New Discovery Centre on Lower Water Street

[Keith P.]

I would feel more comfortable if the Discovery Centre would publish an annual report that among other things listed financial statements and disclosed staff salaries. All I have been able to determine is that they generate revenues of about $2.5 million annually. They do not appear to produce anything reporting on their finances and are far from transparent in their financial dealings.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I would feel more comfortable if the Discovery Centre would publish an annual report that among other things listed financial statements and disclosed staff salaries. All I have been able to determine is that they generate revenues of about $2.5 million annually. They do not appear to produce anything reporting on their finances and are far from transparent in their financial dealings.

It does seem a little strange that this information isn't readily available, but admittedly I don't know what the requirements are for non-profits in terms of public transparency.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I would feel more comfortable if the Discovery Centre would publish an annual report that among other things listed financial statements and disclosed staff salaries. All I have been able to determine is that they generate revenues of about $2.5 million annually. They do not appear to produce anything reporting on their finances and are far from transparent in their financial dealings.

'The Discovery Centre' , a Society, - Financial statements filed with Registry of Joint Stocks on August 7 2013.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Colin May

'The Discovery Centre' , a Society, - Financial statements filed with Registry of Joint Stocks on August 7 2013.

Not published or available online as far as I can tell.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Not published or available online as far as I can tell.

Shuffle of to the Registry and ask for the file - long time since I was in there but there was no charge.
Or email/call Discovery Centre and ask them to email their filings.
Or join the Society and then you are entitled to all the documents and can attend the AGM or seek a seat on the board.

[moody]

I don't know if Keith is being obtuse or just lazy. Financial information is available for all Canadian charities on the CRA website if you actually take the time to look for it. Here is the Discovery Centre's. There are also many other websites that provide this information, like this one. While it does have two relatively well-paid employees, the Discovery Centre is a well run organization with consistently growing revenues.

[Drybrain]

Is Keith implying that the Discovery Centre isn't financially prudent? I applied for a communications job there earlier this year, when I was trying to find work in Halifax and before I found my current job. But the Discovery Centre gig paid so poorly I didn't even bother pursuing it, and instead kept looking. With one employee making over 120k (the CEO, I assume) and only one more making more than 80k, their salaries are clearly well below private-sector compensation levels. And actually, below other non-profits that I'm aware of. They have ten employees, four of whom make less than 40k.

So yeah, it seems reasonable to me.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by moody

I don't know if Keith is being obtuse or just lazy. Financial information is available for all Canadian charities on the CRA website if you actually take the time to look for it. Here is the Discovery Centre's. There are also many other websites that provide this information, like this one. While it does have two relatively well-paid employees, the Discovery Centre is a well run organization with consistently growing revenues.

Interesting. So much for being "far from transparent in their financial dealings". Looks like it's right out there if you know where to look.

Thanks for adding clarity to the discussion.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by moody

I don't know if Keith is being obtuse or just lazy. Financial information is available for all Canadian charities on the CRA website if you actually take the time to look for it. Here is the Discovery Centre's. There are also many other websites that provide this information, like this one. While it does have two relatively well-paid employees, the Discovery Centre is a well run organization with consistently growing revenues.

Hmm. I was not aware that such info was available from those sources. Thanks for letting me know.

I would suggest, however, that they should proactively make such info available on their own website. I find it odd they do not generate any sort of annual report, for example, given the high level of govt funding.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I would suggest, however, that they should proactively make such info available on their own website. I find it odd they do not generate any sort of annual report, for example, given the high level of govt funding.

I agree with that—most non-profits do, so it seem like an oversight that they don't.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Hmm. I was not aware that such info was available from those sources. Thanks for letting me know.

I would suggest, however, that they should proactively make such info available on their own website. I find it odd they do not generate any sort of annual report, for example, given the high level of govt funding.

Nova Scotia prefers secrecy - bury as much as possible. Easy for them to post the same info on their website.

[JET]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Is Keith implying that the Discovery Centre isn't financially prudent? I applied for a communications job there earlier this year, when I was trying to find work in Halifax and before I found my current job. But the Discovery Centre gig paid so poorly I didn't even bother pursuing it, and instead kept looking. With one employee making over 120k (the CEO, I assume) and only one more making more than 80k, their salaries are clearly well below private-sector compensation levels. And actually, below other non-profits that I'm aware of. They have ten employees, four of whom make less than 40k.

So yeah, it seems reasonable to me.

