About the Charity Insights Canada Project (CICP)

The Charity Insights Canada Project (CICP) is a national research initiative dedicated to improving understanding of Canada’s charitable sector through timely, accessible, and high-quality data.

Founded by Professor Paloma Raggo, the CICP is led by a multidisciplinary team based at Carleton University. The project works to ensure that policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public have access to accurate, real-time information about the issues, trends, and pressures shaping the charitable sector across Canada.

Through weekly surveys of registered charities, regular public reports, and an online data and learning hub, the CICP provides ongoing insight into how organizations are experiencing and responding to changing funding environments, workforce challenges, policy landscapes, and community needs.

Our Goals

To inform

By regularly surveying a national sample of registered charities, the CICP collects real-time data on critical trends, challenges, and emerging issues facing the sector.

To build

By developing a lasting, flexible, and sustainable data infrastructure, the CICP promotes broad access to sector-wide information and supports data literacy and understanding among sector leaders and decision-makers.

To strengthen

By equipping policymakers and practitioners with evidence, the CICP supports data-informed policy development, organizational decision-making, and strategic planning grounded in sector realities.

Our Approach

The CICP takes a systems-oriented and purposeful approach to closing long-standing information gaps about Canada’s charitable sector. We combine regular data collection with analysis, public reporting, policy and research briefs, and capacity-building initiatives designed to make data usable, not just available.

A core principle of the project is that sector data should be free, accessible, and relevant to those working closest to communities.

Funding and Partnerships

The Charity Insights Canada Project is made possible through a $3.4 million multi-year investment from a consortium of philanthropic partners, including the Muttart Foundation, the Lawson Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, the Vancouver Foundation, and an anonymous donor.

This collaborative funding model is unique in the Canadian context and reflects a shared commitment to strengthening the charitable sector through sustained, evidence-based insight. Together, these partners demonstrate long-term leadership and a collective belief in the value of accessible data for communities across the country.