CODE is a 5-star charity that is financially transparent. It has an above-average results reporting grade of A+ and overhead spending of 28% which is within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has been rated High for demonstrated impact per dollar spent.

Founded in 1959, CODE (Canadian Organization for Development Through Education) is a charity that advances education and literacy in poor communities in Africa. CODE’s mission is to enable student learning by increasing their access to qualified educators and locally relevant, high quality learning materials. The charity reports that 88% of children aged six to 14 in Sub-Saharan Africa do not meet minimum literacy levels. It also reports that a child whose mother is literate is 50% more likely to live past the age of five. In F2023, CODE spent $10.4m on its programs: Literacy and Research Initiatives.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

In F2023, the Literacy programs were 95% of program spending. CODE works with local organizations to distribute culturally relevant books and learning materials to kids. It also provides teachers and librarians with training workshops to improve the quality of education in schools. In F2023, CODE reached a total of 506,157 children through literacy programs and trained 10,385 teachers. The charity also distributed 550,960 locally authored children’s books and worked with 2,130 schools. Through the scholarship initiative, CODE gave scholarships to 100 determined young women to pursue higher education.

The Research Initiatives program was the remaining 5% of program spending. This program gives $10k grants to researchers from Africa to conduct studies on literacy in their own countries. CODE has distributed grants to 21 researchers since 2017, with five grant recipients in F2023.

CODE had donations of $2.7m in F2023. The charity also received $6.9m in government funding representing 69% of total revenues.

Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 21% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 28%, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

CODE has $22.3m in reserve funds. These reserve funds are the charity’s cash and investments. In these reserve funds, $8.3m are endowed by donors. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity has 1 year and 5 months of annual program costs covered by its current reserves.

In F2023, CODE paid external fundraisers $155k. These external fundraisers raised $67k in donations. This means it costs CODE $2.30 to raise $1 using external fundraisers.  

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

Updated on July 16, 2024, by Lily Ferguson.