Finding real-time data on Canada’s charitable sector is impossible. This major research project will change that.

Carleton University faculty hope to start surveying 1,000 charities across Canada by mid-October 2022.

Why It Matters

There is plenty of data about the charitable sector, but it is rarely published in real-time – making it impossible for policymakers, funders and charity leaders to understand crucial trends.

Researchers from Carleton University will begin surveying hundreds of charities across Canada on a weekly basis for the next five years, a massive project to better understand who works in the sector and the challenges they face.

Paloma Raggo, assistant professor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration, is leading the CharityInsights Canada Project – Project Canada Perspectives des Organismes de Bienfaisance (CICP-PCPOB). She said the project was inspired by the need for swift responses by policymakers during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to challenges — and a lack of quickly-available sector data on charitable workforces, diversity within the sector, and human resources challenges.

“We have a lot of information about the sector everywhere,” Raggo told Future of Good in an interview, “but this information is rarely in an

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