2020 Top 100-Rated Charities
This 2020 Giving Season is going to be tough. With Covid, and the economic shutdown to flatten the curve, Canadians report they are giving 37% less to charities. This is at the upper end of Imagine Canada’s April forecast that giving could drop by $4.2 billion to $6.2 billion. This decline in giving puts frontline charities under enormous financial stress. At the same time, many frontline charities are facing an unprecedented surge in demand for their services. One thinks immediately of food banks, crisis lines, and shelters, and particularly charities that rely on donations rather than government contracts.
On top of the Covid pandemic, the WE Charity scandal rattled donors' confidence and was another blow to giving. One lesson Canadians took to heart from the WE Charity scandal was the need to do more homework on the charities they support: 60% said they will do more homework according to Angus Reid survey.
Charity Intelligence’s Top 100 list is just this necessary homework. These are charities we have analysed and vetted so you can give with greater confidence. Out of all of Canada’s largest charities, these Top 100 highest-rated charities are the elite.
Most giving today is based on a charity’s name recognition supported by massive fundraising campaigns, often costing tens of millions of dollars. Charity Intelligence takes a different tack, looking behind the gloss, at a charity’s results, costs, and impact. Using data analytics, we find again and again top results at Canadian charities that are typically less well known. Charity Intelligence’s Top 100 list does include some big household names – Doctors Without Borders, World Vision, Terry Fox Foundation – yet many top-rated charities are undiscovered gems.
Canadians say they prefer to give to small charities. Included in this 2020 list are 11 small charities. Charity Intelligence defines a 'small charity as having less than $1 million in donations.
This year, with Covid, what we can afford to give matters more than ever. At this critical time with lower donations, our giving can’t be about us feeling good – our giving must do the most good possible to help those in need. Educated and informed donors are changing their giving to donate to different charities. We hope you will consider these top charities.
Charity Intelligence 2020 Top 100 Rated Charities
Charities are listed alphabetically by sector
From this short-list of Top 100 Rated Charities, Charity Intelligence is preparing its lists of Top 10 Impact Charities that we will release in early November 2019. This is Canadian donors' favourite post on our website.
If you find Charity Intelligence’s research useful in your giving, please consider donating to support our work. Being entirely funded by donors like you maintains our independence and objectivity to help Canadians be informed in their giving. Canadians donate over $17 billion each year. This giving could achieve tremendous results. We hope Charity Intelligence's research helps Canadians give better.
About Charity Intelligence
Charity Intelligence’s website has reports on over 800 Canadian charities. These charities receive more than $9.7 billion in donations each year, representing an estimated 57% of total Canadian giving. Charity Intelligence’s reports give donors the facts and figures to answer their questions about how charities spend money and the results they achieve. 77% of donors say that reading a Charity Intelligence report increased their confidence in giving and, with greater confidence, they gave 32% more money.
In 2016, Statistics Canada reported that nearly a third of Canadians weren’t giving as much to charities as they could because they had unanswered questions. We hope that by answering donors’ questions with independent reports, we can help Canadian donors give intelligently.
At the same time, some Canadian charities are striving to improve their star ratings. These charities are becoming more transparent and accountable. This makes Canada’s charity sector better for all.
Legal disclaimer:
The information in this report was prepared by Charity Intelligence Canada and its independent analysts from publicly-available information. Charity Intelligence and its analysts have made endeavours to ensure that the data in this report is accurate and complete but accepts no liability.
The views and opinions expressed are to inform donors in matters of public interest. Views and opinions are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, organization, individual or anyone or anything. Any dispute arising from your use of this website or viewing the material hereon shall be governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, without regard to any conflict of law provisions.