“$900 Million. Journalists cannot use ATIP. MPs cannot review this spending at committee. The Auditor General will not be able to audit it. Trudeau Liberals will not even disclose the contract details.” (July 26, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twtiter)

The total value of the contribution agreement was $543.5M, not $500M to $900 million.  The correct value of the contribution agreement was in the public domain prior to Ms Bahen’s tweet.  There were several provisions in the contribution agreement that would ensure the greatest level of transparency, including bi-weekly reporting, a requirement by WE to share copies of all project-related books and records with the government at any time during the life of the project, and ability for the government to audit and verify the use of government funds on eligible expenditures, both during the life of the project and for six years after the end of the project. Additionally, WE was required to cooperate with and provide any project-related books and records to the Auditor General of Canada upon request in the context of an inquiry by the Auditor General. WE was also required to submit annual audited financial statements and was subject to a requirement to conduct a further more detailed project-specific audit if so requested by the government. WE’s role in the CSSG did not allow for any “profit” (by definition, a charity cannot generate or earn profits) or financial gain for the organization whatsoever.  The theoretical maximum expense reimbursement to WE was $34.78M only if all 100,000 students engaged in the program. These costs were for all aspects of the program including its design, delivery, disbursement of grants, third-party costs, etc. This was not a set payment and only a maximum amount to reimburse expenses. 

“BELIEVE it or not. Another WE Charity entity registered, WE BELIEVE in New Brunswick in May 2020.” (December 16, 2020, Charity Intelligence, Twitter)

WE Charity announced on September 9, 2020 that they are winding down the organization’s operations in Canada. The organization will be selling its assets to establish an endowment fund to sustain the charity’s existing international humanitarian programs and digitize its Canadian educational resources for long-term access. The endowment fund will support WE Villages projects in Latin America, Asia and Africa that are currently underway, but are not yet completed. It will also fund key, large-scale infrastructure projects that need ongoing support, like the Baraka Hospital and WE College in Narok County,,Kenya, and the Agricultural Learning Centre in Ecuador. Going forward, there will be no new schools, water or agricultural projects, and no expansion to new communities in the nine countries where WE Charity is active. We Believe Saint John not part of the WE family of organizations. In December 2016, what is now known as We Believe – Saint John Inc., was born. In May 2020, We Believe – Saint John Inc. became a registered charity.

“And then in 2018, the auditor flagged for the first time that WE Charity was in breach of its bank covenants. That is a massive, massive red flag.” (July 18, 2020, Kate Bahen, Canadaland) “WE Charity also stated to us publicly in the letter they posted that it was an accounting paperwork, which is a different interpretation from ours of bank covenants.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA) “Facts matter. WE Charity’s F2018 audited financial statements reported breach of bank loan covenants, $39.4m in Toronto real estate leveraged against short-term bank loans. Charity Intelligence reported this in August 2019... before covid, CSSG.” (September 9, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

The so-called ‘breach of covenant’ (and note that the WE auditor did NOT use the term “breach” in its notes to the audited financial statement) were a non-issue and were a technicality arising from WE Charity’s change in fiscal year in 2017. This is an accounting principle “on paper only”, wherein WE Charity’s lender recognized the situation and willingly waived the respective requirements without any issue or concern on their part. There was no difficulty with WE Charity credit. For example, one of the covenants within WE Charity’s mortgage provisions is that it must generate positive EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization) to cover 1.3 times the mortgage payments in the fiscal year. In 2017/2018, WE Charity shifted its fiscal year from January-December to September-August to align with the academic year and how expenses are incurred, resulting in a shortened fiscal year. This shifted when donations were “recognized”. In accordance with accounting principles, charities must recognize a donation in the same timeframe when the funds will be spent on projects. WE Charity has a number of multi-year contracts with philanthropic partners. As a result of the change of the fiscal year, WE Charity needed to defer revenue to align with the fiscal year in which the program would occur, thus affecting two fiscal years – 2018 and 2019. Dr. AL Rosen, a specialist in Investigative and Forensic Accounting (CA-IFA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a specialist in Investigative and Forensic Accounting (CA-IFA), with the support of analysis by Froese Forensic Partners, independently reviewed WE’s finances at the time of negotiating the contract. He concluded that, “WE was financially viable at the time of the signing of the CSSG Funding Agreement with the Federal Government and was not in any financial peril.” 

