Historica Canada is a 1-star charity. It is not financially transparent and has an F results reporting grade, which is below average, which means that it provides very little information on its programs. For every dollar donated to the charity, 27 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside of Ci's reasonable range. Before you give, read Charity Intelligence's report. 

Founded in 2009, after the Historica Foundation of Canada and the Dominion Institute merged to form the now Historica Canada (HC). Historica Canada aims to increase awareness of Canadian history and citizenship through four programs: Citizenship Challenge, Heritage Minute, Memory Project, and Canadian Encyclopedia. The charity does not provide a breakdown of its spending on its programs.

Citizenship Challenge: The Citizenship Challenge is a mock citizenship exam to test Canadian knowledge. The Citizenship Challenge reached an audience of more than 1.3 million people since its founding.

Heritage Minutes: Heritage minutes is a collection of one-minute films that re-enact stories about important people or events in Canadian history. Historica Canada currently has 98 episodes available, including one new addition in 2023.

Memory Project: Memory project arranges veterans and Canadian Forces members to share their stories of military service at school and community events across Canada. The charity reports its speakers reached more than three million since 2001.

The Canadian Encyclopedia: The Canadian Encyclopedia is an online database that provides historical information on Canada. The charity reports it is the only established national encyclopedia of its kind in the world. Historica Canada states it offers the largest collection of authored, accurate, and updated articles on Canada’s history and culture. To date, the Encyclopedia’s collection contains more than 24,000 articles by 5,000 authors.

Historica Canada received $2.3m in donations in F2022 and $3.5m in government funding. Government funding represents 60% of total revenue. Historica Canada’s administrative costs are 36% of revenues (excluding investment income) and its fundraising costs are 37% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 73%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 27 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside of Ci’s reasonable range.

Historica Canada has $23.8m in reserve funds. With its reserve funds, it can cover 770%, or seven years and eight months of its annual program costs.

Historica Canada paid $625k to raise $1.2m through external fundraisers’ telemarketing campaigns in F2022. In other words, for every dollar fundraised, 53 cents were paid to external fundraisers. For donors who focus on cents to the cause, it is cheaper to donate directly through the charity’s website.

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

Updated on June 15, 2023 by Liam Chapleau