Cancer Research Society is a 3-star charity. It has an average results reporting score. The charity has high overhead spending and is financially transparent. 

Founded in 1945, Cancer Research Society (CRS) funds cancer research. According to the charity, 1 in 2 Canadians will develop cancer during their lifetime. To help fight cancer, CRS gave out $12.0m in research grants and scholarships during F2022. This is an increase from the $9.5m given in F2021. This money was distributed through 181 different grants. 

CRS funds cancer research in three fields: prevention, detection, and treatment. 

In F2022, research on cancer treatment received 65% of Cancer Research Society’s program spending. The charity states that cancer is hard to treat since the cancer cells are always evolving. In F2022, CRS gave two grants away through its UpCycle Drug Repurposing competition. This competition works to find new medications to fight cancer. These grants were worth $250,000 and $500,000 and will be given out over the 2024 to 2026 period. 

During F2022, research on cancer prevention accounted for 19% of program funds. The charity says that preventing cancer is the best way to address the disease. In F2022, Cancer Research Society gave grants to four prevention projects through the Primary Cancer Prevention competition. CRS worked with seven other organizations to give 28 grants worth $5.4 million to prevention research. 

In F2022, research on cancer detection received 16% of Cancer Research Society’s program spending. The charity hopes to create more accurate and less invasive detection methods. It is unclear how many cancer detection projects CRS funded in F2022.

Cancer Research Society is a Major 100 charity, meaning it is one of the country's largest in terms of Canadian donations. It received $30.5m in donations and special events fundraising revenue in F2022. Administrative costs are 4% of total revenue (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 45% of total donations. This results in a total overhead spending of 49%. For every dollar donated, 51 cents go to cancer research. This falls outside Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.  

Cancer Research Society invested more in fundraising than it did in cancer grants in F2022. For the last three years, CRS has spent $39.0m on fundraising relative to $33.5m in cancer research grants. Administrative costs associated with managing research grants are presented as program costs. In F2022, it cost CRS 4 cents to manage each dollar of research grants made that year, which is a strong grant management ratio.  

CRS holds $52.1m in funding reserves, including $230k in endowed funds. The charity does not disclose whether these funds are board endowed or donor endowed. The charity's reserves can cover annual grants spending for 4 years and 2 months based on average program spending.  

CRS reports annual research grant and fellowship commitments in its audited financial statements. The charity has committed to distributing $27.0m (52% of funding reserves) over the next four years: $14.0m in F2023, $11.7m in F2024, $825k in F2025, $200k in F2026. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Cancer Research Society for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.  

Updated on May 31, 2023 by Clive Stevens.