“Govts due diligence knew this right? So facing a pandemic, financial pressures, massive layoffs... perfect time to launch new strategic direction in response to WE’s 25th birthday? Rookie board, colleagues of bros, and no financial experience. This is out of control.” (July 2, 2020, Kate Bahen Twitter) “Did WE Charity inform the government that its board had resigned or was replaced just weeks before, and that there was a gap in governance and oversight at the charity? … Oh and by the way — it has no board.” (July 18, 2020, Kate Bahen, Canadaland) “It’s rare for all but one of charity director to leave.” (July 27, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

The WE Charity Board was not fired. Of the seven current Directors on the WE Charity North American Board, four have each served for three or more years. The Board is composed of skilled individuals who have expertise in law, finance and education. They provide strong overall governance. WE Charity is grateful to Michelle Douglas, the Chair of the Board of Directors of WE Charity. She resigned in March 2020, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other Board Members transitioned as part of renewal processes tied to the organization’s 25th anniversary.

“WE Charity is so unique and so complex unlike any charity I have analyzed. It’s extremely commercial. No other charity has what we have called backwash…. You don’t see donations go from the non-profit to the profit” (July 14, 2020, Kate Bahen, Global News Radio) “In the last 2 years 7% and 8 % of WE Charity total revenues have been paid to ME to WE.” (Kate Bahen, Global News Radio, July 14) “That had grown. Before, it was one percent, two percent. What you see is them ramp up in fiscal 2018 when eight percent of WE Charity’s total revenues are going into the private business and in 2019, seven percent.” (July 18, 2020, Kate Bahen, Canadaland) “The related party transactions with 8% of donations to WE Charity going to ME to WE, the private business controlled by Marc and Craig Kielburger, to purchase goods and services.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA) “On the related parties' transactions, with WE Charity providing cash to ME to WE, and ME to WE providing back to WE Charity support, which is cash and also donated goods or time, we would like to have greater disclosure about how much of ME to WE's contribution to WE Charity was cash and how much was donated time. I think the audited financial statements meet all the disclosure requirements on these transactions.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA) “Since the beginning, WE Charity's financials report ME to WE contributed $12.6m to WE Charity, (not "over $20m" as advertised.) And WE Charity paid ME to WE $11.4m. Nets out to $1.2m.” (February 14, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

“WE Charity is so unique and so complex unlike any charity I have analyzed. It’s extremely commercial. No other charity has what we have called backwash…. You don’t see donations go from the non-profit to the profit” (July 14, 2020, Kate Bahen, Global News Radio) “In the last 2 years 7% and 8 % of WE Charity total revenues have been paid to ME to WE.” (Kate Bahen, Global News Radio, July 14) “That had grown. Before, it was one percent, two percent. What you see is them ramp up in fiscal 2018 when eight percent of WE Charity’s total revenues are going into the private business and in 2019, seven percent.” (July 18, 2020, Kate Bahen, Canadaland) “The related party transactions with 8% of donations to WE Charity going to ME to WE, the private business controlled by Marc and Craig Kielburger, to purchase goods and services.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA) “On the related parties' transactions, with WE Charity providing cash to ME to WE, and ME to WE providing back to WE Charity support, which is cash and also donated goods or time, we would like to have greater disclosure about how much of ME to WE's contribution to WE Charity was cash and how much was donated time. I think the audited financial statements meet all the disclosure requirements on these transactions.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA) “Since the beginning, WE Charity's financials report ME to WE contributed $12.6m to WE Charity, (not "over $20m" as advertised.) And WE Charity paid ME to WE $11.4m. Nets out to $1.2m.” (February 14, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

