Mennonite Central Committee Ontario (MCC Ontario) is one of five provincial divisions of Mennonite Central Committee Canada (MCC Canada), which works with Mennonite Central Committee US to form MCC International (MCC). MCC is a Christian relief, development and peacebuilding charity that works with local churches in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada.  

Mennonite Central Committee Ontario shares MCC’s mission of sharing God’s love and compassion for all by responding to basic human needs and working for peace and justice. MCC Ontario runs its own provincial programs and also sends money to MCC Canada in support of MCC’s international projects. MCC Ontario’s most recent annual report is for F2018 and reports that of total mission spending, $9.9 million was forwarded to MCC Canada and just under $4.0 million was spent on Ontario programs.

In F2018, MCC worked on 716 projects with 508 partners in 57 countries. See Ci’s profile on MCC Canada for more details on results related to funds transferred from MCC Ontario to MCC Canada. The following data represents results on MCC Ontario’s provincial programs.

MCC Ontario’s largest provincial program is Refugee Resettlement, which made up 37% of Ontario program spending in F2018. MCC Ontario partners with churches, community groups, local governments and other organizations to sponsor refugees during their move to Canada. It reports that 221 people from Burundi, DRC, Iraq, Ethiopia, Syria, Colombia, Eritrea, Myanmar and Sudan resettled in Ontario during the year. MCC Canada’s Restorative Justice programs (18% of Ontario spending) work with previously incarcerated people returning to the community who are at risk of being marginalized from society. In F2018, the charity worked with 180 inmates and supported 65 people returning to the community. MCC Ontario also collects and ships disaster relief supplies through its Materials Resources program (14% of Ontario spending). It made four shipments during the year: two to Ukraine and two to Jordan.

MCC Canada helps Low German speaking Mennonites who are new to Canada. The charity states that these people often face language barriers, literacy challenges, cultural misunderstandings and poverty. Low German programs made up 12% of Ontario costs in F2018 and the charity reports training over 350 social workers, teachers, healthcare professionals and police officers on how to help new-coming Low Germans at Low German Networking Conferences.

Poverty Reduction programs accounted for 11% of Ontario spending in F2018, and the remaining 8% was on Indigenous, Education and Peacebuilding programs. In its annual report, MCC Ontario talks about a new Sowing Reconciliation project, which provides gardening kits for Indigenous communities facing food insecurity in Northwestern Ontario (140 kits distributed to six remote First Nations communities during the year).

Mennonite Central Committee Ontario is a large charity with total donations and special events fundraising of $10.2m in F2019. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 6% of donations and special events. Per dollar donated to the charity, 89 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

MCC Ontario has $6.1m in cash and investments, which are exceeded by $9.2m in long-term debt. Gross reserves could cover annual program costs and grants at the F2019 level for just under six months.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to MCC Ontario for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 9, 2019 by Katie Khodawandi.