Founded in 1969, Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is the Canadian body for Special Olympics International. It aims to enrich the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport and use sports to open hearts and minds towards people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics Canada oversees the 12 Canadian chapters - found in every province and territory except Nunavut - by managing programming as well as disbursing funds to the chapters. Special Olympics Canada’s activities include assorted sports programs, free health exams, long-term athlete development, and leadership development.

In F2019, Special Olympics Canada recorded 49,626 registered athletes, which is a 6% increase over F2018. SOC relied on 21,953 volunteers to help run its programs in F2019, 14,153 of whom were coaches. In F2019, over 1,000 of SOC’s athletes competed at the SOC Summer Games in Nova Scotia, generating $12.6m in economic activity nationwide. SOC also sent 109 athletes to the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

Special Olympics Canada runs multiple sports programs to encourage exercise at any age. SOC’s Active Start program offers a variety of sport options for children aged 2-6. FUNdamentals is a continuation of Active Start for athletes aged 7-12. SOC ran 611 Active Start programs and 1,976 FUNdamentals programs at locations across the country in F2019. SOC’s Unified Programs introduce athletes to numerous sports, with 3,053 of these programs run in F2019. SOC also ran 343 daily community sports programs in F2019.

Special Olympics Canada’s Healthy Athletes program provides free health exams for all athletes. The exams identify health areas which might need further attention, such as vision, podiatry, and dentistry. Through these exams, Special Olympics reports that it has become the largest global health organization dedicated to serving people with an intellectual disability. In F2019, SOC screened 5,160 athletes in up to eight types of tests (3,829 athletes in F2018).

Special Olympics Canada’s Athlete Leadership program aims to develop athletes outside of sporting competitions by equipping them with the tools to undertake positions of leadership within their communities. The Athlete Leadership program help athletes develop public speaking skills, become athlete health advocates, help other athletes as Peer Mentors, or serve as Board and Committee members. In F2019, SOC offered 714 Athlete Leadership programs nationwide.

The following analysis consolidates the financial statements of Special Olympics Canada and Special Olympics Canada Foundation.

Special Olympics Canada is a Large charity with donations and special events revenue of $9.8m in F2019. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 18% of donations. This means overhead costs are 23%. For every dollar donated, 77 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The charity and the foundation have funding reserves of $10.9m. Including grants to Special Olympic chapters across Canada, these reserves can cover annual program costs for roughly 10 months.

This report is an update that has been sent to Special Olympics Canada for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated August 16, 2020 by Eric Jose.