CARE Canada

About CARE Canada:

CARE Canada is a Canadian branch of CARE International, which has a mission to save lives, end poverty, and achieve social justice globally. CARE focuses its efforts on women and girls because it believes social justice must be achieved to end poverty. Of the 1.2 billion people globally living in absolute poverty, the majority are female. By 2020, CARE aims to help 30 million people improve access to and control over economic resources. CARE’s strategy to overcome poverty include providing humanitarian assistance to prepare for and react to disasters, empowering women to improve equality, and using innovative ways to create lasting economic and social improvements.

In F2017, CARE International reached almost 63 million people in 96 countries. CARE Canada worked in 44 of those countries. CARE’s largest program is emergency relief, representing 54% of program costs, and reached 14 million people in F2017. The program provides immediate emergency response, aids in long-term recovery, and helps communities prepare for emergencies. In its Myanmar Refugee Crisis project, CARE provided food, shelter, water, and hygiene products and addressed gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health issues for 192,000 people. CARE has provided basic necessities to Syrian refugees affected by the Syrian conflict, including 2.7 million people in Syria, 478,530 people in Jordan, 295,000 people in Lebanon, 65,000 people in Turkey, and 18,500 people in Egypt.

In F2017, CARE Canada spent 23% of program costs on its Health Food and Nutrition program, which aims to improve access to food for poor people. One in nine people suffer from severe malnourishment, mainly due to poverty and the inability to purchase food, climate change that reduces yield, and food waste and losses. CARE helps families by increasing their income potential through loans and training in its economic empowerment programs, improving their farming techniques to be more resilient to climate change, and teaching ways to reduce food waste. CARE reached 18 million people through its Health Food and Nutrition program in F2017.

Women economic empowerment programs, which work to include and give women decision-making power in economic activities, was 12% of program costs in F2017. CARE addresses economic issues by setting up savings accounts for community members, providing training and small loans to people so they can start a business, advocating for safe working conditions and adequate wages, engaging men and boys in female empowerment efforts to eliminate gender stereotypes, and advocating against discriminatory laws, policies, and social norms. CARE reached 2.6 million people through these programs in F2017.

In F2017, CARE Canada spent 5% of program costs toward 33.6 million people on sexual, reproductive, and maternal health issues, 5% toward 1.2 million people to address gender-based violence issues, and 5% on other programs. 

Impact and Review: CARE ran a nutrition program for children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) between August 2017 and February 2018 for those affected by the Myanmar Refugee Crisis. Over 180,000 children were screened, and 11,181 children with SAM and 48,034 children with MAM were identified and referred to appropriate centers. CARE reported a 92.6% malnutrition cure rate.

Financial Review:

CARE Canada’s financials include its Canadian operations and the six Country Offices (Chad, Cuba, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) for which it has responsibility. CARE Canada is a Large charity with donations of $10.1m in F2017. It also recorded $31m from international governments and NGOs, which Ci reported in government funding. In F2017, CARE reported $94m from CARE International Members, up 67% from F2016. CARE Canada’s administrative costs were 4% of revenues. Its fundraising costs were 25% of donations, up from 15% in F2016 because fundraising figures increased by 84%. For every dollar donated, 71 cents go to the cause, which falls within Ci's reasonable range. CARE Canada’s funding reserves of $42m only cover 26% of annual program costs, showing a funding need.

CARE Canada used external fundraisers in F2017. The charity paid $405k to raise $741k from the external fundraiser for a cost of $0.55 per dollar raised, up from a cost of $0.29 per dollar raised in F2016. As a result, donating directly to CARE Canada is more cost efficient.

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

Updated on June 20, 2018 by Joeyanne Cheung.