Child Development Institute is a 4-star charity. It is financially transparent and has overhead costs within Ci's reasonable range but has a below-average results reporting grade.

Founded in 2004, Child Development Institute (CDI) was formed by merging the Crèche and Earlscourt Child and Family Centres in Toronto. CDI is a mental health agency that offers programs for children under 18 and their families. The majority of CDI programs are available at no cost to children and families living in Toronto. According to the charity, 14% of Canadian children experience mental health issues.

By treating mental illness early, CDI hopes the children can avoid negative social, economic, physical, and mental outcomes in adulthood. It runs four main programs: Early Intervention Services, Family Violence Services, Learning Disabilities & Mental Health, and Healthy Child Development. The charity does not provide a spending breakdown by program. In F2022, it served 2,229 children and families.

Early Intervention Services: This program provides mental health services such as counseling and school programs for children under 12 who face social-emotional or behavioral problems. In F2022, the program served 465 children. Early Intervention Services also encompasses one of CDI’s largest sub-programs, SNAP. SNAP teaches kids and parents to stop and think when angry, improving self-control and emotional regulation.

Family Violence Services: This program helps women and children who have experienced family violence or other trauma. It offers group programs and shelter services for those in need. In F2022, the charity helped 207 women and children in this program.

Learning Disabilities and Mental Health: Through this program, CDI offers family-centered clinical services to children and youth aged 8-18 with diagnosed learning disabilities complicated by mental health issues. Services include community education, individual therapy, summer residential, and martial arts programs. In F2022, the charity served 317 children in this program.

Healthy Child Development: Child Development Institute operates five Early Learning Centres under this program. The Centres provide young children with a positive learning and play-based environment. In F2022, the charity delivered 847 virtual sessions through childcare consultation and provided 47 workshops for 603 participants.

As of April 1, 2021, the CDI operating charity and the CDI Foundation officially merged into one combined entity – Child Development Institute, a federal charity. This analysis presents the consolidated statements for F2022 and F2021 and consolidates the statements of CDI and CDI Foundation in F2020.

In F2022, Child Development Institute received donations of $2.8m. CDI also received $15.1m in government funding, representing 70% of total revenue. Revenue from fees of services was $3.5m in F2022, representing 16% of total revenue. In F2022, CDI sold property located at 161 Madison Ave., Toronto for proceeds of $4.6m. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues, and fundraising costs are 2% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 6%. For every dollar donated, 94 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

CDI has $17.8m in reserve funds. The charity could cover around 11 months of its annual program costs with its reserves.

Updated on July 14, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.