Inter Pares
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
C
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
Low
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
58%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 58 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Inter Pares:
Inter Pares is a 1-star charity. It is financially transparent and has a C results reporting grade, which is below average. Its overhead spending is 42%, which is not within Ci’s reasonable range. Its reserve funds can cover program costs for eight months, which is within Ci’s reasonable range.
Founded in 1975, Inter Pares (IP) helps international communities confront injustice and fight for equality. It raises funds to support international organizations, advocates for human rights in government, and brings together activists to facilitate learning. IP states that forms of oppression against women include physical and sexual violence, political exclusion, denial of educational opportunities and economic marginalization. It also states that as national economies become more integrated into the international economic system, wealth is concentrated in fewer hands and people are less able to sustain themselves.
IP spent $11.9m on its programs in 2024. Its programs are divided into six areas: Food Sovereignty, Women’s Rights and Gender Justice, Peace and Democracy, Health, Economic Justice, and Migration. The charity did not provide a spending breakdown on its programs.
Food Sovereignty programs aim to support small farmers and promote food systems to feed communities. In 2024, IP held an agricultural learning exchange that invited seven feminist women who engaged with farmers, activists and policymakers to advocate for gender equality and sustainable agriculture practices.
Women’s Rights and Gender Justice programs focus on initiatives that give women autonomy and freedom, and advocate against violence. In 2024, IP helped fund 27 public drama performances that promoted sexual and reproductive health and rights in Bangladesh. Over 125,000 people in Guatemala have used IP’s feminist media outlet as their main source of news.
Peace and Democracy programs focus on initiatives that promote justice, equality and create international connections to promote democracy. In 2024, IP funded five workshops for Indigenous organizations on trauma-informed approaches to media reporting. These workshops supported 61 journalists and editors. The charity also sent three open letters to the Canadian government to urge stronger action for individuals in Burma facing various human rights violations.
Health programs aim to provide health services to communities with limited access. These programs also focus on health research and educating the public. In 2024, IP helped fund mental health services to 326 women and girls in Sudan.
Economic Justice programs work to enforce regulations that prevent human rights abuses and environmental damage in various industries. These programs also fight for tax justice and fair international trade agreements. Ci found little data on this program area.
Migration programs aim to promote human rights for refugees, internally displaced people, migrant workers, and cross-border migrants. Ci found little data on this program area.
In 2024, IP collaborated with more than 70 social justice organizations across 17 countries.
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Results and Impact
In 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered the verdict in the case Beatriz et al. v. El Salvador that the state of El Salvador violated Beatriz’s rights when they denied her an abortion. Inter Pares' funded partners accompanied Beatriz’s case since 2013 and the charity has worked to decriminalize abortion since 2006.
While Ci highlights this key result, it may not completely represent IP’s results and impact.
Ci has rated IP as Low for its demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low
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Finances
Inter Pares’ audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a financial reporting best practice. This means its expenses are clearly defined between program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
IP received $1.4m in Canadian donations in 2024, which is 12% of total revenue. It got $9.0m in government funding, which is 75% of total revenue. This is a 23% increase from the $7.3m of government funding in 2023. It spent $11.9m on its programs in 2024, which is 99% of revenue; $4.4m went to Canadian programs and $7.5m went to international programs. IP recorded a deficit of $914k in 2024.
IP spent $542k on fundraising costs, which is 38% of donations. It spent $443k on administrative costs, which is 4% of revenue. IP has total overhead spending of 42%. For every dollar donated to IP, 58 cents are available to go to the cause. This is not within Ci’s reasonable range of 65-95.
IP has $8.3m in reserve funds (cash and investments). IP can cover 69%, or eight months of its annual program costs with its reserve funds. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
This report is an update that has been sent to Inter Pares for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 22, 2025, by Leah DeFrancesco.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 3.8% | 2.4% | 3.0% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 38.4% | 35.9% | 37.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 42.2% | 38.3% | 40.7% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 69.2% | 81.1% | 117.4% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,410 | 1,658 | 1,494 |
| International donations | 447 | 251 | 345 |
| Government funding | 8,953 | 7,278 | 6,004 |
| Investment income | 164 | 125 | 68 |
| Other income | 1,025 | 2,819 | 1,346 |
| Total revenues | 11,999 | 12,131 | 9,257 |
| Program costs - International | 7,510 | 6,055 | 4,898 |
| Program costs - Canada | 4,419 | 5,257 | 3,133 |
| Administrative costs | 443 | 292 | 271 |
| Fundraising costs | 542 | 595 | 564 |
| Total spending | 12,913 | 12,198 | 8,866 |
| Cash flow from operations | (914) | (68) | 391 |
| Capital spending | 87 | 54 | 11 |
| Funding reserves | 8,260 | 9,179 | 9,430 |
Note: 1. Ci adjusted for program advances, affecting expenses by $1.9m in 2024, $3.1m in 2023, and $1.0m in 2022. 2. Ci adjusted for deferred revenue, affecting revenue by $1.0m in 2024, $2.8m in 2023, and $1.3m in 2022. 3. Ci removed amortization pro-rata from program, administrative and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
10 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comment added to the 2021 profile by Inter Pares on July 27, 2021.
These are all interesting and useful questions to ask a charity in regards to its programs, if using a results-based-management approach to social change. These are also all standard questions posed to charities by large funders including the Government of Canada, from whom Inter Pares receives funding. Inter Pares produce extensive reports several times per year which provide data to address these kind of quantifiable outcomes. We also now include a sampling of those concrete numeric outcomes in our Annual Report published each year.
However, Inter Pares has decided not to orient our communications materials towards results-based management to the extent that would lead to high scores on the above questions, for the simple reason that we work with 75 counterpart organizations who are working in 22 countries around the world. To provide quantitative data on the results and lessons learned of all these organizations involves hundreds of pages of reports. In our conversations with our donors, we have often been told that lengthy statistical reports are not what our donors demand from us. Instead Inter Pares uses an approach that focuses on giving concrete individual examples of pieces of our work, as a way of illustrating a bigger picture.
We commend Charity Intelligence Canada for their extensive efforts in facilitating public comparisons of Canadian charities. Due to Inter Pares’ communications approach that focuses on concrete, detailed examples rather than results-based-management, we expect to continue to receive low scores in this assessment.
If you are an Inter Pares supporter and would like to discuss our programming and/or operations, please contact Lorraine Hudson at lhudson@interpares.ca or 1-866-563-4801.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 613-563-4801