Founded in 1945, CARE International is comprised of national divisions including CARE Canada, whose head office is in Ottawa. US President Truman sent the first CARE Package in 1946 as part of relief efforts during the aftermath of World War II. Since then, CARE has worked to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. CARE Canada targets women and girls to overcome poverty. CARE highlights that 1.2 billion people live in severe poverty and three billion people don't eat enough nutritious food to stay healthy. Its main programs are emergency response (18 million people reached in F2018), food and farming (33.6 million reached), health and nutrition (2.6 million reached), and saving and earning (14 million reached). About 65% of these people were women and girls. 

CARE Canada’s largest program in F2018 was emergency relief, which makes up 50% of program costs. These programs combat social injustice and poverty due to natural disasters and other crises. The program provides emergency response, aids in long-term recovery, and helps countries prepare for crises. In response to the 2018 earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia, CARE reached nearly 20,000 people with life-sustaining packages of shelter materials, kitchen sets and hygiene kits. In response to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, CARE reached over 192,000 people with emergency response efforts focused on food, water, shelter, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, hygiene and nutrition. 

28% of CARE Canada’s program costs covered food initiatives. These programs help women sell their farm produce to earn money, and work to make healthy food choices more accessible for women. CARE also works with communities to improve farming techniques so crops can withstand extreme weather. In addition, CARE helps women access information, services and support for a range of health topics, including pregnancy or how many children to have. CARE works with governments, doctors and local health departments to make sure women’s health needs are met.  

Care Canada’s saving and earning program sector makes up 13% of program costs. The women’s economic empowerment program establishes village saving and loan groups of about 20 women to help them save and grow their money to provide for themselves in the future.  

CARE Canada is a large charity, receiving $9.5m in Canadian donations in F2018. CARE received an additional $31.9m in international donations. Government funding of $80.7m made up 65% of total revenue. Administrative costs are 8% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 16% of donations. For every dollar donated, 76 cents go to CARE’s programming. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. CARE Canada has $36.4m in funding reserves, which is enough to cover program costs for four months. 

CARE Canada used external fundraisers in F2018. The charity spent $314k to raise $118k from the external fundraiser for a cost of $2.66 per dollar raised, up from $0.55 in F2017. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to CARE Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on May 17, 2019 by Caroline McKenna.