Ottawa Humane Society

About Ottawa Humane Society:

Founded in 1888, Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) protects animals in the Ottawa-Carleton area by sheltering animals in need of a home, investigating cases of animal cruelty, running veterinary clinics for animals in need of medical care, and educating the community about humane treatment practices.

Ottawa Humane Society’s largest program is its Animal Shelter activities, which made up 57% of program costs in F2016. OHS took in 9,204 animals during the year: this included 5,211 cats, 1,681 dogs, 1,558 wild animals, and 728 small animals. Most animals were strays. Total admission dropped 4% from last year. Ottawa Humane Society found homes for 4,247 animals in F2016, equal to 46% of total animals taken in during the year. Adoptions related to special needs animals – animals requiring additional care and treatment – totaled 329 and grew by 35% compared to last year. Total adoptions increased by 2% from the last year.

Ottawa Humane Society’s volunteer and outreach programs made up 17% of program costs in F2016. OHS’s volunteers fostered 1,474 cats, 147 dogs, 117 small animals, and one bird during the year. The charity’s Humane Education program reached 15,883 children in F2016 through 421 school presentations, 30 summer school presentations, 71 in-house youth tours, and 231 birthday parties.

Ottawa Humane Society’s cruelty investigations and rescue activities made up 10% of program costs in F2016. OHS’s Rescue and Investigation Services team conducted 1,355 investigations in the year, which saved 1,660 animals. Investigations increased by 11% from last year, while animals saved increased by 9%. As of July 2016, OHS lost its affiliate status to the OSPCA. The website states that the charity’s Rescue and Investigation Services officers effectively lost their ability to investigate animal cruelty issues.

Ottawa Humane Society also has veterinary clinics that perform procedures such as neuters, dental work and x-rays. Clinics made up 11% of program costs in F2016. Within the year, veterinarians performed 4,096 surgeries, including 3,012 spay or neuter procedures. The charity’s annual report states that surgeries increased by 26% from the year before, but according to Ci analysis total surgeries decreased by 3%. OHS’s new mobile spay/neuter clinic began operating in 2016 and is expected to perform 6,000 surgeries a year by its second year of activity. The charity introduced this service to help with cat overpopulation in Ottawa’s low-income neighborhoods.

Premises costs made up the remaining 5% of program costs in F2016, which likely relate to the charity's building.

Financial Review:

Ottawa Humane Society is a large charity with total donations and special events revenues of $5.6m in F2016. Administrative costs are 14% of revenues and fundraising costs are 25% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.61 goes towards its programs, which falls outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Funding reserves of $4.4m can cover 89% of annual program costs.

OHS reports using external fundraisers as part of its fundraising activities. In its most recent F2016 T3010 CRA filing, OHS reports external fundraising costs of $449k. External fundraisers raised $31k on behalf of the charity (1% of total donations and fundraising for the year), producing an external fundraising cost ratio of 1470%. This means that for every dollar raised by external fundraisers, the charity paid $1.47.

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by Ottawa Humane Society. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 3, 2017 by Katie Khodawandi.