upon request, we gave them two points. If they refused to provide financial statements, or didn’t respond at all, they got zero points.
If the organization had a privacy policy on its website explaining how personal information was used, it got another point.
Charities that disclosed their CEOs’ exact salary on our questionnaire were awarded one bonus point in this category.
3) Scores were totaled and a normalized across each type of charity. This ensured we compared each charity to other similarly structured charities in the same category.
How would other religious media in Canada stack up against the Crossroads scores? The Miracle Channel, Vision TV, and Grace TV do not have the assets Crossroads does, but they have charity status and broadcast licences. Would they score any better? I think anyone who takes a few minutes to even google the Canadian religious media outlets would have to say no, it would be interesting if MoneySense writers took a look.
As consumers, why don’t we expect Canadian religious media to govern themselves responsibly and treat the public ethically?
I doubt this will be the last we hear about this.
Either Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. will come out swinging – using 100 Huntley Street as a bully pulpit -or do what they did during the 2009  ponzi scheme and the charity that wasn’t (CTS Our Cause) and remain silent. Why would anyone in Canada have reason to believe otherwise?
On a positive note, Â this MoneySense evaluation clearly shows that there are charities in Canada which operate ethically and well, and MoneySense has done those ethical charities and consumers a service by doing this article.
If and when Crossroads Christian Communications Inc. management chooses to address governance and transparency, I’ll post their decision to do so.
Interesting fact: 240 Revenue Canada employees handle 85 thousand charities
Canadians give 14 billion dollars a year to charities
Charity 100 is getting tweeted quite a bit, Imagine Canada and Charity Village picked it up. Good for them.
http://twitter.com/search?q=#NPrating
It’s a discussion that needs more than 140 characters, only 2 blogs have picked it up.
Kudos to Open Hands
Good to see it spreading onto Facebook (where donors are) and Linkin, a business networking site
Geez, I did not know about “CTS Our Cause” scandal!
http://www.benedictionblogson.com/2010/01/15/cts-acknowledges-charity-not-legitimate-cits-media-resources-organization/
How sad is it that on the above table, the JW [cult] had a 9/10 for “Transparency” whereas 100 H. St. had a ONE!!!
Off topic, I have been banned from the flatearthsociety.org site for merely quoting the verbatim word of God!
Nothing like “freedom of speech”! Members there can sling crap but try to quote the Bible and geez, how atheists get offended.
Interesting that the Jehovah’s Witnesses (a.k.a. Watchtower) was on that table with a rating a bit higher than Crossroads, only thanks to their having two years of cash on hand; they were just as bad on transparency.
A friend made the observation Crossroads doesn’t really know how to relate to the public.
They haven’t seen their mandate as the audience.
The hiring of a pr firm (probably more for media buys) and a pr guy isn’t going to help them set an industry standard.
I think it will take a great deal more than a few scandals, loss of a charismatic founder and a pr person.
Crossroads has done things so long their way, changing the culture of thinking entrenched in the Burlington behemoth around probably isn’t going to happen.
They haven’t had to change, and I don’t believe they will until the bottom line is precarious to the point of collapse.
If religious media (and many charities) believe they get their marching orders from God, why respond to a survey from a financial advice website?
If it’s true the organization received an email and a follow up phone call and chose not to respond, then internal communication and public perception remain worlds apart, and I don’t think we’ll see a change next year either if MoneySense has the opportunity to do this again.
Again I see a positive to Charity 100 with discussion generated in the charitable sector. Having an outside interest (such as a financial website) set standards to measure by, shakes things up a bit.
Hi Ben,
It has been awhile since I responded to the blog although I have checked in from time to time.
I know the answers to some of the governance questions for Crossroads, so the only possibility is that they simply didn’t respond to the survey (although they did get the one bonus point).
Your headline is misleading although technically accurate. They did receive a D in one category but overall received a B-. Had they responded to the survey, they would have done much better – likely placing second behind Wycliffe.
Hi Garnet, good to hear from you again.
Agreed, the headline is a bit misleading, given the overall score is higher.
