The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund is a 1-star charity with a lower than average results reporting score. Its overhead costs are within Ci’s reasonable range, and it has reserve funds to cover program costs for six years and nine months.

Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to improve the lives of Indigenous people through awareness, education and connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

The charity has six programs: Legacy Schools Program, Legacy Spaces Program, Artist Ambassador Program, Youth Ambassador Program, ReconciliACTIONS and Oshki Wupoowane. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending by program.

Through its Legacy Schools Program, the charity provides schools and clubs with educational resources to encourage awareness and reconciliation. On signing up for the program, educators receive an educational toolkit. Existing schools receive a booster kit. In F2022, 3,320 toolkits and 2,698 booster kits were distributed. In F2022, there were 5,139 active schools or clubs in the program.

Legacy Spaces are places created by corporations, the government or other organizations to spread awareness about Indigenous history and reconciliation. In F2022, there were 61 Legacy Spaces across 29 cities in seven provinces or territories.

The Artist Ambassador Program hosts events in Legacy Schools. Through music, art and stories, the artists in the program teach students about reconciliation. In F2022, the charity hosted 40 virtual and five in-person events with 31 artists.

The Youth Ambassador Program provides youth with the opportunity to gain work experience and leadership skills to support reconciliation. In F2022, 50 Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth participated in the program.

ReconciliACTIONS are any actions towards reconciliation. The charity encourages individuals, communities, workplaces and schools to participate in these actions.

Oshki Wupoowane, or the Blanket Fund, is a $1.5m fund. This fund will support Indigenous cultural, educational and artistic activities. It has two types of grants: Reconciliation Action Grants ($1,500 to $15,000) and Capacity Building Grants (up to $175,000 per year).

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund received $5.4m in Canadian donations in F2022. It also received $133k in government funding, which was 2% of revenues.

Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (less investment income) and reported fundraising costs are 0% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 8%. For every dollar donated, 92 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund has reserve funds of $12.1m. The charity can cover almost six years and nine months of its annual program costs with its existing reserves.

In its most recent T3010 filing, the charity only reported nine of the ten highest paid salaries. In addition to its salaries, The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund paid $214k in professional and consulting fees in F2022 ($246k in F2021 and $1.1m in F2020).

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 26, 2023 by Kiara Andrade.