Operation Smile Canada
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.
Average
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.
54%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 54 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Operation Smile Canada:
Operation Smile Canada is a 3-star charity with average demonstrated impact. It has a B+ results reporting grade, which is above average. Its funding reserves are within Ci’s reasonable range and can cover seven months of annual program costs. For every dollar donated to Operation Smile Canada, 54 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range.
Operation Smile Canada (OSC) raises funds to support cleft care and safe surgery in low- and middle-income countries. It supports the work of Operation Smile, an international nonprofit that operates in 37 countries. OSC was founded in 2011, while Operation Smile was founded in 1982. The charity reports that a child is born with a cleft condition every three minutes, or in about one of every 500 to 750 births. Children born with cleft conditions in low-income countries often have limited access to trained surgeons, hospitals, and follow-up care. Families may also face long travel distances and treatment costs. Without treatment, they can have difficulty eating, speaking, hearing, and attending school. The charity provides surgery and follow-up care, including speech therapy, nutrition, dentistry, and psychological services.
OSC’s programs include Comprehensive Care, Surgical Programs, and Training and Education/Research. Operation Smile Canada spent $12.1m on programs in F2025. This includes $10.7m in international program costs and $1.3m in program expenses related to operations.
Comprehensive Care represented 48% ($5.2m) of international program spending in F2025. The program funds care centres that provide treatment before and after surgery. Services include speech therapy, nutrition, oral health, psychology, social work, audiology, and ear, nose and throat care. In F2025, 59,254 patients received Comprehensive Care at 13 Canadian-funded care centres. These centres also conducted 202,266 consultations to support ongoing patient treatment and follow-up care. Ci calculated that, based on Comprehensive Care program costs and overhead allocated on a pro rata basis, OSC spent $164 per patient served and $48 per consultation provided in F2025.
Surgical Programs accounted for 43% ($4.6m) of F2025 international program spending. It funds surgical care for people born with cleft conditions. Operation Smile Canada supported 124 surgical programs in F2025. The charity also funded consultations before and after surgery, including 9,895 pediatric consultations, 5,453 anesthesiology consultations, and 3,660 post-operative care consultations. Ci calcualted that, based on Surgical program costs and overhead allocated on a pro rata basis, OSC spent $2,332 per surgery in F2025.
Training and Education/Research represented $966k or 9% of international program spending in F2025. The program trains healthcare workers to provide cleft care and safe surgery in their communities through the 84 education programs it funds. In F2025, OSC supported 31,218 medical trainees, and hosted workshops attended by 9,490 people.
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Results and Impact
In F2025, Operation Smile Canada funded 4,434 surgical procedures on 4,053 patients.
Charity Intelligence has given Operation Smile Canada an impact rating of Average based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent. While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of the charity’s results and impact.
Impact Rating: Average
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Finances
OSC’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing which is a best practice. This means its expenses are clearly defined between program, administrative, and fundraising categories.
Operation Smile Canada had total revenues of $22.4m in F2025. It received $20.3m in Canadian donations, equal to 91% of its revenue and $1.8m in international donations, or 8% of its revenue.
The charity spent $10.7m on its international programs, accounting for 48% of its revenue, and $1.3m (6% of revenue) on program expenses, included in Canadian program costs. OSC recorded a surplus of $835k in F2025.
Administrative costs were $1.9m, representing 9% of revenue. OSC reported $7.6m in fundraising costs in F2025, representing 37% of donations. Total overhead spending was 46%. For every dollar donated to Operation Smile Canada, 54 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range, as the charity has been for the past thirteen years.
OSC held $7.1m in reserve funds (cash and investments) in F2025. These reserves can cover seven months of annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.
Operation Smile Canada uses external fundraisers, as reported on its T3010 filing with the CRA. In F2025, OSC paid the fundraisers $1.3m to collect $2.1m in donations. This equates to a cost of 61 cents to raise one dollar using external fundraisers. It is likely more cost efficient to donate to the charity directly.
