UNICEF 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.
Fair
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.
70%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 70 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About UNICEF Canada:
UNICEF Canada is a three-star charity and one of Canada's largest charities. It has a high results reporting grade and is financially transparent. UNICEF Canada has low funding reserves. Although the charity has reasonable overhead spending, it has high fundraising costs and fair demonstrated impact resulting in a rating of three stars.
Founded in 1955, UNICEF Canada is a charity that raises money for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF is a UN agency that aims to protect children’s rights across the globe. UNICEF Canada’s mission is to empower Canadians to invest in the improvement of every child’s future. It does this by providing life-saving humanitarian aid including water, vaccines, and medical equipment to people in vulnerable communities. In F2021, UNICEF Canada spent $53.7m to fund UNICEF’s international programs and spent $5.4m on advocacy and research programs in Canada. UNICEF Canada funds three main program areas: Emergency Response; Education, Water and Sanitation, and Child Protection; and Highest Priority Needs.
Emergency Response programs represented 33% of program costs in F2021. These programs provide humanitarian aid to people in emergency situations. Three of the largest emergency responses in F2021 were the global covid-19 crisis, India covid-19 crisis, and Yemeni crisis. In F2021, UNICEF distributed 23.8 million pieces of covid-19 protective equipment including N95 respirators, gloves, and gowns.
Education, Water and Sanitation, and Child Protection programs represented 25% of program costs in F2021. The programs aim to increase access to clean water and formal education for children everywhere. They also aim to prevent violence towards and exploitation of children in less developed countries. In F2021, the charity reached 110.7m children through its education programs and supplied communities with 221 water pumps.
Highest Priority Needs programs represented 27% of program costs in F2021. These programs provide basic needs to children in the most danger around the world. This program area acts as a flexible fund that allows UNICEF Canada to respond quickly wherever children are the most at risk. In F2021, UNICEF Canada provided 31,678 life-saving survival gifts to a total of 1,769,659 children. The contents of these gifts are chosen by donors and can include items like food rations, vaccines, and learning materials. The remaining 15% of program spending was spent on Health, Nutrition, and HIV/AIDS programs; and Canadian Advocacy and Research programs.
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Results and Impact
In F2021, UNICEF Canada reports that UNICEF provided 34 million people with access to clean water.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of UNICEF Canada’s results and impact.
Charity Intelligence has given UNICEF Canada a Fair impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Fair

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Finances
UNICEF Canada is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities by donations. In F2021, it received $62.0m in Canadian donations, representing a 47% increase from F2020. It also received $12.0m in government funding (15% of total revenue). UNICEF Canada reports that it received $3.3m in F2021, $1.9m in F2020, and $3.7m in F2019 from UNICEF for fundraising activities.
Administrative costs are 4% of total revenue. Fundraising costs are 26% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 30%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 70 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. UNICEF Canada has $14.8m in net funding reserves which can cover annual program costs for around three months.
On its T3010 filing with the CRA, the charity reported paying external fundraisers $6.8m to raise $12.1m. It cost $0.56 to raise a dollar using external fundraisers.
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to UNICEF Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 5th, 2022 by Arjun Kapur.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 3.5% | 3.3% | 5.0% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 26.1% | 23.4% | 37.2% |
Total overhead spending | 29.6% | 26.6% | 42.2% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 25.0% | 29.7% | 49.9% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 62,025 | 48,200 | 32,829 |
International donations | 3,323 | 1,944 | 3,654 |
Government funding | 11,975 | 10,578 | 2,048 |
Business activities (net) | 152 | 268 | 292 |
Other income | 55 | 70 | 188 |
Total revenues | 77,530 | 61,061 | 39,010 |
Program costs | 5,446 | 3,771 | 4,359 |
Grants | 53,733 | 41,908 | 22,000 |
Administrative costs | 2,705 | 1,984 | 1,961 |
Fundraising costs | 16,182 | 11,258 | 12,215 |
Total spending | 78,066 | 58,921 | 40,535 |
Cash flow from operations | (536) | 2,140 | (1,525) |
Capital spending | 189 | 165 | 537 |
Funding reserves | 14,765 | 13,570 | 13,142 |
Note: Ci reported product sales net of expenses in business activities. This affected revenues and expenses by ($31k) in F2020 and ($51k) in F2019. The charity did not report product expenses in F2021. To report on a cash basis, Ci reported amounts received from UNICEF during the year rather than amounts recognized as revenue. This affected total revenues by ($116k) in F2021, ($58k) in F2012, and $92k in F2019. Ci adjusted grants to UNICEF by changes in amounts payable to UNICEF. This affected total expenses by $581k in F2021, ($2.1m) in F2020, and $2.1m in F2019. Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs. Ci did not include the amortization of lease inducement in revenue to report on a cash basis. This affected revenues by ($27k) in F2021, ($27k) in F2020, and ($20k) in F2019.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
1 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
2 |
$160k - $200k |
3 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
0 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2021
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
UNICEF is the world’s leading humanitarian organization for children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work tirelessly to help children survive and have a chance at a better future. UNICEF defends every child’s right to a childhood, so they can grow up safe, healthy, and able to reach their potential. UNICEF is the only organization named in the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as the world’s source of expert assistance and advice. While UNICEF is part of the UN system, we rely entirely on voluntary contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. UNICEF also receives grants from governments around the world who trust us to make a difference for children.
UNICEF Canada is a National Committee of UNICEF, mandated to fundraise and advocate for the well-being of children around the world, and in Canada. UNICEF Canada strives to be the leading advocate for children’s rights with governments at all levels. We also engage children and youth in decision-making, and amplify their voices in policy-making and priority-setting. For the next four years, UNICEF Canada is focused on the following priorities to defend the right to a childhood. Globally, these priorities are the global learning crisis; malnutrition; improving children’s health and survival; supporting children and families in humanitarian situations; and the climate crisis. In Canada, we continue to advocate for family-friendly policies and child-friendly governance, while working to amplify the voices of 3,000 marginalized youth through unique learning and advocacy opportunities.
UNICEF has unique influence with governments. This means that all our initiatives are scalable and many are adopted by host governments to be sustained over many years, creating a multiplier effect for Canadian donor dollars. UNICEF’s core priority areas are education, health, nutrition, protection, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH). Every year, UNICEF helps to vaccinate nearly half the world’s children under age five. Vaccines are one of the simplest, most cost-effective and most successful ways to save children’s lives. UNICEF is also the world’s largest collector of data about every aspect of being a child, making us the global expert on what it takes to protect the right to a childhood.
In 2021, UNICEF provided assistance in 483 humanitarian crises in 153 countries. These included natural disasters, armed conflicts, and nutrition and health emergencies including the COVID-19 pandemic. During emergencies, UNICEF is the world’s lead on WASH and nutrition, and is co-lead on education with a focus on girls’ education. This leadership ensures that emergency response efforts meet stringent standards, and are coordinated to ensure the most effective deployment of resources. We are in countries before, during and after an emergency, giving us the ability to mobilize quickly and achieve impact. UNICEF’s logistics capacity is unrivalled, anchored by the world’s largest humanitarian supplies warehouse (in Copenhagen, Denmark), giving us the ability to quickly deploy life-saving materials around the world.
Charity Contact
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