“Over the last year or so WE has become much less receptive our calls. They have not provided their audited financial statements.” (July 3, Greg Thomson, CTV News Channel) (Thomson repeated the statement in a second CTV interview the same day)

WE Charity financial statements were posted on the website every year. The release of the 2019-2020 financials was somewhat delayed into the summer of 2020 because of COVID. However, they were provided to CI upon request and have now been posted. The WE Charity staff member who had been the direct point of contact for Charity Intelligence for the past several years, did not receive a request from CI for the financials until July 3 – the very same day Greg Thomson was in media complaining WE Charity had not provided its financials.

“I think the lines between these organizations are blurred intentionally.” (July 9, Kate Bahen, Showgram) “And these two are joined at the hip while WE is a charity, WE Charity is public. ME to WE is the private social enterprise with the private business that is controlled by Marc and Craig Kielburger and it is private. So it's just, its revenues and its profit are not disclosed. And that's where you have the conflict between a public charity and the private social enterprise.” (July 13, Kate Bahen, CBC The Current) “The WE Organization masks and cloaks WE Charity and ME to WE.” (July 14, Kate Bahen, Global News Radio) “We saw this pattern of a partner thinking they're contracting with one of the entities, but then there's a different name on the contract and the money flows to a different entity. I really questioned whether the corporate sponsor in the U.S. was aware that the contract was not with WE Charity U.S. but with a separate ME to WE entity.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA)

The distinction between WE Charity and ME to WE Social Enterprise is right there in the names: “charity” and “social enterprise”. WE Charity and ME to WE Social Enterprise have detailed information outlining the brand, legal, and operational separation between the two entities. The structure, model, governance, impact and relationship to WE Charity have all been reviewed and evaluated by reams of experts including the Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee, former Supreme Court Justice Peter Cory, former Ontario Appeal Court Justice Stephen Goudge, B Corp and Mission Measurement. The relationship between WE Charity and ME to WE is no more blurred than between Habitat for Humanity and The Habitat ReStore

“Three weeks ago there was a legal defamation threat raised against a Ottawa [Sun] journalist.” (July 16, 2020, Kate Bahen, LeDrew Three Minute Interview) “I hope you realize that donations and support have been used in the past to hire the biggest law firms to muzzle the media. Anybody who has written any not positive article has faced serious legal threats.” (July 16, 2020, Kate Bahen, Evan Solomon Show) “Facts matter: there were 2 actual suits, CanadaLand and Saturday Night Post. Not to mention legal ‘pursuits’: TorStar in 2019, today National Post, Toronto Sun. Help me out here if you’ve been “lettered” by WE!” (July 23, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

WE has been criticized in the media many times over 25 years, but has only engaged in or threatened legal actions on a very small number of occasions, when media were making verifiably false allegations. More than 20 years ago, the Kielburger family took legal action after being falsely accused of embezzlement by now-defunct Saturday Night Magazine. They successfully sued the magazine for more than $300,000. WE did not ever threaten an Ottawa Sun journalist with legal action.

“WE Charity offers free trips to those doing due diligence, program assessment and evaluation. How do I sign up? Looking forward to my free trip. Kenya please.” (July 23, 2020, Kate Bahen, Twitter)

WE Charity has gone further than just about any other organization in seeking independent third-party evaluation and assessment. WE Charity has never sought to influence the opinions those evaluators in any way.

“Charity Intelligence is not partisan. I do not know the political affiliations of our staff. These matters simply do not come up in our re‐ search and analysis of charities. I find partisanship toxic.” (August 6, 2020, Kate Bahen, FINA)

Kate Bahen is a past donor to the Conservative Party. The CI Board Chair, Graeme Hepburn, is a donor and active member of the Conservative Party. Charity Intelligence hired a PR firm based in Alberta to promote their media appearances against WE Charity us to raise their own profile.