How we create our cause funds

Updated: April 2024

CanadaHelps is a public foundation that enables charitable donations for and engagement with any and all registered charities in Canada. We rely on the charity registration data provided by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to list charities on www.canadahelps.org and provide access to our fundraising software. As a foundation supporting all charities in Canada, we are cause-neutral and enable donations for every registered charity, regardless of mission: our cause is every cause.

CanadaHelps operates Cause Funds and UniteforChange.com to inspire charitable giving and generosity, democratize donations, deepen public understanding of charitable work, and provide convenient ways for Canadians to support causes driven by the charitable sector. We developed this platform to reach those who are looking to engage with charitable causes in new ways, and especially see this as a platform to engage younger people.

In deciding which funds to create, we inform our decisions based on:

• Offering a wide variety of funds that enable the population of Canadians to donate easily to a variety of causes they care about;
• Whether there are a sufficient number of Canadian charities working on the cause; and
• Careful consideration of emerging news and social concerns, and the expected desire of people to give in response.

We ensure all charities are registered with CRA and rely on descriptive data provided by charities to CanadaHelps to add charities to a Cause Fund. We are transparent about which charities are included in a fund so Canadians can make informed decisions.

CanadaHelps respects that charities, their representatives, and Canadians hold diverse points of views and recognize that not all funds will appeal to everyone. However, because Cause Funds group charities into a fund together to enable simple giving, we exercise discretion where needed on some topics that may be deeply divisive and likely to negatively impact donations to the Cause Fund and/or create revenue and reputational risks for CanadaHelps.

In addition, in certain circumstances, we may remove a charity from a Cause Fund if we become aware of and can easily and objectively verify: the charity has lost its registered charity status; misrepresentation or public revelation of wrongdoing of a representative or the organization; significant negative media coverage or other significant issues that may impact the reputation of CanadaHelps or other charities in the fund. Irrespective of the above, charities always have the right to request that their organization not be included in a Cause Fund.

A few other things you should know:

• CanadaHelps may change this statement at any time. If we do so, we’ll update it here.
• If a charity loses its status with CRA, we are no longer able to send any donations to it. In this case, we will remove the charity from any Cause Funds it is in. We check this before sending any money to the charity.
• Donations made to a Cause Fund are split equally amongst all the charities in the fund.
• Donations made to a Cause Fund on UniteforChange.com are normally disbursed to the charities in the fund quarterly, as long as the amount donated to the fund that quarter is at least $10 per charity. If not, we’ll roll the fund over to the next quarter. The money raised by Cause Funds are always disbursed within 6 months, regardless of the amount raised. We do this to reduce administrative work on CanadaHelps and the charity.
• CanadaHelps does not recommend or endorse any charities and, as such, inclusion in any cause fund(s), or removal from any Cause Fund(s), is neither an endorsement nor a criticism of any particular charity. Inclusion in any Cause Fund(s) does not imply a legal relationship between CanadaHelps and the registered charity and Unite for Change/CanadaHelps can remove a charity from any cause fund(s) without prior notice.
• Donors who object to the inclusion of one or more charities in a cause fund should avoid contributing to the cause fund – such donors can contribute to an individual charity on the CanadaHelps platform or a number of different charities on that platform.
• We regularly review the Cause Funds and determine whether the fund should continue or whether we want to launch new funds. We consider many things in these decisions, including our overall fund options, donor interest in a particular cause, changing funding needs, or CanadaHelps’ resources.
• If donors have set up a monthly gift to a Cause Fund that is subsequently discontinued, the donor’s monthly gift will be cancelled and the donor will be notified.