Plan International Canada
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.
Average
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.
58%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 58 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Plan International Canada:
Plan International Canada is a 3-star charity with Average demonstrated impact. It has excellent disclosure, with an A+ grade for results reporting. Its funding reserves are within Ci’s reasonable range and can cover three months of annual program costs. For every dollar donated to Plan International Canada, 58 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range.
Plan International Canada (Plan Canada) is the Canadian branch and fundraising arm of Plan International that was founded in 1968. The global charity works to advance children's rights and equality for girls. Plan Canada reports that 130 million girls are not in primary or secondary school. It also reports that 243 million women and girls experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner in the past year. Every two seconds, a girl under age 18 is married and 4.1 million girls are still at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation.
Plan Canada’s programs include Health, Education, Humanitarian Response and Resilience, Youth Leadership and Economic Empowerment, and Protection from Violence. In F2025, Plan Canada spent $222.9m on its programs, with 1,328 active projects in 82 countries. The charity reached 15.8 million people, including 7.9 million children and 4.1 million girls. On average, it cost Plan Canada $17 for every person it reached in F2025.
Health was the charity's largest program in F2025 and represented 66% of program spending ($147.1m). The charity delivered health education through schools, youth groups, and community programs. It also worked to improve sexual and reproductive health knowledge and increase access to healthcare for girls and young women. Plan Canada ran 40 health projects across Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. In F2025, 13.6 million people, including 7.4 million women and girls, received healthcare and health information through Plan Canada's programs. The charity also distributed six million insecticide-treated mosquito nets in Guinea, Liberia, and Senegal.
Education represented 13% of program costs ($29.0m) in F2025. Plan Canada helps ensure children, particularly girls, have access to quality and inclusive education. The charity ran 15 education projects across four regions. In F2025, 361,115 children and adults, including 178,685 girls, received education. Through its RISING project, Plan Canada worked across 400 schools and helped create 330 community savings and loan associations to help families afford school costs.
Humanitarian Response and Resilience accounted for $24.5m or 11% of F2025 program spending. The charity ran 74 projects that provided emergency aid and recovery support to communities affected by conflict, disasters, and food insecurity. In F2025, 1.5 million people, including 441,855 girls, received humanitarian assistance. Plan Canada provided 8,573 metric tonnes of food to 675,000 people and delivered emergency aid in crises including those in Gaza, Sudan, Cameroon, and Myanmar.
Youth Leadership and Economic Empowerment represented 7% of program costs ($15.6m) in F2025. The charity helps young people build leadership skills and supports women in earning an income through its 13 projects. In F2025, 10,642 Canadian youths, including 9,649 girls, participated in advocacy and leadership programs. The charity also supported women entrepreneurs through business training and grants in countries including Ghana and Egypt.
Protection from Violence received 3% of program spending in F2025 ($6.7m). Plan Canada works to protect children and women from abuse, exploitation, child marriage, and other forms of violence. The charity ran six projects, reaching 165,461 people, including 60,780 girls and 84,546 women in F2025. The charity also helped survivors access legal, medical, and counselling services.
Plan Canada's audited financial statements report that 63% of donations come through its child sponsorship model. This model works by pooling donor funds to support community-wide development projects rather than giving cash directly to a single child. This is an indirect sponsorship model. In F2025, 103,115 Canadians sponsored 129,025 children.
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Results and Impact
Through the Health program, 6,000 children under five were saved from malaria through the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets in F2025. Tuberculosis awareness sessions in Senegal led to the referral of 13,960 presumptive cases and 2,210 confirmed diagnoses, supporting earlier detection and treatment. In Bangladesh, sexual and reproductive health knowledge also improved, with understanding rising from 46% to 57%, among 47,085 girls and young women.
Education initiatives in F2025 led to 110,086 out-of-school children in Uganda returning to school through the RISING project, nearly half of whom were girls. School retention remained strong at 85% after the first year. Plan Canada reports that every additional year of schooling can boost a girl’s future earnings by 10-20%, helping to break cycles of poverty. It also reports that completing secondary education reduces a girl’s risk of child marriage by up to 64%.
Under Humanitarian Response and Resilience, 675,000 people across four countries received 8,573 metric tons of life-saving food assistance in F2025. This equates to an average of 13 kg of food per person.
