Oxfam Canada
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
A-
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Low
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
67%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 67 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About Oxfam Canada:
Founded in 1963, Oxfam Canada (OXC) is an affiliate of the international Oxfam Confederation, an international charity based in Oxford, UK. It works with over 100 partners in local communities to tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality in the Americas, Africa and Asia. OXC believes that ending global poverty begins with promoting women's rights and that three key actions must be taken: humanitarian response, long-term development and advocating for social change.
The charity spent $20.1m on international programs and program management in F2018, making up 92% of program costs. The charity’s work includes emergency response and tackling long-term problems with education, health, poverty, gender inequality, and water and sanitation. In F2018, Oxfam Canada worked directly with 22.3 million people in 67 countries, 53% of whom were women. Oxfam provided life-saving emergency assistance to 17.3 million people in F2018, including those affected by flooding and landslides across large areas of Bangladesh, India and Nepal, hurricanes in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and earthquakes in central Mexico. OXC also campaigns to raise public awareness of causes of poverty and encourages people to act. The charity spent $1.6m on education and public affairs programming in Canada in F2018, making up 8% of program costs.
Rohingya Refugee Crisis: Oxfam Canada estimates that Cox’s Bazar is one of the densest areas of refugees worldwide with 860,000 Rohingya refugees, 688,000 of whom have arrived since August 2017. Over 70% of newly arrived refugees do not have shelter and only 50% have access to safe drinking water. In F2018, OXC reached 260,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh by providing clean drinking water, hygiene and sanitation facilities, shelter materials and other essentials.
Yemen Crisis Work: OXC has worked in Yemen, the poorest country in the Middle East, for over 30 years, with the goal of improving water and sanitation services as well as the livelihoods of poor people. Nearly 75% of the population is in need of emergency aid. Since July 2015, OXC provided aid to 3.0 million people at the frontlines, including cash payments to over 270,000 people to help with food purchases.
Syria Refugee Crisis: OXC estimates that in Syria, 13.5 million people are in urgent humanitarian need, 7 million people do not have enough food and 60% of the population needs healthcare. OXC has assisted 2 million people with clean drinking water, vouchers for hygiene supplies, as well as cash and other necessities like blankets and stoves for the winter months.
South Sudan Crisis: Since rebel forces erupted in 2013, and as of September 2018, there are 1.85 million internally displaced people in South Sudan and 2.4 million who have fled to other countries. OXC reports that 4.5 million people are facing extreme hunger and 7.0 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. In OXC’s most recent update, it reports that as of 2017, it has reached over 600,000 people with emergency and longer-term support.
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Results and Impact
Charity Intelligence has given Oxfam Canada a Low impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
In response to the Rohingya refugee crisis, OXC provided life-saving aid to 260,000 people in F2018, including setting up 443 shallow tube wells and 87 deep tube wells to provide clean water, a fecal management plant to manage waste for 100,000 people, and distributing food vouchers for 100,000 people.
Since 2012, in Yemen, Oxfam restored water systems in 41 rural communities in western Yemen, providing over 125,000 vulnerable people with safe drinking water.
The charity reports that as of September 2017, it provided safe clean water, cash assistance, and sanitation to 1.08 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somaliland.
Oxfam campaigns for equality both internationally and here in Canada. The charity advocates for feminist approaches to aid and foreign policy, producing research and reporting on field experience of these approaches in action. After years of advocating for Canadian aid to incorporate this approach and address the gender inequalities that keep women and girls in poverty, in 2018 the government launched a new Feminist International Assistance Policy. The policy increases funding for gender equality programs including women’s rights organizations that drive change at the community level.
Recent news: In February 2018, Oxfam was rocked by international news coverage of its Haiti team paying for sex in 2011. Oxfam Canada denied any Canadian funding was involved in this Haiti scandal. Global Affairs Canada provided funding to Oxfam Canada for Haiti WASH operations. There were subsequent whistleblower allegations of sex-for-aid in Oxfam’s East Africa operations in 2016. This includes aid into Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia. This has raised safeguarding issues across all international aid charities.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article
https://www.independent.co.uk/news
In its 2018 annual report, Oxfam Canada acknowledged Oxfam’s “flawed response” to the scandal. Oxfam has since launched a 10-Point Action Plan to strengthen its policies, including establishing an Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Culture and Accountability, more whistleblower hotlines, a stronger reference system, and a centralized database to publicly disclose information on its safeguarding investigations every six months.
Impact Rating: Low

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Finances
Oxfam Canada is a Large charity, receiving donations of $13.8m in F2018. In addition, the charity received $13.1m in government funding. Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 26% of donations, excluding international donations (which includes amounts contributed by other Oxfam entities). For every dollar donated, 67 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. OXC holds funding reserves of $8.4m, which can cover 5 months of annual program costs.
OXC used external fundraisers in F2018. The charity paid $648k to raise $315k from the external fundraiser for a cost of $2.06 per dollar raised.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Oxfam Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 30, 2019 by Caroline McKenna.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 7.3% | 7.4% | 8.1% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 26.0% | 21.6% | 15.8% |
Total overhead spending | 33.3% | 29.0% | 23.9% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 38.5% | 46.0% | 28.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 9,981 | 11,096 | 12,744 |
International donations | 3,790 | 3,752 | 3,001 |
Government funding | 13,117 | 7,825 | 9,087 |
Investment income | 49 | 29 | 68 |
Other income | 101 | 110 | 119 |
Total revenues | 27,038 | 22,812 | 25,019 |
Program costs - International | 20,148 | 15,157 | 15,947 |
Program costs - Canada | 1,751 | 953 | 1,209 |
Administrative costs | 1,972 | 1,692 | 2,020 |
Fundraising costs | 2,594 | 2,395 | 2,010 |
Total spending | 26,466 | 20,197 | 21,187 |
Cash flow from operations | 572 | 2,615 | 3,833 |
Capital spending | 230 | 148 | 0 |
Funding reserves | 8,421 | 7,415 | 4,884 |
Note: Ci adjusted for changes in deferred revenues, affecting donations by ($193k) in F2018, $1.6m in F2017, and $2.7m in F2016. Ci reported international donations based on the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA. Ci also reported grants from other Oxfam affiliates in international donations. Ci removed amortization of capital assets from program, fundraising, and administrative costs on a pro-rata basis.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
7 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2018
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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