This is a charity update that has been sent to Operation Smile Canada by Neela Jalilian on June 16, 2026.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending June
|
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 8.5% | 8.9% | 9.9% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 37.3% | 34.0% | 36.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 45.8% | 42.9% | 46.7% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 58.9% | 49.1% | 61.1% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2025 | 2024 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 20,296 | 20,570 | 17,679 |
| International donations | 1,841 | 962 | 1,936 |
| Other income | 240 | 290 | 219 |
| Total revenues | 22,377 | 21,822 | 19,834 |
| Program costs - International | 10,732 | 11,783 | 9,684 |
| Program costs - Canada | 1,336 | 1,233 | 960 |
| Administrative costs | 1,910 | 1,937 | 1,969 |
| Fundraising costs | 7,561 | 7,001 | 6,496 |
| Other costs | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| Total spending | 21,542 | 21,963 | 19,115 |
| Cash flow from operations | 835 | (142) | 719 |
| Capital spending | 0 | 66 | 0 |
| Funding reserves | 7,110 | 6,390 | 6,503 |
Note: 1. Receivables from Operation Smile International: Ci adjusted for the amounts due from Operation Smile International in international donations. This affected total revenues by $127k in F2025, ($127k) in F2024, and $819k in F2023. 2. Payables to Operation Smile International: Ci adjusted for the amounts due to Operation Smile International in international program costs. This affected expenses by ($650k) in F2025, $576k in F2024, and ($576k) in F2023. 3. Amortization and Foreign Exchange Gains (Losses): Ci removed amortization and foreign exchange gains (losses) from administrative costs. 4. Reimbursements of Expenses Related to the Department of Global Medical Training & Education: Ci removed the reimbursements of expenses related to the department of Global Medical Training & Education from other revenue and included it in international donations.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
1 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
2 |
$120k - $160k |
4 |
$80k - $120k |
3 |
$40k - $80k |
0 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2025
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comment added on August 21, 2025:
Thank you to Charity Intelligence for highlighting our work. We appreciate the chance to provide additional context and to celebrate the impact our donors and partners make possible.
Every child deserves access to free, safe and quality surgery and comprehensive cleft care, regardless of where they live. The child with a cleft condition takes us back to their community to show us the need to address the gaps in the health systems. We can only operate with the expertise of our global medical volunteers and generosity of our Canadian donors. Together, we’re helping more children in more places, closer to home. We welcome the opportunity to expand on the details shared in this report.
All surgical and comprehensive cleft care services provided through Operation Smile are free of charge to patients and their families. The average costs outlined in Ci’s calculations reflect the full investment required to deliver this care — including surgical programs, comprehensive health services at local care centres, training, education, and the infrastructure that ensures safe, high-quality outcomes for every child we serve. While it may still cost as little as $240 for a simple cleft surgery, many of our children require more complex surgical procedures. Based on our internal calculations, the average cost per surgical patient attending a Short-Term Surgical Program in F2025 is $1,147 USD.
In F2025, our program investments increased despite financial challenges caused by a national postal strike. We estimate the strike still reduced our revenue potential by approximately $672,500. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and stronger engagement through digital channels and personal outreach from our Philanthropy team, 59% of this gap was closed.
Operation Smile treats every surgical and comprehensive care program as an education and training opportunity to enhance the skills of local medical volunteers, thus increasing capacity within the local (district) hospitals within a 2-hour or 75 km radius of where our patients live. By equipping and strengthening local medical teams in the countries where we work, these efforts are helping to create long-term, sustainable access to cleft care and build stronger local healthcare teams.
Operation Smile operates as locally led and globally supported: program countries and their teams lead the delivery of care with educators involved within our global network, while generous partners — including Canadian donors — provide the resources to make it possible to reach and care for more children.
Transparency and accountability remain central to our work. Our Audited Financial Statements, annual Impact Report, and bi-annual Smile Reports are available at operationsmile.ca/about-us/financial-accountability. Each year, our program investments continue to grow, and with the ongoing support of our donors, thousands of children and families are receiving life-changing surgery and comprehensive health services.
Charity Contact:
Nathalie Punkkinen
Director, Brand & Strategic Communications
Operation Smile Canada
Toll free: 1-844-376-4530 ext. 127
Tel: 437-836-9452
Email: nathalie.punkkinen@operationsmile.org
Charity Contact
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Toll free number: 1-844-376-4530
Tel: 647-696-0600