Ottawa Public Library Board
Publicly funded institution · Ottawa, Ontario · BN 861292886RR0001 · Public Amenities · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($59,505,656) as filed with the CRA.
Ottawa Public Library Board is a charitable organization based in Ottawa, Ontario, classified by the CRA under public amenities. 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 $61.4M in revenue and $59.5M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 98% from government. Government funding is the majority of its budget. In 2024, 7 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $885K.
Compared with 54 public-amenity institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 2% of peers. Its highest-paid position fell in the $250,000–299,999 range. The charity reported 310 permanent full-time positions.
Revenue has grown substantially over its filings on record here, from $1.9M in 2020 to $61.4M in 2024.
In its own words
Ottawa public library (opl) is the largest bilingual (english/french) public library system in north america with 34 branches physical and virtual at biblioottawalibrary.ca bookmobiles and kiosk services. Opl provides literacy andd information services to the community as per the public libraries act mandate in alignment with its mission to inspire learning spark curiocity and connect people.
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $61.4M | $59.5M | $5.3M | $580K | — | $7.9M |
| 2023 | $64.3M | $58.2M | $51M | $211K | — | $6M |
| 2022 | -$76.8M | $55.6M | $47.2M | $211K | — | $92.6M |
| 2021 | $1.7M | $49.3M | $45.1M | $76K | — | $68.7M |
| 2020 | $1.9M | $45.5M | $41.4M | $95K | — | $0 |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Received $885K from 7 charities:
- RBC Foundation$500K
- Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association/l'association des Amis de la Bibliotheque Publique d'Ottawa$144K
- Canadahelps Canadon$119K
- Canadahelps Canadon$119K
- United Way East Ontario / Centraide Est de l'Ontario$1,666
- CHIMP: Charitable Impact Foundation (Canada)$340
- The Burton Charitable Foundation$150
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $250,000–299,9991 position
- $160,000–199,9992 positions
- $120,000–159,9997 positions
- Permanent full-time positions310
- Total compensation, all staff$41.9M
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Ottawa Public Library Board’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 861292886RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.