Those are significant salaries for non-profits, I can think of lots of people in non-profit services helping the poor and homeless who could only dream of such salaries; I bet they even have pension plans. Two realities.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JET

Those are significant salaries for non-profits, I can think of lots of people in non-profit services helping the poor and homeless who could only dream of such salaries; I bet they even have pension plans. Two realities.

Depends on the non-profit and the role it occupies, unfortunately. For Veith House or the Ecology Action Centre or Feed NS, or most organizations supporting the homeless, unfortunately, those would indeed be big salaries. At United Way or the Cancer Society or the AGNS they'd be pretty meagre.

The median salary at Discovery Centre looks to be around 50k, with a full 4/10ths of their full-time staff making below 40k and only one making six figures. That's completely reasonable. Non-profits have to pay decent wages to attract good talent—we'd like to believe the best and brightest will work there out of nothing but goodwill, but it doesn't work that way.

Disclosure: I worked at United Way in Toronto, and made a decent salary. So did my colleagues, and the staff were of a much higher calibre than would have been at penny pinching wage levels (we pinched pennies in other ways, like only buying used office furniture, printing double-sided, using computers that were a little out of date, etc.)

But I always encountered clueless people telling me that United Way must be raking in government cash and splashing out on big salaries, blah blah blah. These people had no idea that they could simply look at an audited year-end financial report and that would all be disproven. They didn't want to either, I bet; it gave them an excuse to be cynical.

[JET]

"Depends on the non-profit and the role it occupies, unfortunately. For Veith House or the Ecology Action Centre or Feed NS, or most organizations supporting the homeless, unfortunately, those would indeed be big salaries. At United Way or the Cancer Society or the AGNS they'd be pretty meagre."

It is a question of role and value, what role do we play in society and how it is valued.
Interesting artible in the Globe and Mail this week: "Nova Scotia households report among the highest rates of “food insecurity” in the country, according to a Nova Scotia-based study recently published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health. And Halifax had the highest rate among big cities, with one in five households at risk." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...ticle21150445/
The working poor are struggling to eat and places like the Discovery Centre and AGNS are not accessible to lots of folks.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by JET

The working poor are struggling to eat and places like the Discovery Centre and AGNS are not accessible to lots of folks.

These are not related issues, though. Taking money away from the Discovery Centre doesn't put it on poor people's plates.

I also question whether Halifax really has the highest rates of food insecurity. Consider that in Toronto, one out of four people, many of them recent immigrants, live below the poverty line in out-of-the-way suburban neighbourhoods. Or consider the dire rate of urban poverty among the aboriginal population in Winnipeg or Regina. (Non-response rates may be a factor in studying those populations, of course, given the demographic and language barriers.)

I'd like to see the original study, since journalists are often terrible at accurately presenting statistics (I know; I was one). I mean, it certainly could be true, but I'd like to see proof.

Anyway, even if it IS true, I don't follow your line of reasoning. Some people in the city are poor, so a not-for-profit science education centre should be defunded and the money given to feeding them? That's a weird angle. Surely there's something less worthy the province could redirect funds from? Or we could come up with a creative means of funding food programs? Or we could stop subsidizing money-losing ferries and flagging pulp mills?

Snatching money away from another successful, popular non-profit that provides a different kind of cultural benefit doesn't make any sense.

[JET]

"These are not related issues, though. Taking money away from the Discovery Centre doesn't put it on poor people's plates."
If the $6,000,000, six million dollars, that was given to the Discovery Centre was instead used to increase food allowances for those on social assistance, then it would be literally puting food on people's plates. People on social assitance get about $25 per week for food.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by JET

"These are not related issues, though. Taking money away from the Discovery Centre doesn't put it on poor people's plates."
If the $6,000,000, six million dollars, that was given to the Discovery Centre was instead used to increase food allowances for those on social assistance, then it would be literally puting food on people's plates. People on social assitance get about $25 per week for food.

They are not 'middle class' and therefore Trudeau,Harper and Mulcair couldn't care less.

[fenwick16]

There is an exterior rendering for the new Discovery Centre on their website - http://www.rediscoverscience.ca/our-...ery/thumbnails:

Will construction ever start on this project?

(the Discovery Centre is just the building clad in grey)

[hokus83]

I don't know what the hell they are waiting for, they're 95% founded. They said in an email they would be started months ago. If they don't start soon they wont be able to meet their new deadline

[pblaauw]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

There is an exterior rendering for the new Discovery Centre on their website :

Will construction ever start on this project?

(the Discovery Centre is just the building clad in grey)

This was posted to their FB page a week ago. Seems promising.