Special Olympics Ontario is a 2-star rated, financially transparent charity. It has a below average results reporting grade and its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. The charity has $7.4m in reserve funds, which can cover a year and seven months of annual program costs.

Founded in 1968, Special Olympics Ontario (SOO) provides year-round training and sports competitions for kids and adults with intellectual disabilities. The charity gives athletes the opportunity to play 18 sports and improve their physical skills. Sports are designated as winter, spring, and summer offerings. Winter sports include alpine skiing, curling, figure skating, floor hockey, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, and speed skating. Spring sports include five-pin bowling, ten-pin bowling, basketball, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, and swimming. Summer sports include athletics, bocce, golf, soccer and softball. In F2022, the charity served over 26,000 athletes in 95 communities.

In F2022, Special Olympics Ontario ran both virtual and in-person sporting events. 557 athletes participated in provincial virtual games while the virtual fitness and health programs had 14,788 participants.

Special Olympics Ontario reports that, on a typical team of ten athletes, nine have problems with flexibility or balance, seven are overweight or obese, four need eyeglasses, four have untreated tooth decay, three would fail a hearing test, and one needs urgent referral to a dentist. To help solve these health issues, Special Olympics Ontario’s Health program runs health screenings.  There are eight different health screenings with the goal to improve athletes’ ability to train and compete. The charity has 13 eye exam locations in Kingston, nine in Guelph, and seven in Niagara. Currently, the charity has 118 healthcare providers in its network.  

Special Olympics Ontario runs school and youth programs which help over 13,000 athletes. In F2022, 5,827 volunteers contributed to 1,249 programs and 110 events held in schools.

Special Olympics Ontario is financially transparent. Its audited financial statements are publicly available on its website.

Special Olympics Ontario received donations and special events revenue of $3.3m in F2022. The charity also received $2.0m in government funding, representing 31% of total revenue. Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 17% of donations. This means overhead costs are 25%. For every dollar donated, 75 cents are available for programs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range of overhead spending.  

Special Olympics Ontario has reserve funds of $7.4m, which can cover a year and seven months of annual program costs. Although reserve funds increased by $1.3m from F2021 to F2022, program costs increased by $1.2m, maintaining a relatively steady program cost coverage ratio.

This charity report is an update that was sent for review to Special Olympics Ontario. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on August 2, 2023 by Victoria Allder.