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.
High
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.
71%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 71 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About CODE:
CODE is a 5-star charity with High demonstrated impact. It has an A- results reporting grade, which is above average. While overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range, its reserve funds could cover program costs for three years and four months, which is outside of Ci’s reasonable range.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 10 International Aid Impact Charity.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 100 Rated Charity.
Founded in 1959, CODE (formerly Canadian Organization for Development Through Education) advances education and literacy in poor communities in Africa. CODE’s mission is to enable student learning by increasing access to qualified teachers and locally relevant, high-quality learning materials. The charity reports that more than half of children aged 6–14 in developing countries do not meet minimum reading proficiency levels. In the fiscal year ending March 2025 (F2025), CODE spent $7.8m on its programs.
International Literacy Programs represented 92% 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 F2025, CODE reached a total of 181,639 children through literacy programs and trained 2,338 teachers. The charity also distributed 23,249 locally authored children’s books and worked with 319 schools.
Strategic Projects represented the remaining 8% of program spending. Ci could not determine with certainty what activities this program includes.
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Results and Impact
Teaching and Learning in Fragile Contexts: Grade 2 reading comprehension scores increased from 9% to 23% within 24 months for participating students.
Girls’ Accelerated Learning Initiative (Liberia): Girls in this program are all considered too old for their grade and are at a high risk of dropping out. In F2025, 82% of participating girls were promoted mid-year, putting them on track to advance two grades in one year and stay in school longer.
Reading Ghana Western Region: Grade 5 reading comprehension scores increased by 15% after 16 months, while scores for non-participating students did not improve.
BETTER Project (Mozambique): Teachers who felt confident using student-centered and gender-sensitive teaching methods rose from 37% before the project to 95%.
Teaching and Learning in Fragile Contexts (Sierra Leone): The amount of Grade 2 teachers applying best-practice strategies increased from 40% to 89% halfway through the four-year program.
Charity Intelligence has given CODE a High impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
A Charity Intelligence 2025 Top 10 International Aid Impact Charity.
Impact Rating: High
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Finances
Charity Intelligence consolidated CODE and CODE Foundation's financial statements.
In F2025, CODE received $3.5m in donations (24% of total revenue). It also received $4.7m in government funding, $2.4m in investment income, and $1.1m in fees for its programs.
Program spending was $7.8m, representing 54% of total revenue. In F2025, CODE ran a surplus of $2.6m, which is 18% of its total revenue.
The charity spent $1.1m on administrative costs (9% of revenue excluding investment income) and $679k on fundraising costs (19% of donations). Total overhead was 29%, meaning that for every dollar received, 71 cents are available to go to the cause.
At the end of F2025, CODE had $26.2m in reserve funds (cash and investments). These reserves could cover three years and four months of CODE’s annual program costs, which is outside of Ci’s reasonable range. Ci did not remove externally endowed funds as the funds were endowed by a related party (CODE Incorporated).
CODE uses external fundraisers. In F2025, CODE paid fundraisers $170k to collect $275k. It cost 62 cents to raise a dollar via external fundraisers. It is likely more cost efficient to donate directly to the charity than through external fundraisers.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to CODE for review.
Updated on June 26, 2026 by Ava Anderson.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 9.4% | 28.4% | 14.2% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 19.3% | 31.6% | 21.1% |
| Total overhead spending | 28.6% | 60.0% | 35.3% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 333.6% | 268.8% | 229.6% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 3,523 | 2,721 | 2,576 |
| International donations | 248 | 151 | 135 |
| Government funding | 4,716 | 5,465 | 6,899 |
| Fees for service | 1,116 | 0 | 0 |
| Investment income | 2,355 | 2,587 | 270 |
| Other income | 2,648 | (7) | 57 |
| Total revenues | 14,613 | 10,917 | 9,937 |
| Program costs - International | 7,840 | 8,186 | 9,707 |
| Administrative costs | 1,149 | 2,368 | 1,370 |
| Fundraising costs | 679 | 860 | 545 |
| Other costs | 2,300 | 0 | 0 |
| Total spending | 11,967 | 11,414 | 11,622 |
| Cash flow from operations | 2,646 | (497) | (1,686) |
| Capital spending | 6 | 7 | 16 |
| Funding reserves | 26,155 | 22,004 | 22,292 |
Note: 1. Program Advances: Ci adjusted for the change in program advances to partners, affecting program costs by ($306k) in F2024 and $1.4m in F2023. 2. Consolidation: Ci removed any transactions between the operating charity and the foundation. This was $1.3m in F2025, $1.7m in F2024, and $1.4m F2023. 3. Deferred Revenue: Ci adjusted for deferred revenue in donations and government funding, totalling $1.3m in F2025, $1.5m in F2024, and ($783k) in F2023. 4. Investment Management Fees: Ci included investment management fees within investment income.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
5 |
$120k - $160k |
3 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
2 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comments added on August 20, 2025:
Thank you for your interest in CODE and our mission!
To assist you in making informed philanthropic decisions, we’d like to provide additional context to the Charity Intelligence profile you reviewed.
CODE’s audited financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2024, were conducted by Delloite LLP. This report indicates 11.7 million in total expenditures, of which 9.2 million was spent on programs, meaning 78 cents of every dollar went to the cause. CODE’s audited financial statements and annual reports are available at www.code.ngo/accountability .
Please note that the CODE Foundation and CODE are distinct legal entities, but Charity Intelligence consolidates their financial data for their analysis. To view CODE’s audited financial statements and annual impact report, please visit www.code.ngo/accountability.
The assets held by the CODE Foundation primarily stem from CODE Inc., a for-profit organization founded in 1987 that focused on voter registration in the Global South. Over nearly 30 years, CODE Inc. contributed millions of dollars to CODE to support its charitable projects. The CODE Foundation was established in 1992 to manage these assets in trust, ensuring long-term support for CODE’s mission.
Each year, the CODE Foundation provides a grant to CODE, which helps cover fundraising and administration expenses. This arrangement allows more of every donor dollar to go directly toward our projects. Additionally, the CODE Foundation funds strategic operational investments, including efforts to enhance CODE’s fundraising capabilities.
To build long-term sustainable funding in support of our mission, CODE is currently investing in monthly donor acquisition campaigns, executed through a third-party vendor. This strategy requires an upfront expenditure but delivers substantial long-term returns, which are critical to the development and delivery of our charitable programming.
We invite you to visit www.code.ngo to learn more about our work and to contact us should you have any further questions.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 1.800.661.2633