What Is a WellCheck?

If you've spent any time trying to evaluate a Canadian charity, you know the challenge. CRA filings tell you the basics but lack context. Websites tell you the mission but not the evidence. Annual reports tell you the highlights but not the gaps. And pulling all of that together into a coherent picture takes time most donors and advisors simply don't have.

WellCheck is WellFunded's answer to that problem.

What a WellCheck Is

A WellCheck is a comprehensive charity due diligence report. It takes the data that already exists about a charitable organization — public filings, charity-provided information, uploaded source documents — and synthesizes it into a structured, readable assessment.

Each report analyzes a charity across several dimensions:

Accreditations — Third-party certifications and what they signal about an organization's credibility, governance standards, and ethical practices.

Governance & Board — Board structure, independence, meeting frequency, term limits, conflict of interest policies, strategic planning, and CEO oversight. The analysis cross-references what the charity reports against CRA director records to surface any discrepancies.

Financial Health & Sustainability — Multi-year revenue trends, program spending ratios, reserve levels, funding concentration, and donor retention. This section draws on years of CRA T3010 data and — when provided — audited financial statements, giving donors visibility into the context that ratios alone can't capture.

Impact & Program Approach — Theory of change analysis, measurement practices, evidence quality, constituent feedback loops, and strategic alignment. The analysis engine reads the actual theory of change document, assessing whether there's a coherent causal pathway from programs to outcomes, whether assumptions are stated, and whether risks are acknowledged.

Leadership & Operations — Leadership credibility, tenure, staffing levels, organizational capacity, succession planning, and operational scale. CRA staffing data is cross-referenced with charity-reported information.

Peer Comparison — Statistical benchmarking against charities of similar size operating in the same impact area. This gives donors the context to understand not just what a number is, but what it means — whether a charity's spending ratios, revenue growth, or reserve levels are typical, strong, or worth asking about relative to peers.

Annual Report Impact Analysis — This is one of the most distinctive features of WellCheck. When a charity uploads its annual report, the analysis engine reads the entire document and classifies every major claim by type — output (what was done), outcome (what changed), or impact (long-term systemic change) — and by evidence quality: quantitative, qualitative, anecdotal, or unsupported. The result is a structured table that helps donors quickly distinguish between what a charity has measured and what it's hoping for. It also surfaces evidence gaps and suggests questions donors may wish to ask.

How It Works Under the Hood

WellCheck is powered by an AI-driven analysis engine built on the most advanced large language model available. But what matters isn't the technology — it's what the technology enables.

Each dimension is analyzed independently using its own curated data. The governance analysis sees board composition, CRA director records, and strategic plans. The financial analysis sees T3010 line items, spending trends, and audited financials. The annual report analysis reads the report in full. No single analysis sees everything — which prevents any one finding from biasing another.

After all dimensions are analyzed, a synthesis step pulls the findings together into a cohesive executive summary.

The peer benchmarking compares each charity against hundreds of similar organizations — same impact area, same revenue bracket. This means donors can see not just whether a charity's fundraising ratio is 9%, but that this places it in the top 21% of comparable organizations. Context, not just numbers.

What WellCheck Is Not

This matters. WellCheck is not a charity watchdog. It is not a rating system. It does not produce scores, stars, or pass/fail judgments.

The analysis engine is specifically designed to default to charitable interpretation when multiple explanations exist. When it finds a gap — a board that meets less frequently than typical benchmarks, or reserves that are lower than peers — it provides context, explains why it matters, and suggests what a donor might want to ask. It does not assume the worst.

The language is intentional: "donors may wish to ask" rather than "red flag." "Worth noting" rather than "crisis." The goal is to inform, not to alarm.

WellCheck is a research tool. It's designed to make trust possible — not to erode it.

Who Uses WellCheck

WellCheck serves different audiences with the same report:

Donors use it to understand whether a charity aligns with their giving goals before making a significant gift. It replaces the hours of research most people don't have time to do.

DAF providers offer WellCheck to fund holders as part of their giving experience — providing professional-grade due diligence that builds confidence and supports informed granting decisions.

Wealth advisors use WellCheck to bring substance to philanthropic conversations with clients, moving beyond "which charity do you like?" to "here's what the evidence says about the charities you're considering."

Foundations use WellCheck to standardize their grantmaking evaluation process — one consistent framework across every organization they review, rather than ad hoc assessments that vary by staff member.

Corporate granting programs use WellCheck to demonstrate responsible, documented due diligence to boards and stakeholders.

WellCheck reports are available in fully branded versions — your logo, your colors, your look and feel — designed for organizations that want to offer professional-grade due diligence under their own brand. DAF providers, foundations, and corporate giving programs can deliver WellCheck reports to fund holders, board members, and grant committees as a seamless part of their own process. PDF-printable, shareable, and built to look like yours.

If your corporate giving program is granting more than $50,000 in a single gift, this is the level of due diligence you should have behind that decision. Not a Google search. Not a gut feeling. Not a quick scan of overhead ratios. A structured, documented assessment that you can present to your board and stand behind. WellCheck makes that possible without hiring a consultant or building the infrastructure yourself.

How Charities Experience WellCheck

Charities are invited to complete a structured assessment of 17 questions covering governance, programs, leadership, finances, and communications. They can also upload source documents — theory of change, strategic plan, annual reports, and audited financials — which the analysis engine reads directly.

The process is designed to minimize burden. Previous answers are pre-filled if a charity has completed an earlier version. Documents are uploaded once and analyzed across multiple dimensions. And the assessment generates a report that the charity itself receives — creating a shared reference point for conversations with donors rather than a one-sided evaluation.

For charities, a completed WellCheck is reusable across every donor who requests one. Complete it once, and it works for everyone.

The Philosophy Behind It

Due diligence has a reputation problem. For charities, it often feels like an interrogation — another funder asking for the same information in a different format. For donors, it feels either too expensive to do properly or too superficial to be useful.

WellCheck was built on a different premise: the information needed for good due diligence already exists. CRA filings, governance documents, financial statements, annual reports — it's all there. What's been missing is the infrastructure to analyze it consistently, contextually, and at scale.

That's what WellCheck provides. Not judgment. Not ratings. Just the clarity that makes confident giving possible.

To learn more about charity due diligence in Canada, read What Is Charity Due Diligence?. For details on our latest release, see Introducing WellCheck v2.1: Due Diligence, Reimagined.