Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a 3-star charity. The charity has a B Results Reporting grade, which is average. Its overhead spending is 55%, which is outside Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range. The charity’s reserve funds can cover just over eight months of annual program costs. This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable limit.

Founded in 1980, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is an independent, progressive research institute committed to driving social change and helping Canadians to make informed decisions. It publishes reports for policymakers and activists about social, environmental, and economic issues in Canada. As of 2024, the charity had a National Office in Ottawa and five other offices across Canada. The offices are in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and British Columbia. In December of 2024, CCPA announced the closure of the B.C. office, effective February 2025. Each office publishes reports about provincial issues, while the National Office focuses on Canada as a whole. CCPA has a magazine titled The Monitor, focused on progressive policy, and Our School/Our Selves, which centres around issues in the education system.

The charity has several ongoing projects in 2024, including the Alternative Federal Budget, Understanding Precarity in B.C., Corporate Mapping, Growing Gap, Labour Matters, Public Interest Research Project, Seniors Care, Labour Matters Project, and Manitoba Research Alliance Project. The Alternative Federal Budget has been one of the charity’s projects since 1994. CCPA collaborates with experts to create a progressive budget centred around the interests of the public. The 2025 report discusses how to tackle challenges such as income inequality, climate change, the cost of living, racism, and truth and reconciliation.

In its 2024 annual report, the charity highlighted 26 published works across its offices. It stated that its most popular report, Canada’s New Gilded Age, received 21k views. The charity reported that it had 44,000 Facebook followers, 30,200 X followers, and 8,100 Instagram followers. CCPA stated that it had 13,355 media mentions, with 37% via radio, 48% online, 11% in print, and 4% on television. In 2024, the charity reported 408,000 website visits.

The Nova Scotia office reported that it published ten reports, nine articles, and one government submission in 2024. The branch stated that it hosted or spoke at 21 events, including six panels, five community events, and four presentations.

On May 21, 2025, a petition to the British Columbia Supreme Court was filed by individuals linked to the Centre’s B.C. office regarding its closure. The petition is proceeding and its outcome is currently unknown.
 

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ audited financial statements follow line-item costing, which is not a best practice. It reports program, administrative, and fundraising costs, but it does not allocate wages within these categories.

CCPA had donations and special event revenues of $6.0m in 2024, accounting for 96% of total revenues.

In 2024, CCPA spent $4.4m on its programs. In 2024, programs were funded by both donations and a drawdown of the charity's funding reserves. As such, in 2024, program spending exceeded revenues. Program spending was 71% of revenues.

The charity reported administrative costs of $1.6m in 2024, which is 25% of revenues (less investment income). In 2024, the charity reported fundraising costs of $1.8m, which is 29% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 55%. For every dollar donated, 45 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

In 2024, CCPA reported a deficit of $1.5m, compared to a deficit of $52k in 2023. CCPA had reserve funds of $3.1m in 2024, which is a 25% decrease from 2023. These reserves can cover 70%, or over eight months of annual program costs.

Charity Intelligence reports the total compensation reported on CCPA's T3010 filing. The word "salary" is brief and refers to total compensation paid which includes all costs of benefits paid by the charity, including pension plans and employment insurance among other costs.

Profile updated by Leah Holmes on July 8, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming. Edited July 18, 2025 for clarification received from CCPA.