Ottawa Humane Society

About Ottawa Humane Society:

Founded in 1888, Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) protects sick, injured and homeless animals in Ottawa. The charity also educates children and pet owners about caring for animals. Its programs include Lost and Found, Mobile Spay/Neuter Services, Community Outreach Program, and OHS Room Rentals.  

The Lost and Found program is the largest and made up 66% of total program spending in F2018. Ottawa Humane Society cares for lost and homeless animals that are brought in by officers and the public. In F2018, OHS helped 8,912 animals, including 4,980 cats, 1,471 dogs, 598 small animals, and 1,828 wildlife. This is a 5% increase in the total number of animals from 8,476 in F2017. 

In 2018, OHS launched a Mobile Spay/Neuter program to deal with Ottawa's cat over-population.  This is 17% of total program spending. This program spays/neuters cats for $20.  In F2018, it did 2,912 spays and neuters.  

The Community Outreach program accounts for 15% of total program spending in F2018. This includes four education programs: Leadership Education with Adolescents and Dogs (LEAD), Pet Savvy, Brightening Lives Animal Visits, and Animal Education for Newcomers to Canada. These programs aim to educate Ottawa residents about proper animal care. 

Results and Impact:

In F2018, Ottawa Humane Society worked with 7,049 pets; it reunited 799 pets with owners, found new owners for 4,033 pets through adoptions. This is a 2% decrease from the 5,091 total pets in F2017. The number of cats reunited with their family in decreased from 9% in F2017 to 8% in F2018. 

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Ottawa Humane Society’s results and impact.

Financial Review:

Ottawa Humane Society is a large charity with total donations and special events revenues of $6.9m in F2018. Administrative costs are 11% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 27% of donations. For every dollar donated, 62 cents goes to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Funding reserves of $5.8m can cover just over one year of annual program costs. 

Ottawa Humane Society reports using external fundraisers as part of its fundraising activities in its F2018 T3010 CRA filing. In 2018, OHS paid $788k to external fundraisers to collect $1m, giving an external fundraising cost ratio of 75%. This means that for every $1 raised by external fundraisers, OHS paid $0.75. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Ottawa Humane Society for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on May 14, 2019 by Lauren Chin.