What is disappointing is Crossroads (as did 100 other charities had two chances to respond to the governance and transparency questions. (I think only 19 out of 100 did, I’d have to go back and re-read MoneySense)
If an organization doesn’t have a full time person (or people) to engage with donors/audience/other groups, we ‘the other’ don’t get related to other than how the group is accustomed to relating.
ie: tv camera
And if an organization believes it answers to God and regulators and not the public, it is a difficult mindset to change.
Any insight you can add to governance?
Why didn’t Crossroads respond to the questions?
They are not of this world. One can take that literally as well as spiritually. They don ‘t have to account for their actions because God is in charge.
It never ceases to amaze me that some people do not live in the real world. Recently a health care professional mentioned the steps on the bus as being problematic. There are no steps on our buses and haven’t been for years. They ‘kneel’ for individuals with disabilities.
I would truly hate to be part of the culture of Crossroads. I actually feel sorry for them.
I got saved at the age of 15 because of the 1oo Huntley St Show. Someone gave a testimony of his conversion, as he did, God the Holy Spirit convicted me in a gentle way. He told me that if I continued to go on the way I lived at the time I would end up in Hell. God did give me a vision of Hell as He shared this with me. However I really dislike this show now! It now has Witches co hosting from time to time. I dont know this by my gift of discernment, I know this by identification rings Witches wear to identify themselves among themselves. I dislike Crossroads! It to has been infiltrated.
@Naxus:
re: “It now has Witches co hosting from time to time. I dont know this by my gift of discernment, I know this by identification rings Witches wear to identify themselves among themselves.”
——————————————
Rings?
WOW! That is huge – if it is in fact true. I do know that the show sickens me at times, ie: “This is our gift to you if you send us a donation.” Uh, why not just say the truth? If you BUY this sales item with your money we will mail it to you.”
Please can you Bene or Naxus expand on the “witches” theme?
I do not doubt that there are chameleons on the show, they do mix decent guests with NWO shills in order to keep on the air.
And I wonder how Cantelon has a church in Israel when it is ILLEGAL to evangelize there. When you merely visit you have to sign a declaration that you will not witness of Christ to anyone there or else you are denied entry.
I wouldn’t throw in names. It isn’t that easy to pick them out. And I did say witches-female sorcerers . The “witches theme” can be found on some Todd Bentley blogs. One way to pick out a Tare who claims to be a Christian is by the lack of life, Jude touches on it. The ones on TV who try to manipulate the Life of Christ in their own lives use theatrics. Twitching, raising their voice then lowering their voice and so forth. God is holy and normal, He does not contort through these crazy counterfeits. I had one pastor in a Toronto church give me a secret society hand shake because he though I might be one of them. I wouldn’t have known he was a Tare until the awkwardness of the failed hand shake.
Its not just Crossroads its almost everything that bares the name Christian. An example is this; Christian contempory and Christian praise music. At least the songs I was listening to and they sound good and have good messages in it and even mention Jesus[Mt 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?"
23 And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."] but in my spirit I felt uncomfortable and even UNCLEAN. Turned off the music, yet I felt guilty for not liking Christian music. I do in fact love Christian music the ones that have life and not performed by impostors. When you go to a church and don’t feel a clean and life giving force in it, well then chances are that it is unclean. What I am saying is not easy to understand without experiential knowledge. But I hope it helps the sincere.
Dear Naxus
Thanks for the posts … I watch 100 St almost daily and now that the Holy Spirit has been showing me TRUTH, I am sensitive to the errors there. Recently they replayed their Justin Beiber interview LOL. I hope you know NO-ONE gets huge in Hwood or music w/o being vetted. Very weird stuff.
Jim Cantelon and the Mainses love stating that Iran must be bombed into oblivion – how Christlike.
They feature SO many disinfo/heresy writers that I wonder just what is really going on there.
—————-
I am a lifetime praise musician, at my church the anointing is so not present 99% of the time. The “worship” leaders are really self-promoting their own cds etc, the VOLUME of the mains is so loud you can NOT hear 800 people singing vs the “pastor” single mic – I am talking when it is just the so-called “worship pastor” going solo.
