This is what accountability looks like.
We’re serious about managing donor contributions wisely, and we believe you should feel confident when you give to charity. Every dollar you give to United Way East Ontario stays 100% local in Prescott-Russell, Ottawa, Lanark County and Renfrew County, and our communities are measurably stronger because of the work you empower us to do.
But you don’t have to take our word for it.
Independent charity analysts continue to recognize United Way East Ontario as one of Canada’s top-performing charities.
Highly-rated
Canadian charity
In 2025, we received a 4-star rating from Charity Intelligence—placing us among the top charities in Canada. This rating reflects our ongoing commitment to accountability, impact, and transparency.
Top marks from Charity Intelligence
We received an “A” for results reporting and a "✔+" for financial transparency from Charity Intelligence.
Why it matters
Charity Intelligence evaluates more than 800 Canadian charities annually. Their ratings help donors make informed, intelligent giving decisions. We’re proud to be among the highest-rated charities in the country.
For every dollar donated, 80 cents goes directly to our local community initiatives.
This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range. With our crisis responses and government grants, this number is often much higher.
At United Way East Ontario, we classify certain expenses that are often considered administrative costs as impact costs. This includes the human resources behind the research we do to understand where the needs are greatest, the advocacy we embark on to influence policy change, and the evaluation and reporting on investment outcomes that keeps us accountable to our impact.
What about the other 20 cents? These go a long way—they help us raise the next dollar and charge ahead with our mission. This often means utility bills and technology costs, but it’s also about the people. In the non-profit sector, many people are driven by their passion for making a difference, but they also deserve wages that are livable and responsive to economic changes. By offering competitive salaries, benefits, learning opportunities, and more, we can retain talented, driven members of our team who ensure every cent is maximized for good.
As a supporter, you want your donations to have the greatest possible impact, and so do we. Every dollar spent on administrative costs is a dollar invested in our ability to create meaningful, sustainable, and lasting change.
If you want to dig a little deeper, you can see the public T3010 report we file with CRA annually. You can also read our annual reports and financial statements, all of which are updated and publicly shared each spring.
Our impact
We’re not just about dollars and cents. To tackle the toughest problems our communities face, United Way East Ontario uses real-time research, data and stories of lived experiences to understand the challenges before us. We draw the right people to the table to address them, advocate for change, partner to build innovative solutions, and fundraise for support.
We then invest our available resources in smart, strategic ways, to ultimately help the people who depend on us.
Recent news and stories
Take a look at these updates of how we’re putting donations to work.
Helping folks thread their way through tough economic times
United Way East Ontario and our long-time partner of EcoEquitable help women from diverse backgrounds build new skills and confidence through the Sewing for Jobs program.
Portable sensory space in Petawawa providing support for families at a critical time
In collaboration with the Petawawa Military Family Resource Centre (PMFRC), United Way East Ontario is ensuring families with unique needs in Renfrew County feel included in their communities.
A swinging success: Tee Up for Change 2025 Golf Tournament raises $76,070
Tee Up for Change raised $76,070 to support vital local programs, uniting changemakers for a day of golf, fun, and community impact.
Frequently asked questions
United Way East Ontario mobilizes the power of caring communities to address the most serious local issues. Here’s how we do it:
- We are convenors: we bring together the right people and organizations across all sectors to conquer complex challenges.
- We are researchers: we use rigorous data analysis and evidence to inform our decisions and understand the diverse challenges our neighbourhoods face.
- We are advocates: we speak up and advocate for action on issues that directly impact our communities—especially for the most vulnerable, whose voices often go unheard.
- We are fundraisers: whether through fundraising, leveraging grants or securing other resources, United Way seeks to attract support where it is needed most for the thousands who depend on us.
- We are investors: our expert volunteers evaluate and make recommendations to fund programs, collaborations and initiatives that create measurable, lasting change.
To follow the money, our current year’s investments can be found here. Past investments can be found in our annual reports, here.
All salaries at United Way, including senior management, are benchmarked against other Canadian non-profit organizations of similar size and scope. United Way East Ontario is in compliance with the required T3010 regulatory reporting to CRA for its executive compensation, which can be viewed on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website.
Charity Intelligence reviews publicly available information on each of the charities it evaluates. This includes everything from audited financial statements to annual reports, tax filings and websites. Charities are rated based on:
- 35% Results Reporting - a charity’s grade on the quality of its reports, its social results reporting
- 15% Financial Transparency - audited financial statements provided
- 15% Need for Funding - cash and investments relative to what it cost to run charity programs for 1 year, called “program cost coverage”
- 15% Cost Efficiency - 12.5% for fundraising costs and 2.5% for administrative overhead (within a reasonable range of 5%-35% for total overhead)
- 20% Impact - demonstrated social impact per dollar spent (where impact analysis has been completed)
See more about how Charity Intelligence analyzes charities.
At United Way East Ontario, we tackle the tough problems. When you invest in our work, you’re supporting 100% local initiatives that bring about measurable change for our communities’ most vulnerable people.
We do this by working with local agency partners, multiple levels of government, community stakeholders and thousands of donors, to change lives across Prescott-Russell, Ottawa, Lanark County and Renfrew County. Through research, consultation and analysis, we identify where our communities need help the most and where we can achieve the greatest results.
We mobilize the power of our communities to deliver on outcomes that make life measurably better for local people. We make sure at-risk kids are on track to graduate, seniors are less isolated, people with disabilities and newcomers have job skills and employment, people in crisis and with mental health challenges have access to immediate support, youth housing needs are met, and much more.
Still thinking through those burning United Way questions? Contact us to learn more about our work—we would love to hear from you.
We also send out a monthly newsletter to keep donors informed about how we use donations to make a difference. Subscribe.
