Autism Speaks Canada is a 5-star rated charity with best practice in financial transparency and above average accountability to donors as seen in the A results reporting grade. For every dollar donated to this charity, 67 cents go to the cause. This is just within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending.

Autism Speaks Canada is the Canadian branch of Autism Speaks, an American charity focused on autism research and awareness. Autism Speaks Canada states that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts roughly one in 66 Canadian children, and that males are diagnosed with autism four times more frequently than females. ASD refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, and communication. To support people with autism, Autism Speaks Canada runs three major programs.

Research grants were 49% of program costs in F2021. Grant recipients include the Autism Treatment Network, a collection of hospitals dedicated to improving healthcare for children with ASD. It aims to integrate clinical care with research to develop evidence-based practices and standardized care for all autistic patients. In F2021, grants aided the launch of two autism care network sites aimed at improving the quality of life of autistic children. Research grants also go toward the charity’s MSSNG program. In 2014, Autism Speaks Canada began working with Google on MSSNG, the world’s largest genome database studying autism. Conducted at SickKids Hospital, MSSNG researchers aimed to sequence genomes to learn more about potential genetic factors and health effects. The charity reports that the MSSNG database now has more than 11,500 genetic sequences. In F2021, Autism Speaks Canada contributed to a $3.5m donation to MSSNG. This year, the charity also launched PATH to Discovery, a program aiming to build a road map to personalized medicine for people across the autism spectrum.

Autism Speaks Canada also distributed $382k toward 14 community grant projects in F2021. Community grants fund organizations across Canada that offer support to people with ASD and their families. In response to the charity's recent survey, the F2021 offering of these grants focused on improving the mental health of autistic Canadians and their caregivers. Of these 14 projects funded, ten supported inclusion in underserved communities while four supported autism communities. Four projects were held in Alberta and Ontario, three in British Colombia, and 1 in each Yukon Territory, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. 

Family Services and Support represented 26% of program costs in F2021. Autism Speaks Canada reports that the Family Services and Support program connected 1,200 autistic job seekers with 19 employers and provided 41 service providers training on inclusive hiring practices. The charity also reports having distributed 2,000 Samsung devices across Canada as well as a virtual tool kit that was downloaded over 26,000 times.

Collaboration and Awareness made up the remaining 26% of program costs. Through the program, Autism Speaks Canada works to increase public knowledge of autism and its effects and reports reaching 22.6m people during World Autism Month. The charity reports sharing 30 stories of autistic individuals and that the covid-19 awareness page was accessed by 17,000 people. Further, 467 individuals were supported by the Autism Response Team, providing resources for autistic people across their life span.

Autism Speaks Canada is a medium-sized charity, with total donations and special events revenue of $3.5m in F2021. Administrative costs are 16% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 17% of donations and special events revenue. This means that total overhead spending is 33%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 67 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

Autism Speaks Canada has total funding reserves of $4.5m. This results in a program cost coverage ratio of 188%, which means the charity can cover around 1.9 years of program costs using its existing reserves.

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

Updated on August 2, 2022 by Angelina Curwin.