I have written several complaints but there is an agenda. Congregational worship is beautiful, but when you CANNOT hear 800 unamped voices ….. it grieves me no end. The mic should be there to lead but NO WAY should the sound be rock concert/ ego centric/rock star/platform idol level.
——————-
A young dude moved back to our town and he and the “worship pastor” both led, taking turns ie “wp” led a section, then chorus, then M.B. would have the mic – when the “wp” led there was NO Spirit; then M. would take a turn and God was there! That was a few mos ago and I told M. and he was humble and appreciated it. I know it is subjective, but I know the Holy Ghost and the fear of the Lord. and the Word says the Spirit can be A) grieved and B) quenched. I was so hopeful we were going to be progressing …..
BUT, last week he actually led worship, and there was ZERO/NO/NONE anointing – he lost the anointing by hanging around these emerging church nutbars lol. He lost the anointing.
——————–
Back to 100St … it is so sad that they are so accomodating of everything, be it eccumenism, emerging church, dominionism … last show was “Moira Brown speaks to Brian Warren about how he is igniting Canada.” http://100huntley.com/video.php?id=a-zclqiQ7C0
I get that he is “sincere” and passionate about what he does. So what. He has STRANGE bedfellows and very suspect doctrine : )
I saw on the segment [clips] the same kundalini manifestations that are the trademark of false revival. The shaking, writhing, possession of the “holy” spirit that Copeland, Bentley, Arnot etc pass on. Been there done that.
I to am still learning and maturing. What I have learned is that the Lord is grieved, and He is not in the churches, If you do experience a genuine manifestation of the Lord’s Spirit it is solely based on that persons individual relationship with the Lord. God IS NOT IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLIES of churches. He has warned us and the assemblies in general have rejected His warning and God has left the house. It is not His house any longer, only in title. The Lord told all of us that if we did not keep the house clean Evil spirits in turn will inhabit that UNCLEAN house. I have felt those Unclean spirits seduce me as though they were the Lord in the house of God. When the Lord revealed to me personally who they were and are, “they” attacked me with what Paul so accurately described as “fiery darts of the enemy”. I felt the pain emotionally as well as feeling it in my body even though this was an actual dart-arrow that was embedded into me spirit. That word dart is a bit bigger than what we imagine it in the English, the Greek brings out the description out better. If God is not in the house than somebody else is. God has judged the church and rejected it. Now He is judging the World and it will manifest in God’s time. Which I am certain of. Ultimately all us of have to seek God on these matters ourselves. Sadly most of us do not know how to and are so CONDITIONED not to do so. If you are a reject like myself from the church know this; if they rejected God[which they did!] they will reject you. King James Bible John 15:20
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. Matt 24:24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. 25It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Naxus;
The God in the house is theirs not his and the one THEY worship not him.
Glory has become what they seek – but for themselves only
Life has become what they want – but at the expense of others only
Hope has become only what they can get – without paying ‘too much of a price!’
Lies roll of their tounge with such sleaze, slime and passion as to wrap itself around us and render us weak in its grasp’
A House is only built on the heart of the one who’s foundations created it –
Their hearts dwell where – for the most part in their own wellbeing with a few scraps thrown to us to keep us begging for more as the spirit of entrapment calls us in
Never assume they are right and you are wrong – The catholic house needs cleaning, the prosperity gospel needs taking, the glory stadiums of the all CON -suming EGO’s of manifest greed need to fall from THEIR GREAT HEIGHT, and we need to once again be free to witness his passion for his people not theirs.
They ‘gather’ a harvest for themselves – Not Him
Naxus … that word in Eph. 6:16 is belos which can mean “missile” as in an ICBM! and they can really hurt/destroy so use the shield!!
Hi all, I was at a rousing “worship” service at a PAOC/TB/Renewal church a few years ago, I was not just feeling it, in contrast to the majority. I heard an almost audible voice (it was Him) saying “I don’t even hear them”.
