Thank you.
As chair of the board, I thank you for the opportunity to speak with you about a subject to which World Vision is very committed; that is, transparency.
In the next few minutes that I have with you, I'd like to give you a brief description of World Vision, underline how we understand transparency and the steps we are taking to ensure accountability, indicate why we are pleased that the cap has been removed, present our concerns about the salary focus of the bill, and give our recommendations for enhancing transparency—and all in five minutes.
World Vision is Canada's largest relief, development, and advocacy organization, and one of Canada's largest charities. Our work includes emergency relief, health, education, skills training, agricultural assistance, and policy. It is governed by 39 corporation members, of which 21 are also board members. World Vision Canada is also a member of World Vision International, which is composed of a federated structure of nearly 100 national entities and more than 40,000 staff, governed by an international board of directors. My long career in human resources with Bell Canada helps me serve on a human resources committee of World Vision International as well.
More than 700,000 Canadians regularly give to support our child-focused, community-based programs. Together with almost 10 million like-minded supporters internationally, these Canadians enable World Vision to respond to some of the world's poorest children. We manage revenue and programs exceeding $400 million and a staff of more than 500.
World Vision appreciates the spirit and purpose of this bill; that is, to ensure greater transparency. Transparency is about equipping Canadians with easily accessible information to make the best charitable giving decisions. Our commitment to transparency has led us to increase the amount and quality of information available to Canadians about our work, including our programs, our donations, and our finances. We disclose on our public website details on our approach to executive compensation and we make the top salary known; all our completed audited financial statements are readily and easily found on our website; we give detailed information on the program spending; and there is full consistency between our reporting to the government and our audited statements.
It is our view that the donors have a right to know, and we haven't always done this right. Frankly, it's a challenge to make complex information clear and simple for supporters and the public, but also detailed enough for those who want to know more. This being said, we are pleased to have been recognized with awards for a high level of accountability and transparency.
We thank you for your response to our concerns about the compensation cap. As we indicated in our brief, we question the need for the cap, on the grounds both of future compensation flexibility as well as of our board's governance autonomy. Although our CEO's salary is public and well below market value, we are concerned about an arbitrary, inflexible number that may not reflect future requisite skill sets and that, over time, would not be updated. We are concerned that this will limit the independence and autonomy of charitable boards.
We are also concerned that by focusing on such a narrow aspect of charitable accountability, the bill won't achieve what it's really meant to achieve. In fact, the focus on listing top salaries will undoubtedly ensure that donors become focused on the wrong issue: salaries. The focus should be on impact and achieving the mission of the organization, not on salaries alone.
Additionally, reports have suggested that the sunshine list in Ontario, the public list of all public service employees who earn $100,000 or more—