321 Chapel Street
Ottawa, ON K1N 7Z2
CEO: Janice Ciavaglia
Board Chair: Bruce Montador

Charitable Reg. #:11883 4878 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 5/5]

✔+

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.

High

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.

40%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 40 cents are available for programs.



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OVERVIEW

About CODE:

CODE is a 5-star charity with High Demonstrated Impact. It has an A+ Results Reporting grade, which is well above average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 40 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci's reasonable range. 

Founded in 1959, CODE (formerly Canadian Organization for Development Through Education) advances education and literacy in poor communities in Africa. CODE’s mission is to enable student learning by increasing access to qualified teachers and locally relevant, high-quality learning materials. The charity reports that 88% of children aged six to 14 in Sub-Saharan Africa do not meet minimum literacy levels. It also reports that a child whose mother is literate is 50% more likely to live past the age of five. In F2024, CODE spent $8.2m on its programs: Literacy (its core program) and Research Initiatives.

A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 10 International Aid Impact Charity.

A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity.

In F2024, Literacy programs represented 99% of program spending. CODE works with local organizations to distribute culturally relevant books and learning materials to kids. It also provides teachers and librarians with training workshops to improve the quality of education in schools. In F2024, CODE reached a total of 474,964 children through literacy programs and trained 12,805 teachers. The charity also distributed 391,827 locally authored children’s books and worked with 1,834 schools.

The Research Initiatives program represented the remaining 1% of program spending. This program gives $10k grants to researchers from Africa to conduct studies on literacy in their own countries. From Ci's calculation of program spending, CODE gave out 12 grants in F2024.

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Results and Impact

Transforming Girls’ Education Project: CODE’s work in Sierra Leone increased the number of girls writing primary exams from 4,569 in 2019 to 6,251 in 2022. The pass rate for this exam increased from 7% to 10%, a 42% increase. 87% of female teachers reported improving their classroom teaching practice.  

Reading Ghana Western: After being in CODE schools, 15% more students demonstrated reading comprehension after 15 months. The rate of comprehension in CODE schools is 31%, compared to the 18% average of comparison schools.

Girls’ Accelerated Learning Initiative: Girls in this program are all considered too old for their grade and are at a high risk of dropping out. At the end of the year, 81% of girls were promoted two grades in a single academic year, 18% were promoted one grade, and less than 1% dropped out.

Charity Intelligence has given CODE a High impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.

A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 10 International Aid Impact Charity.

Impact Rating: High

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Finances

Charity Intelligence consolidated CODE and CODE Foundation's financial statements. 

CODE received $2.7m in donations in F2024 and $5.5m in government funding, representing 50% of revenue. The charity also received $2.6m in investment income.

CODE spent $8.2m on its programs, which is 75% of revenue. The charity recorded a deficit of $497k in F2024.

CODE spent $860k on fundraising, which is 32% of donations, and spent $2.4m on administrative costs, which is 29% of revenue (excluding investment income). Total overhead spending is 60%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 40 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range.

CODE has $22.0m in reserve funds (cash and investments). the charity's reserves can cover 269%, or 2 years and 8 months of its annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range. Ci did not remove externally endowed funds as the funds were endowed by a related party (CODE Incorporated).

CODE uses external fundraisers. In F2024, CODE paid fundraisers $338k to collect $276k. It costs $1.22 to raise a dollar via external fundraisers. It is likely more cost efficient to donate directly to the charity than through external fundraisers.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to CODE for review.

Updated on May 15, 2025 by Liam Chapleau.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending March
202420232022
Administrative costs as % of revenues 28.4%14.2%17.6%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 31.6%21.1%20.5%
Total overhead spending 60.0%35.3%38.0%
Program cost coverage (%) 268.8%229.6%347.3%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s
202420232022
Donations 2,7212,5763,102
International donations 151135109
Goods in kind 000
Government funding 5,4656,8994,974
Investment income 2,5872701,802
Other income (7)5791
Total revenues 10,9179,93710,077
Program costs - International 8,1869,7076,793
Program costs - Canada 000
Administrative costs 2,3681,3701,453
Fundraising costs 860545634
Total spending 11,41411,6228,881
Cash flow from operations (497)(1,686)1,196
Capital spending 71678
Funding reserves 22,00422,29223,593

Note: 1. Program Advances: Ci adjusted for the change in program advances to partners, affecting program costs by ($306k) in F2024, $1.4m in F2023, and ($531k) in F2022. 2. Consolidation: Ci removed any transactions between the operating charity and the foundation. This was $1.7m in F2024, $1.4m F2023, and $1.3m F2022. 3. Deferred Revenue: Ci adjusted for deferred revenue in donations and government funding, totalling $1.5m in F2024, ($783k) in F2023, and $213k in F2022. 4. Investment Management Fees: Ci included investment management fees within investment income.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 19

Avg. compensation: $95,906

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
0
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
4
$80k - $120k
5
$40k - $80k
1
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

Thank you for your interest in CODE and our mission!

To assist you in making informed philanthropic decisions, we’d like to provide additional context to the Charity Intelligence profile you reviewed.

It’s important to note that the CODE Foundation and CODE are distinct legal entities, but Charity Intelligence consolidates their financial data for their analysis.

The assets held by the CODE Foundation primarily stem from CODE Inc., a for-profit organization founded in 1987 that focuses on voter registration in the Global South. Over nearly 30 years, CODE Inc. contributed millions of dollars to CODE. The CODE Foundation was established in 1992 to manage these assets in trust, ensuring long-term support for CODE’s mission.

Each year, the CODE Foundation provides a grant to CODE, which helps cover fundraising and communication expenses. This arrangement allows more of every donor dollar to go directly toward our programs. Additionally, CODE Foundation funds strategic operational investments, including efforts to enhance CODE’s fundraising capabilities.

To build long-term sustainable funding in support of our mission, CODE is currently investing in monthly donor acquisition campaigns, executed through a third-party vendor. This strategy requires an upfront expenditure but delivers substantial long-term returns, which are critical to the development and delivery of our programming.

We invite you to visit www.code.ngo to learn more about our important work and to contact us should you have any further questions. 

Updated August 15, 2024

Charity Contact

Website: www.codecan.org
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 613-232-3569

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001