I was so shocked it was like ice water thrown over me, I sat down stunned. Jesus WAS NOT EVEN HEARING THEM. Yet they were demanding Him to receive the praise etc. That was a real [3rd] eye opener : )
—————
Last night I went to 6:30 pm service, the speaker was actually good, topic was Luke 11. However, near the end he said “men at 13 or 14 think about sex every 10 seconds, at 30 about 30 seconds, at 50 about every 57 second – this was a study done by ___”. And he went on and on how males are pre-occupied by sex blah blah … which diminishes until they die “but the desire for wealth NEVER decreases.”
I was SO slimed and embarrassed. I do not and never have, fantasized about fornicating or doing adultery with one of the cute ladies whether at the beach or next to me in a mall or church etc …. the men and women – about 900 – did not seem shocked at his off-handed blatant and crass over-generalizing men as sxually obsessive PERVERTS. Now I do realize that many guys are jerks, but I would hope I am not the only decent person/Noah left on earth?
I was so angry I went to him after church and waited until all the fawning hero-worshippers were done congratulating him on his “exegesis” and told him what I thought aboit his long-winded ramble about all men are pigs crap. I asked him if that was [perve] Freud or a [perve] Masters/Johnson study, he could not recall his [satanic] source. link to perverts: warning Perverts alert …. >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_and_Johnson<
He actually said he would remove that part from the next services. I will go see if he does lol.
I felt better after telling him what I thought/knew was a real detraction from his otherwise good sermon.
No fear of the Lord!
————–
On Canada Day we had lots going on in City Park, oops I spied a church booth, promoting a certain "apostle ____" with a "prophetic" slash "healing" ministry who in reality is a big fake jerk with ZERO healing abilities – I know, been to his meetings which are WoF crap. What got me was the fact that the sincere people manning the large tent/booth for their "apostle" (they only refer to him as "The Apostle" or "Apostle _______ " or simply as "Apostle" ) were actually sure he is a "man of God" but he is not. He makes $$$ by getting folks to "give to God" aka HIMSELF.
What a joke pile o' you know …. changed his "ministry" official name yet again. Mission statement [more name and claim bs] " Our vision for 2010 is to have 2500 church members in 5 locations, and to have 500 qualified leaders raised up."
His big deal is (fleecing) charging for 'training" these "new leaders". LOL.
So far he has about 20 -30 sheeple in 3 locations each lol. But 2010 still has umm almost 6 months left to fulfill his "God-given" vision – which he has repeated ad nauseum.
oops above sermon topic was not chapter 11 but Luke 12/Psalm 14:1,2 …. the man who does NOT make God his priority and does not plan wisely ie salvation and sharing with the poor : 2 big thumbs up!!! It was good except for the perv thing ~
belos bel’-os: a missile, i.e. spear or arrow — dart. Dig a little deeper. If you like I can gather some more information on this word for you.
Demons[daimon] are demi-gods[lesser gods, i.e offspring of fallen angels; the angels are the gods that rule them, the fallen angels] the heroes of old [Gen 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.. ] ————-Blue Letter Bible, Demons;”They disseminate errors among men, and seek to seduce believers, 1Ti 4:1. As seducing spirits they deceive men into the supposition that through mediums (those who have “familiar spirits,” Lev 20:6, 27, e.g.) they can converse with deceased human beings. Hence the destructive deception of Spiritism, forbidden in Scripture, Lev 19:31; Deu 18:11; Isa 8:19. “Demons” tremble before God, Jam 2:19; they recognized Christ as Lord and as their future Judge, Mat 8:29; Luk 4:41. Christ cast them out of human beings by His own power. His disciples did so in His Name, and by exercising faith, e.g., Mat 17:20.”———- Just guess who are the mediums with the familiar spirits of today? that try to and do seduce the end time believers and in Christian avenues of all forms. Like Churches and Christian ministries. How else will they reach the Christian to seduce them?
naxus – Thank you
That post was excellent in its understanding.
