Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

About Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals:

Founded in 1873, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) works to eliminate animal abuse and ensure every animal has a home across Ontario. OSPCA envisions a future where all Ontarians respect and appreciate animals. The charity's main headquarters are in Newmarket, Ontario, with over 50 Ontario SPCA Communities across the province.

The OSPCA is the only charity in Ontario that operates under the Ontario SPCA Act and can conduct animal cruelty investigations to enforce animal cruelty laws. The charity’s Cruelty Investigations program promotes proper animal care, saves animals suffering from abuse or neglect, and holds people accountable for cases of animal mistreatment across Ontario. OSPCA Community Investigators receive cruelty complaint calls from the public and conduct investigations to shed light on unacceptable practices that harm animals. The charity investigated 17,357 complaints in 2015 and of these complaints, the Rescue and Relief team saved 1,974 animals from abuse or neglect. The charity’s investigation activities resulted in 21 criminal charges.

The Society also has an Animal Welfare program that offers adoption, shelter and spay/neuter services. OSPCA Spay and Neuter clinics provide their services to reduce animal over-population in Ontario. In total, the clinics performed 15,498 procedures in 2015.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals launched an iAdopt campaign in 2013 to increase public awareness of the benefits of adoption and ultimately increase adoption rates. iAdopt let people share their adoption experiences to readers who voted on their favourite story. The winning story was featured in the charity’s ‘iAdopt for the Holidays’ campaign. OSPCA ran three iAdopt campaigns in 2015, and from 2014 to 2015, adoptions increased by 3% (from 6,879 to 7,056).

Financial Review:

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a ‘big-cap’ charity with donations totalling $12.8m in F2015. Administrative costs are 13% of revenues and fundraising costs are 16% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.71 goes towards its programs, which falls within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending. Funding reserves of $15.2m (including $189k of donor-endowed funds) can cover 87% of annual program costs.

Updated on July 27, 2017 by Katie Khodawandi.