Canadian Constitution Foundation

6025 - 12 St SE, Suite 215
Calgary, AB T2H 2K1
Executive Director: Joanna Baron
Board Chair: Andy Crooks

Charitable Reg. #:86617 6654 RR0001

STAR RATING

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

[Charity Rating: 4/5]

✔+

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.

B+

RESULTS REPORTING

Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

n/r

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.

89%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 89 cents are available for programs.



My anchor

OVERVIEW

About Canadian Constitution Foundation:

The Canadian Constitution Foundation is a 4-star rated charity. It has above average results reporting, and its overhead costs are within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Founded in 2002, Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) aims to defend the constitutional freedoms of all Canadians. It focuses on legal cases that involve individual freedoms, rights to liberty, and rights to equal opportunity as guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. CCF also promotes civic engagement and awareness, encouraging Canadians to be informed about their rights.

Canadian Constitution Foundation's main program is litigation. Its other programs are focused on education and communication. The charity does not provide a program spending breakdown.

Through its litigation program, CCF brings cases to court in defense of constitutional freedoms. Its cases focus on six core topics: Covid-19, Healthcare, Free Expression, Individual Liberty, Property Rights, and Rule of Law. For Covid-19, in F2022, CCF officially challenged the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act. In the same year, in Kassian et al v. British Columbia, CCF filed a petition with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, arguing that the province’s vaccine passport was unconstitutional. For healthcare, in July 2022 the final verdict for Cambie v. MSCB et al. was released. In this, CCF argued against the BC law that limits BC residents’ access to private healthcare.

Through its education and communication programs, CCF aims to inform Canadians on their constitutional rights and freedoms. As part of its education program, the charity runs Primary Documents, an online database to archive Canada’s core constitutional documents. As of F2022 it has uploaded more than 4,100 documents. The charity also runs the Runnymede Society, a national student membership society which encourages discussions about constitutionalism, liberty, and the rule of law. As of F2022, the society has 19 active student chapters around the country.

As part of its communication program, CCF runs a YouTube series named Freedom Updates which shares and analyses the latest news in the field. CCF reports that the number of YouTube subscribers went from 1,270 to 33,603 in F2022. The charity also reports that it received more than 1,600 media and article mentions in the current fiscal year.

My anchor

Results and Impact

In F2022, Canadian Constitution Foundation chose to highlight four victories from its litigation program. Among which is the case Council of Canadians with Disabilities v. British Columbia (Attorney General). In this court case, CCF argued in favor of more flexible public interest standing regulations, allowing organizations to represent Canadians who cannot defend themselves in court. Another victory for F2022 was for the court case Ward v. Quebec Human Rights Tribunal. CCF successfully defended a comedian who was fined $42,000 by the Quebec Human Rights Commission for making an offensive joke.

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Canadian Constitution Foundation’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).

My anchor

Finances

Canadian Constitution Foundation received $3.7m in donations in F2022. This included $35k ($81k in F2021, $155k in F2020) from related parties such as the charity’s board of directors and organizations with shared directors. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 7% of donations, excluding donations from related parties. This results in total overhead spending of 11%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 89 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

CCF has $4.6m in reserve funds. These reserve funds are CCF’s cash and investments. The charity can cover 255% or around 30 months of annual program costs with its existing reserves.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Canadian Constitution Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 19, 2023 by Alessandra Castino.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending March
202220212020
Administrative costs as % of revenues 4.1%7.3%11.5%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 6.6%6.7%2.1%
Total overhead spending 10.8%14.0%13.6%
Program cost coverage (%) 255.2%175.2%72.0%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $s
202220212020
Donations 3,718,1093,614,6263,281,972
Government funding 38,354184,6530
Investment income (29,807)(479)23
Other income 0013,931
Total revenues 3,726,6563,798,8003,295,926
Program costs 1,821,7282,034,8772,634,246
Administrative costs 155,513277,717378,397
Fundraising costs 244,379237,78765,365
Total spending 2,221,6202,550,3813,078,008
Cash flow from operations 1,505,0361,248,419217,918
Capital spending 01,6123,387
Funding reserves 4,649,1703,565,3231,896,159

Note: Ci gathered program, administrative, and fundraising costs from the charity’s T3010 filings with the CRA. The charity recorded Loss on Sale of Marketable Securities as an expense. Ci removed this line from expenses and included it as a reduction of investment income. Ci removed amortization from program, administrative and fundraising costs on a pro-rata basis.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 6

Avg. compensation: $116,198

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
1
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
0
$80k - $120k
3
$40k - $80k
1
< $40k
1

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2022

My anchor

Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

Charity Contact

Website: www.theccf.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 1-888-695-9105

Print