Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society is a 5-star charity. It has a results reporting grade of A-, which is above average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 82 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci's reasonable range. 

Founded in 1963, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society works to protect Canada’s land, freshwater, and oceans. Its main goal is to help Canada protect at least 25% of its land and oceans by 2025 and 30% by 2030. CPAWS states that at least 30 to 70% of land and ocean systems need protection to sustain vital ecosystems. CPAWS consists of a national office in Ottawa and 13 regional chapters. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society runs two main programs: Conservation and Conservation Awareness.

A Charity Intelligence 2023 Top 100 Rated Charity

Conservation: Conservation programs made up 90% of program spending in F2022. CPAWS works with government agencies to protect Canadian wildlife, parks and oceans, and prevent climate change. In 2023 CPAWS updated its conservation assessment report of all provinces and territories. Within the report, the charity provided recommendations on how each region can improve. In F2022 CPAWS assessed Canada’s Marine Protected Areas (MPA). The charity reported that half the area Canada counted toward its marine protection targets is defined as weakly protected, with under 10% being strongly protected. CPAWS reported that 147 species are to be designated as critical habitat while only 93 of these species are protected in a national protected area.

In F2022, the federal government budgeted $3.2 billion over five years to protect nature. The charity states that $977 million will be spent to protect the ocean, $2.3 billion will be spent to protect one million km² of land and freshwater. This will increase Canada’s protected area by 10%. Nova Scotia established 61 new protected areas in F2022: six wilderness areas, six nature reserves, and 49 provincial parks. Quebec pledged to protect 30% of its land and water by 2030 in F2022 due to CPAWS Quebec (SNAP) advocacy. BC announced an $8e million investment in provincial parks through to F2025, of which $36m is planned for operations, while $47 million is planned for capital investments.

Awareness: Awareness programs made up 10% of program spending in F2022. CPAWS reports it appeared in 1,180 news stories, 7,170 social mentions, and reached 983m people in F2022.

Ci consolidated the financial statements of CPAWS and its foundation for the following financial analysis. As such, Ci excluded fund transfers between the two charities.  

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society received $5.9m in Canadian donations and $3.1m in international donations in F2022. The charity received $2.1m in government funding, representing 15% of total revenue. Administrative costs are 8% of total revenue (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 10% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 18%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 82 cents are available to go to the cause.

CPAWS has $15.9m in reserve funds, of which $3.5m is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, CPAWS can cover 148%, or one year and a half of its annual program costs.

According to its annual filing with the Charities Directorate, CPAWS paid external fundraisers $93k in F2022. It does not report how much these external fundraisers raised.

The charity paid $8k, or less than 0.2% of salaries, in professional fees in F2022.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.  

Updated on June 19, 2023 by Liam Chapleau.