Centraide Outaouais is a 3-star charity. It is financially transparent and has a C+ results reporting grade, which is below average. Its overhead spending is 40%, which is not within Ci’s reasonable range. Its reserve funds can cover program costs for one year, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 1979, Centraide Outaouais (COU) runs programs and grants funds to local charities, businesses, and organizations that address complex social issues, such as homelessness, social isolation and inequality, in the Outaouais region. COU reports that the Outaouais region experienced the largest increase in people experiencing visible homelessness in Quebec, with 706 people recorded in 2022. This is an increase of 268% compared to 2018.

COU spent $2.4m on its programs and grants in the fiscal year ending June 2024 (F2024) as well as $165k in donor-designated grants. COU grants to four areas: Supporting Youth Success, Ensuring the Essentials, Breaking Social Isolation, and Building Environments Unifying Life. In F2024, COU supported 88 organizations.

Supporting Youth Success got 35% ($824k) of program and grant spending in F2024. COU grants to organizations that support youth leadership and education and help families in crisis. It also runs a Back-to-School program that provides new school supplies for students at lower costs. In F2024, its Back-to-School program had 33 partners that helped nearly 2,340 children gain school supplies.

Ensuring the Essentials got 32% ($756k) of program and grant spending in F2024. COU grants to organizations that provide emergency shelters, food, and employment opportunities for individuals facing financial difficulties. It also runs a Snowsuit Fund that provides snowsuits at lower costs to individuals in the Gatineau, Hull, and Aylmer sectors. In F2024, its Snowsuit Fund had 1,671 registrations and distributed 2,010 clothing items. COU’s partners of the Snowsuit Fund worked 2,000 hours. The charity also helped fund one Devcore Supervised Camp project for homeless people which had 48 tents.

Breaking Social Isolation got 26% ($625k) of program and grant spending in F2024. COU grants to organizations that aim to end senior isolation, promote the inclusion of people with disabilities, and support immigrants and refugees in crisis. Ci found little information on this spending area.

Building Environments Unifying Life got 7% ($176k) of program and grant spending in F2024. COU aims to help disadvantaged neighbourhoods and support community organizations. It also runs an Organization Capacity-Building program that aims to progress community development. Activities within this program include job training, support groups, and individual psychosocial support. Ci found little information on this spending area.

Centraide Outaouais’ financial statements follow activity-based costing, a financial reporting best practice. This means the charity provides a breakdown of program, administrative, and fundraising costs.

COU received $4.0m in donations and special event fundraising in F2024, which is 93% of total revenue. This is a 21% decrease from the $5.1m in donations and special event fundraising in F2023. COU spent $2.4m on its programs and grants in F2024, which is 55% of revenue (excluding donor-designated grants). In F2024, it recorded a surplus of $157k (4% of revenue).

COU spent $949k on fundraising costs, which is 23% of donations. It spent $688k on administrative costs, which is 16% of revenue. COU has total overhead spending of 40%. For every dollar donated to COU, 60 cents are available to go to the cause. This is not within Ci’s reasonable range of 65-95.

COU had net lottery revenue of $160k after expenses of $160k. This means that for every dollar given towards the lottery, 50 cents went to the charity.

COU has $2.5m in reserve funds (cash and investments). It has donor endowments of $5k. Excluding donor-endowed funds, its reserve funds can cover 103% or one year of its annual program and grant costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Charity Intelligence analyzed COU’s French audited financial statements to the best of our abilities, but we recognize that detailed financial information is beyond our linguistic expertise. Charity Intelligence's analysis may contain material misclassifications. 

This report is an update that has been sent to Centraide Outaouais for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 20^th, 2025, by Leah DeFrancesco.