Canadian Women's Foundation is a 4-star charity that is financially transparent. It has a B results reporting grade which is average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 69 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Founded in 1991, Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF) promotes gender equality. The charity grants funds to feminist organizations and shares information about gender injustice. CWF states women earn 84 cents for every dollar earned by men. It also reports that more than 40% of women have experienced a form of intimate partner violence.

Canadian Women’s Foundation runs six main programs, listed below. Charity Intelligence estimates CWF spent $15.0m on its programs and grants in its fiscal year ending March 2024 (F2024).

The Out of Poverty program received 33% ($5.0m) of program spending in F2024. CWF funds programs that help women and gender-diverse people improve their financial situations. The charity provides entrepreneurship and job skills training. It also helps match women with mentors in well-paying fields. CWF reports that the Partnering for Feminist Entrepreneurship project helped over 2,000 female and gender-diverse entrepreneurs.

The Out of Violence program received 33% ($5.0m) of program spending in F2024. The charity states that every six days, a woman is killed by her intimate partner. CWF funds programs that prevent and intervene in situations of gender-based violence. CWF reports that over 75,000 people signed up for its Signal for Help gender-based violence email learning program.

The Gender Justice: Northern Strategy program received 19% ($2.8m) of program spending in F2024. CWF states that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than other women in Canada. The charity funds programs to improve gender equality for Indigenous communities in northern Canada.

The Into Confidence: Girls’ Fund program received 8% ($1.1m) of program spending in F2024. CWF states that the percentage of girls who say they are confident drops from 36% to 14% between grades six and ten. The charity funds programs that help build confidence in girls and gender-diverse young people.

Community Needs Grants received 4% ($595k) of program spending in F2024. CWF states these grants are used to address poverty, violence, confidence, and leadership.

The Systems Change program received 4% ($525k) of program spending in F2024. CWF funds policy development programs to improve gender equality.

CWF reports it funded 776 programs in F2024. The charity reports it affected 1,172,621 people’s lives.

Canadian Women’s Foundation’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a best practice. This means its expenses are clearly defined between program, administrative, and fundraising categories.

In F2024 CWF received $5.3m in donations. It also received $7.1m in government funding, an 85% decrease from F2023 ($47.5m). This decrease is largely due to CWF receiving $38.3m less from the government in F2024 compared to F2023 for its Shock-proofing Community project. Government funding is 47% of total revenue.

Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (excluding investment income). Fundraising costs are 23% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 31%. For every dollar donated, 69 cents are available to go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

In F2024 CWF spent $15.0m on its programs and grants, which is 98% of its revenue. This is a 78% decrease in program and grant spending from F2023 ($67.3m). In F2024 it had a deficit of $1.9m.

CWF has $22.1m in gross reserve funds and $155k in interest-bearing debts. This results in net reserve funds (cash and investments) of $21.9m. Excluding $237k in donor-endowed funds, the net funding reserves can cover 145%, or one year and five months of program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent for review to Canadian Women’s Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on June 11, 2025, by Grady Simpson.