Ethics review for organizations without a research ethics board.
Community organizations run real research — surveys, interviews, evaluations with vulnerable participants — and almost none of them have a route to ethical review. Universities will not review outside work. The usual alternative is no review at all.
A proportionate review, in about two weeks.
Not a university REB. A structured, independent read of your study design against recognised standards, with written feedback you can act on and show to a funder.
We assess consent, recruitment, compensation, data handling, risk to participants, accessibility of the process, and what happens to findings. Where the study involves Indigenous communities, we will say plainly if OCAP® applies and what that means for you.
What it is not
This is not accreditation, and it does not carry the legal standing of a Tri-Council-compliant REB. If your funder specifically requires REB approval, this will not substitute for it — and we will tell you that at the first conversation rather than take the fee.
Four steps, two weeks.
- 01
Send the design
Your protocol, instruments, consent materials and recruitment plan — in whatever state they are in.
- 02
Structured read
Two reviewers assess it independently against the standards, including one with relevant community or lived experience where possible.
- 03
Written feedback
What is sound, what must change before you start, and what is worth improving. Ranked, not a wall of comments.
- 04
Re-read
One revision round included. You end with a dated letter describing what was reviewed and what you changed.
Mostly organizations nobody else will review.
- Non-profits evaluating their own programmes with participant interviews.
- Community groups running surveys on sensitive subjects.
- Funders who want an independent read of a grantee's proposed study.
- Consultancies without an internal ethics function.
- Student researchers whose placement sits outside a university REB.
Fees are scoped to the study and scaled for small organizations, with pro bono capacity each year. Ask.