Fondation Charles-Bruneau is a 2-star charity. It has a B- Results Reporting grade, which is below average. Its overhead spending is 38%, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range. Its funding reserves can cover just under eight years of annual grant costs.  

Founded in 1990, Fondation Charles-Bruneau (FCB) raises funds for four pediatric oncology centres across Québec: CHU de Sainte Justine, CHU de Québec-Université Laval, CIUSS de L’estrie-CHUS (Sherbrooke), and Montreal Children’s Hospital. The foundation’s overall mission is to give all children with cancer the best chances of recovery by financing research and supporting the development of projects in pediatric oncology. The charity reports that more than 2,000 children in Québec are living with cancer and that close to 300 new cases are diagnosed each year.  

In F2025, the charity distributed $4.2m in grants. The 2025 annual report is not available at the time of this update. Ci’s report is based on information on the charity’s website. 55% of grant spending went to CHU de Sainte-Justine ($2.3m), 26% went to Montreal Children’s Hospital ($1.1m), 13% went to CHU de Québec ($550k), and 5% went to CHU de Sherbrook ($220k).  

The charity reports that it has two programs: Research Projects and Research Platforms. Research Projects involves ten projects, including Signature, focused on sequencing the human genome of children suffering from cancer to determine tumour molecular characteristics, and its Therapeutic Innovation Fund (FIT), which supports three research projects to explore innovative treatment outcomes. The charity’s Research Platforms has six research applications, including a platform for gene editing and cell reprogramming and a pediatric cancer biobank, which provides high-quality biological samples for research projects. As of F2024, FCB states that ten clinical monitors of the Charles-Bruneau Cancer Centre at CHU Sainte-Justine received scholarships to pursue training in pediatric hematology-oncology. 

FCB reports that CHU Sainte-Justine Cancer Centre supports close to 1,100 children and 80 researchers and has recorded close to 180,000 outpatient visits and treatments since it opened in 1995. CHU de Québec-Université Laval recorded 3,889 visits to its pediatric chemotherapy centre. Montreal Children’s Hospital received approximately 6,500 visits per year, with 80 new cancer cases diagnosed every year. CHU de Québec-Université Laval recorded 220 chemotherapy treatments administered. It is crucial to note that FCB does not provide dates for this information.  

Fondation Charles-Bruneau provides disclosure on its administrative and fundraising activities. However, it reports additional expenses separately, such as salaries. This means that FCB follows line-item costing, which is not a best practice.  

Fondation Charles-Bruneau received $11.2m in donations and special events revenue in F2025. Administrative costs are 11% of revenue (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 27% of donations. This results in overhead spending of 38%. For every dollar donated, 62 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range.  

The charity has $32.4m in reserve funds, which can cover 788%, or just under eight years of annual program costs.  

In F2025, FCB had an estimated investment return of 6%. Its investment returns have averaged 4% over the past five years.  

Profile updated by Leah Holmes on August 15, 2025. This charity report is an update that has been sent to the charity for review. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.