Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound
Publicly funded institution · Kitchener, Ontario · BN 818528861RR0001 · Arts · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($114,398) as filed with the CRA.
Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound is a charitable organization based in Kitchener, Ontario, classified by the CRA under arts. It appears on the charity register the way hospitals, universities, and other publicly funded bodies do — to issue tax receipts — rather than as a donation-driven charity in the usual sense. In its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, it reported $96K in revenue and $114K in expenditures. Spending exceeded revenue that year — the gap came out of reserves.
Its funding that year was roughly 86% from government, 5% from other charities. Government funding is the majority of its budget. In 2024, 3 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $8,328.
Compared with 89 arts institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 25% of peers. None of its ten highest-paid positions cleared $40,000. The charity reported 2 permanent full-time positions.
Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 5 names.
In its own words
Open ears aims to run two major fundraising events a year one in the fall (september or october) and one in the spring (march or april). The primary purpose fo these events is to raise funds for the sustainable operation of the festival. Beyond generating income these fundraisers strive to cultivate community by highlighting and working with local artists restaurants companies and venues. They support audience development and help maintain connection with our community and donors and is a way to sustain interest in our festival and organization throughout the year. The fundraising events …
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2021–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $96K | $114K | $73K | $4,312 | — | $35K |
| 2023 | $114K | $107K | $66K | — | $0 | $54K |
| 2022 | $121K | $136K | $82K | $943 | — | $47K |
| 2021 | $107K | $96K | $49K | — | — | $62K |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Received $8,328 from 3 charities:
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $1–39,9992 positions
- Permanent full-time positions2
- Total compensation, all staff$42K
Schedule 3 of its 2021 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Morgan Lovell (chair); Bart Pilarczyk (director); Kristen Yri (vice chair); Anna Donahue (director); Kathryn Ladano (director).
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 818528861RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.