Easter Seals Ontario
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.
B
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.
You may also like:
My anchor
Programs
About Easter Seals Ontario:
Founded in 1922 as the Ontario Society for Crippled Children, Easter Seals Ontario (ESO) supports children and young adults in Ontario who live with a disability. ESO is one of ten provincial arms of Easter Seals Canada. Easter Seals Ontario provides financial assistance for mobility equipment and communication devices, fully accessible summer camp, special education resources, post-secondary scholarships, and works to increase public awareness on disability issues. ESO reports that more than 20,000 young people in Ontario are living with a physical disability and the charity works with those whose disability will permanently affect mobility.
In F2018, ESO allocated 47% of program spending to operating family camps which are fully accessible to people with disabilities. Many children with disabilities feel isolated by spending most of their time at home or school and interacting with few other children of their age. During a ten-day session during the summer, children and their families can participate in crafts, high ropes courses, indoor climbing, kayaking, and whitewater rafting. ESO covered 83% of the cost of hosting each kid at camp, worth $2,075 for each of the 753 campers.
Easter Seals Ontario allocated 29% of program spending in F2018 to supporting children and families. A family is eligible to receive up to $3,000 per year in financial support to purchase mobility devices and other equipment to care for their disabled children. Of the 786 children who received funding for equipment purchases in F2018, 48% are from families with less than $40,000 in annual income. ESO granted an average of $1,764 per child in F2018. The charity also distributed $44,250 in post-secondary scholarships for students with disabilities.
The remaining 24% of program spending in F2018 was allocated to public awareness and education programs. ESO has 75 youth ambassadors who represent the charity at fundraising events and other speaking engagements. In F2018, 25 representatives from the ESO special education advisory committee sat on 18 school boards. These volunteers help to ensure that the needs of kids with disabilities are represented in the school system in areas such as accessibility, transportation, communication, therapy needs, and personal care.
My anchor
Results and Impact
Charity Intelligence has given Easter Seals Ontario a Low impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Low

My anchor
Finances
Easter Seals Ontario is a large charity with donations of $8.3m in F2018. Administrative costs are 8% of revenues and fundraising costs are 34% of donations. For every dollar donated, 58 cents go to the cause, which is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. ESO has $4.8m in funding reserves of which $861k is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could cover more than eight months of program costs using reserves.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Easter Seals Ontario for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on July 2, 2019 by Madison Kerr.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending December
|
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 8.0% | 8.8% | 5.3% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 33.5% | 31.7% | 29.7% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 72.4% | 72.1% | 82.1% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 8,266 | 8,614 | 8,830 |
Government funding | 38 | 42 | 53 |
Fees for service | 693 | 582 | 637 |
Investment income | 78 | 72 | 60 |
Other income | 59 | 57 | 32 |
Total revenues | 9,134 | 9,367 | 9,612 |
Program costs | 5,508 | 5,683 | 6,095 |
Administrative costs | 727 | 820 | 506 |
Fundraising costs | 2,768 | 2,734 | 2,618 |
Total spending | 9,003 | 9,237 | 9,219 |
Cash flow from operations | 131 | 130 | 393 |
Capital spending | 323 | 338 | 60 |
Funding reserves | 4,818 | 4,921 | 5,819 |
Note: Ci has adjusted for endowment contributions and deferred capital contributions, affecting revenues by ($297k) in F2018, ($277k) in F2017, and ($252k) in F2016. Amortization has been removed from program and administrative costs pro-rata.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
1 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
4 |
$40k - $80k |
4 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2017
My anchor
Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Easter Seals Ontario was established by a group of Rotary volunteers in 1922 to provide programs and services to help improve the quality of life for children and youth with physical disabilities. Right from the beginning Easter Seals primary purpose was to help families get the necessary mobility equipment their children needed to be more independence and active in the community. In 1937, Easter Seals was the first organization to open a camp for children with physical disabilities enabling them to enjoy a summer camp experience like other kids with activities adapted especially for them. The organization’s mandate also includes public education and awareness of disability issues.
Almost 100 years later, Easter Seals Ontario continues to fulfill its original mandate with programs that offer funding for essential mobility and accessibility equipment as well as fully accessible camp opportunities for children and youth with physical disabilities from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. We also conduct a number of disability awareness and advocacy initiatives.
Easter Seals is only able to fulfill its mission through the generous support of our donors, sponsors and volunteers. We receive no government funding for our programs and services. All funds are raised through public donations, and we rely heavily on a number of high calibre special events to generate the funds needed to support our programs and services. As a result, we incur costs to organize and run these fundraising events. However, management and the board monitor all expenses very closely and every effort is made to keep all expenses within accepted standard levels.
Easter Seals’ operations are audited each year and annual Audited Financial Statements are made available to the public on our website at EasterSeals.org.
Easter Seals Ontario is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. While staff carry out the day-to-day services which Easter Seals undertakes to provide, it is the Board of Directors which has the responsibility to the community for ensuring that the services offered by staff are in accordance with the aims and objectives of the Corporation and that they are carried out efficiently, effectively and in a fiscally responsible manner.
For more information, please visit EasterSeals.org or call 416-421-8377.
Comment provided by Easter Seals Ontario on August 30, 2019 for Charity Intelligence's report on its 2018 results.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.