The disciples of ‘mixed race’ in terms of good and evil have to be sifted like wheat from that ability (ie; the familiar spirit) to be ‘possessed by the spiritis of ‘dominion’ and the like. Those that play host to the ‘evil one’ who’s only intent is to disrupt and demean, destroy (hope ) and leave us therefore more and more in his power and not our own will gradually become more agitated and active as his prescence draws near and his ‘atmosphere’ begins to overcome that place of ‘death’ and depression that they so enjoy us to live in – Many so called disciples have used the name of Jesus to give themselves credibility as they perverse and pervert the true nature of the Father, to give us doubts and fears as to our ultimate end if we do not obey – and to render us in their ”way’ not his, as a means to their end and not the ability to witness for ourselves his end for the destruction and devastation that seems to plague our lives.
I fury when I see the perversion of passion and life that the evil one brings and clothes us in – when I see how he tries to steal our youth and their hope and when all he seems to allow us to see is his visions of – not the Fathers – He wars and therefore peace seems, for the most part to elude us untill we lay down our ways and seek for ourselves the truth (that which the enemy is so afraid of us seeking and finding!) Hence he plants in our way those to pervert our course to a heart of hope not hate and a mind of peace not war that is not veiled in or by deceptions that trick and deceive us – Never fail is impossible – we all do- its when we ask why did I fail and examine that weak spot that strength and understanding comes and stears us more and more away from those places that find us in weakness, when we allow that process into our hearts initially it can seem never ending but when we finally see our light begin to shine, that the enemy has veiled from us, then we walk in the freedom of knowing we are ‘ok’ and that the valley of the shadow of death has no longer the power to render us his.
JESUS CHRIST the BRIDEGROOM said to his BRIDE the Church in John 4:16 ” GO CALL THY HUSBAND AND COME HITHER”
HE who hath an ear let him HEAR…
The apostate church found in our Pentecostal[I am of the Pentecostal persuasion] and the other mainline Churches like the Baptists are apostate. This is not the Bride of Christ! My calling is unique to say the least. I can tell you that wicked souls govern our churches and they have special powers and when I visit a church “they” can recognize me by the light my spirit shines. And they avoid me they even have a hard time looking at me. The brightness of my spirit hurts their eyes. Sometimes they can tolerate it but that gives me some time to discern them. It is not my gift it is an activation of the Holy Spirit. And it gets activated when the Lord deems it necessary. On my own I can do zilch-and if you knew me that statement would be vivid! Most of my experiences have happened in Toronto. The Lord does not burden me to go to a church or churches. In fact I am so weary of the witchcraft that I do have to fight off when I do go to church. Right now I dont go unless the Lord tells me otherwise. Years ago in Toronto during a Morris Curelo[sp] crusade an elderly lady introduced me to Benny and Henry Hinn who where there in attendance . I was 20 at the time. The Hinns did not reach their stardom just yet. Any ways the Hinns looked startled when this beautiful elderly Christian lady introduced me to the them. You could tell by the look in their faces that they wanted nothing to do with me. It was strictly Hi and Bye.
Hi all, watched 100 H (!) Street July 11, guest was [the most holy reverend revered One] David Wells. He was according to [holy revered One] Jim Cantelon, Jim’s former co-pastor in a BC presumably large PAOC church.
I did not know “Dave” is now the Big Boss of “Canada’s largest evangelical denomination” according to Jim.
I knew “Dave” when he was a lowly assistant pastor in Calgary; he particularly bugged the crap out of me [and my wife] due to the inordinate attention he paid to my attractive wife. He gave both of us the slimey creepy-crawlies with his smarmy advances. After a few monthes we had to depart …. to a weird Foursquare/Vineyard church which a lot of our friends attended, but lasted only a few monthes there as well. I went to the PAOC site http://www.paoc.org/ to confirm and there he is. What rises to the top? Oh yeah, cream.
I notice the DONATE NOW tab is the 2nd feature on the top right (after search) lol.
Why is it that the Mainse/Rutledge clan dominate all the programs. Are they all on the payroll?
Are there not any creative people around with fresh ideas? It appears Crossroads is set up to obtain charitable donations but manipulate the board to keep the pay cheques coming to the inner circle clan?
What does Gilligan’s Island and the Partridge Family have to do with Christian programming – beyond playing low-cost filler programs while the clan is at the bank depositing the donations received from lonely television viewers.