So how do we do it?
Well, it has more to do about what we don’t do, truthfully.

We don’t do marketing. 
No glossy printouts, no special gifts to special donors, no pre-paid posting for donation envelopes, no letters to remind you to donate.

We don’t do expensive fundraising events.
No booking glitzy high end venues, no honorariums for VIP speakers, no event sponsorships, no kickbacks to social media influencers

We eliminate costs where ever we can
We don’t need an office because our work is done virtually, and we get the word out by using social media and word of mouth.

We do have unavoidable expenses.
But they are not covered by the donations we collect.  We have a small group of dedicated supporters who fund this specific part of our operations (website hosting, transfer fees, audit costs, etc). We find this formula of financing to be the most ethical, but also the one that creates the most impact for our beneficiaries and donors.

How does this work in practice?
If you donate $10,000:
– by cheque or e-interac: $10,000 goes to the overseas project.
– by credit card: there is a deduction for payment processing fees that is charged by the credit card company and we only receive $9,800. So we would transfer $9,800 to the overseas project.

What happens to the donations on the ground?
Some of our projects overseas, like our Basic Needs Program in Karachi, are implemented by amazing volunteers.
For other programs we hire people to provide services.  For example we will hire workers to install clean water sources; doctors and healthcare staff at our clinics; teachers at our educational projects; monitoring officers to ensure all orphans registered are genuine cases and all orphans and their guardians are receiving their care, and so on.

Why do we do it this way?
OBAT Canada is a charity committed to being charitable.  This initiative is not about us, or our efforts, nor about you, our donors.  It’s about impoverished, neglected communities who live in desperate conditions and live difficulties beyond our imaginations.  They persevere despite immense hardship and injustice, and deserve every dignity afforded to the rest of us. They are our focus. Our 100% model means that we can create the biggest impact possible, and avoid any distractions that would detract our attention away from those who need it most.

If you’d like more details about our philosophy, you can find them here: Keeping the Charitable in Charity