Through Youth Leadership and Economic Empowerment, 21,000 women across eight countries gained financial independence through savings groups. More than 67% of women in Ghana reported equal sharing of household roles by the end of the WISE project in F2025 as well.
As a result of the Protection from Violence program initiatives, early marriage rates fell to 4% in Benin (from 15% in F2018) and 8% in Cameroon (from 24%), preventing an estimated 2,200 child marriages and 2,900 early pregnancies.
Charity Intelligence has given Plan Canada an impact rating of Average based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent. While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of the charity’s results and impact.
Impact Rating: Average
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Finances
Plan Canada’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing which is a best practice. This means its expenses are clearly defined between program, administrative, and fundraising categories.
The charity had total revenues of $309.2m in F2025. It received $87.5m in Canadian donations, representing 28% of revenue, and $137.9m in international donations, or 45% of revenue. Government funding was $41.5m, accounting for 13% of revenue. It also received $30.6m in donated goods in kind, primarily food and anti-malarial bed nets.
Plan Canada spent $222.9m on its programs, which is 72% of its revenue. The charity recorded a surplus of $7.3m in F2025.
Administrative costs were $16.7m, representing 5% of revenue (excluding investment income). Plan Canada spent $31.7m on fundraising, equal to 36% of donations. Total overhead spending was 42%. For every dollar donated to Plan International Canada, 58 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range.
Plan Canada uses external fundraisers, as reported on its T3010 filing with the CRA. In F2025, the charity paid the external fundraisers $13.1m to collect $37.2m in donations. This equates to a cost of 35 cents to raise one dollar using external fundraisers.
The charity held $68.4m in reserve funds (cash and investments) in F2025, including $3.9m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Plan Canada’s reserves can cover three months of annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
This is a charity update that has been sent to Plan International Canada by Neela Jalilian on June 22, 2026.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 5.5% | 6.2% | 7.0% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 36.2% | 29.9% | 29.4% |
| Total overhead spending | 41.7% | 36.0% | 36.4% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 29.0% | 28.8% | 33.1% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 87,526 | 92,265 | 100,472 |
| International donations | 137,888 | 81,393 | 101,376 |
| Goods in kind | 30,610 | 29,451 | 22,515 |
| Government funding | 41,461 | 50,533 | 56,088 |
| Investment income | 4,026 | 4,370 | 3,032 |
| Other income | 7,664 | (3,294) | (18,946) |
| Total revenues | 309,175 | 254,718 | 264,537 |
| Program costs - International | 203,485 | 170,833 | 189,657 |
| Program costs - Canada | 19,451 | 22,370 | 21,339 |
| Donated goods exp | 30,610 | 29,451 | 22,515 |
| Administrative costs | 16,669 | 15,415 | 18,288 |
| Fundraising costs | 31,706 | 27,547 | 29,542 |
| Total spending | 301,921 | 265,616 | 281,341 |
| Cash flow from operations | 7,254 | (10,898) | (16,804) |
| Capital spending | 141 | 27 | 67 |
| Funding reserves | 68,423 | 59,464 | 73,651 |
Note: 1. Deferred Donations: Ci adjusted for deferred donations, which was ($4.5m) in F2025, ($5.6m) in F2024, and ($2.0m) in F2023. 2. Receivable from Plan International: Ci adjusted for the change in amount receivable from Plan International within international donations. This affected total revenues by $5.3m in F2025, ($3.8m) in F2024, and $3.3m in F2023. 3. Deferred Grants: Ci adjusted for deferred grants, which was $8.1m in F2025, ($3.1m) in F2024, and ($18.7m) in F2023. 4. Goods in Kind Receivable: Ci adjusted for goods in kind receivable. This affected revenue and expenses by ($8.9m) in F2025, $8.8m in F2024, and ($6.5m) in F2023. 5. Endowment Fund Contributions: Ci included endowment fund contributions in donations, which was $67k in F2025, $21k in F2024, and $73k in F2023. 6. Fair Value Adjustments: Ci included fair value changes of investments reported below the line in investment income, affecting revenue by $1.5m in F2025, $1.4m in F2024, and $71k in F2023. 7. Investments in Subsidiaries: Ci included gains (losses) on investments in subsidiaries in investment income, which was $154k in F2025, ($78k) in F2024, and ($45k) in F2023. 8. Amortization of Deferred Lease Inducements: Ci included the amortization of deferred lease inducements in other revenue, which was ($430k) in F2025, ($242k) in F2024, and ($242k) in F2023. 9. Amortization: Ci removed amortization from admin, fundraising, and international program costs on a pro-rata basis.
