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.
My anchor
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 ten 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 the Global South do not meet minimum reading proficiency levels. In the fiscal year ending March 2025 (F2025), CODE spent $6.8m 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.
My anchor
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 share 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
My anchor
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 (32% of total revenue), $2.4m in investment income, and $1.1m in fees for its programs.
Program spending was $6.8m, representing 47% of total revenue. In F2025, CODE ran a surplus of $3.6m, which is 25% 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 ten 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 (%) | 382.5% | 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 | 14,606 | 10,917 | 9,937 |
| Program costs - International | 6,838 | 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 | 10,965 | 11,414 | 11,622 |
| Cash flow from operations | 3,641 | (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 $nil in F2025, ($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
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comments added on August 28, 2026:
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about CODE and our work to help children develop the literacy skills they need to learn, thrive and shape their own futures. We are deeply grateful to the donors and partners who make this work possible, and we believe strongly in being transparent about our results, our finances and how we steward the resources entrusted to us.
We are proud to be recognized as a 5-star charity with High demonstrated impact and as one of Charity Intelligence’s 2025 Top 10 International Aid Impact Charities.
We would also like to clarify an error in the compensation information currently reflected in this profile. CODE identified an error in its 2025 T3010 filing that incorrectly reported the number of employees within certain compensation ranges. CODE has one employee, not five, in the $160,000–$200,000 compensation range. We are taking steps to correct this information with the Canada Revenue Agency and will advise Charity Intelligence once complete.
We would also like to provide additional context regarding CODE’s financial structure and investments in fundraising.
The CODE Foundation and CODE are distinct legal entities, although Charity Intelligence consolidates their financial data for the purposes of its analysis. CODE’s audited financial statements and annual impact reports are available at www.code.ngo/accountability.
The assets held by the CODE Foundation primarily stem from CODE Inc., a for-profit organization founded in 1987 that became a leading logistics and procurement agency specializing in materials required for voter registration and elections in the Global South. Over nearly 30 years, CODE Inc. contributed millions of dollars to CODE to support its charitable work. The CODE Foundation was established in 1992 to manage these assets and provide long-term support for CODE’s mission.
Each year, the CODE Foundation provides a grant to CODE that helps cover fundraising and administration expenses and supports strategic investments in the organization’s long-term sustainability. This structure helps ensure that more donor contributions can be directed toward CODE’s charitable programming. One such investment is CODE’s work to build a larger and more sustainable base of individual donors, including through monthly donor acquisition campaigns delivered by a third-party vendor. Donor acquisition requires significant upfront investment, with the return realized over the longer term as donors continue their support.
These investments are particularly important in the current global funding environment. Public funding for international aid and development is shrinking significantly, making it increasingly important for organizations like CODE to diversify revenue and build dependable sources of private philanthropic support. Strengthening CODE’s individual donor base is therefore a deliberate long-term investment in our resilience and, ultimately, in our ability to sustain high-impact literacy and education programming for children and communities.
We invite you to visit www.code.ngo/impact2025 to learn more about our work, results and impact.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 1.800.661.2633