Overview of Accreditation

CCA offers a four-year accreditation that supports an organization’s quality management.

CCA looks at the whole organization, with an accreditation program that is modular. The accreditation program combines a set of Organizational Standards covering areas such as governance, organizational planning and performance, leadership and risk management, with program and service modules relevant to different services.

CCA believes that organizations benefit most by having their whole organization accredited. While the CCA accreditation program is aimed at reviewing the whole organization, at a minimum, the relevant modules of at least one sector must be used.

Standards that are balanced and flexible

Accreditation expectations are organized under two types of standards. Each standard has a series of indicators by which its achievement is assessed.

Mandatory Standards address legislated requirements, significant safety or risk issues, and crucial elements of good practice. Leading Practice Standards promote quality, learning, excellence and creativity.

Some standards may not apply to all organizations or may apply differently. Information on applicability is included in a note that appears with the standard.

In order to be accredited, an organization must meet all the Mandatory Standards that apply and a certain number of the Leading Practice Standards that apply—specifically, 50% of the Leading Practice Standards in each component, as well as a total of 80% of Leading Practice Standards across each module.

A process that supports quality

The accreditation review is conducted by a CCA-trained team made up of senior staff, governing body members and volunteers from the community-based organizations that participate in CCA.

In its assessment, the team uses:

  • Organizational documents and information submitted ahead of a visit
  • Responses to CCA-conducted surveys of community partners, staff, governing body members, and other stakeholders
  • Interviews, observation, and file, process and document reviews as part of a site visit

After the site visit, the organization has an opportunity to review preliminary results and provide additional evidence before the accreditation is finalized. Accreditation is granted for four years, with an annual quality update designed to support an organization’s ongoing quality and planning cycles.

Support at every step

The process is supported by the Go CCA Online Accreditation Tool that provides each organization with its own confidential Web portal. And, CCA provides a host of tools, resources, and support to help organizations prepare successfully.

Competitive fees

CCA’s fee is made up of two parts – an annual fee paid each year the organization participates with CCA, and a one-time site visit fee (review fee) based on the size of the review team and length of the site visit. If you need more information about CCA's fees please contact info@canadiancentreforaccreditation.ca.

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Canadian Centre for Accreditation
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Accreditation with CCA

CCA accredits a wide range of community-based human service organizations with a modular, tailored program that promotes excellence and quality. Accreditation with CCA supports organizations to continually improve the quality and efficiency of the programs and services they provide.

Go to Accreditation with CCA