Salary Information
$350k + |
2 |
$300k - $350k |
2 |
$250k - $300k |
6 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Plan International Canada provided these comments on August 11, 2026.
Summary
In our 2025 fiscal year (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025), 84 cents of every dollar we spent went directly to programming for children and their communities around the world.
We believe donors deserve the full picture and exactly how their generosity is put to work. Charity Intelligence's figure of 58 cents doesn't reflect the true complexity of how we're funded and how those funds reach the children and communities we serve.
Their methodology looks at a narrower slice of our financial picture, which can create a misleading impression of our impact and efficiency.
We encourage anyone with questions to review our full, independently audited financial statements at plancanada.ca/AnnualReport.
Correct cents to the cause
What's the discrepancy?
In fiscal year 2025 (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025), 84 cents of every dollar we spent went directly to programs supporting children and their communities, including healthcare, food security, psychological support, education, climate resilience, and economic opportunity.
The remaining 16 cents supported the fundraising and operations that keep those programs running efficiently and responsibly. This is a meaningfully different picture than the one Charity Intelligence presents.
Why the difference?
Plan International Canada shares Charity Intelligence's goal of helping donors give with confidence. Where we differ is methodology. Their approach considers only a subset of our financial picture, which can understate how efficiently and effectively donor dollars are used.
Plan International Canada calculates our cents-to-cause ratio by comparing program expenditures with total expenditures.
Charity Intelligence's reported overhead figure combines two separate measures: $31.7 million in fundraising expenses as a percentage of certain fundraising revenue with $16.7 million in administrative expenses as a percentage of total revenue. Because these percentages are calculated against different financial bases, the resulting figure (58 cents to the cause) is not a direct measure of how we spent each dollar.
We respect the important role charity evaluators play in helping Canadians make informed giving decisions. We also believe donors deserve the context needed to compare figures fairly. Based on Plan International Canada’s independently audited financial statements, $262.5 million of our $310.9 million in total expenditures supported programs in fiscal 2025, equal to 84 cents of every dollar spent.
What's being left out?
Charity Intelligence's calculation excludes revenue sources like federal grants and gifts in kind, both of which are essential to how our programs are funded and delivered.
Leaving these out understates the full value of every dollar donated to our cause.
Where can I see the breakdown of your funding?
Our detailed, independently audited financial statements are available at plancanada.ca/AnnualReport.
We believe in giving donors direct access to this information, not just our summary of it.
Other areas worth clarifying
Demonstrated impact
In fiscal year 2025, our audited program services total expenditure was $262.5 million.
Charity Intelligence rates our program impact as "Average," a conclusion based on a limited set of examples rather than the full breadth of our work.
We are proud that Charity Intelligence has given us an A+ for Results Reporting, its highest grade for public disclosure and one it awards to relatively few of the charities it rates.
We see this as recognition of our ongoing commitment to open, thorough reporting, so donors always know how their support is making a difference.
Child sponsorship
In fiscal year 2025, 18% of our total revenue came through our child sponsorship program, compared to the 63% cited by Charity Intelligence.
Charity Intelligence arrives at a much higher percentage because it compares child sponsorship revenue with a narrower fundraising revenue base rather than Plan International Canada's total revenue. The two percentages therefore measure sponsorship against different totals and are not directly comparable.
Our commitment to transparency and accountability
Transparency isn't just a value we hold; it's built into how we operate. Every year, our financial statements are independently audited by PwC, and we meet all federal reporting requirements set by the Canada Revenue Agency.
We're also proud to be accredited under Imagine Canada's Standards Program, a rigorous, independent review of our governance and operating practices.
This accreditation gives donors added assurance that their contributions are managed responsibly.
We invite you to explore our latest annual report, Future-Ready: Girls Create Tomorrow – Today, to see the full story of how supporters like you are creating lasting change with children in more than 80 countries around the world.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 416-920-1654