Art Gallery of Ontario is a 3-star charity. It has a C+ Results Reporting grade, which is below average. Its overhead spending is 19%, within Ci’s reasonable range.  

Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) was founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens as the Art Museum of Toronto. Today, AGO is one of the largest art museums in North America, with a physical facility of 583,000 square feet. Its mission is to “bring people together with art to see, experience, and understand the world in new ways.” AGO runs two programs: Exhibition and Education & Programming. The charity does not provide a financial breakdown between these two programs. In F2024, 871,152 people visited the museum, which is the fifth highest amount in AGO’s 124-year history.  

Art Gallery of Ontario’s Exhibition program runs large exhibitions and smaller installations, acquires art, and sends travelling exhibitions to other museums. In F2024, AGO reported that it acquired 332 works. This included 20 works for Global Africa & the Diaspora, 243 Indigenous and Canadian works, 49 modern and contemporary works, 101 photographs, and 17 prints and drawings. AGO’s lineup of exhibitions included Wolfgang Tillmans: To look without fear (April 2023 – October 2023), KAWS: FAMILY (September 2023 – August 2024), and Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody (November 2023 – March 2024). The charity’s Anthropocene travelling exhibit (August 12 – December 2, 2023) was shown at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan, making it the first time that an AGO project has been presented in Asia.  

Art Gallery of Ontario’s Education and Programming runs talks for the public, camps for children, performances, and various events to promote local artists. In F2024, the charity ran eight Education and Programming events. As of F2024, the AGO and RBC Emerging Artists Program presented three programs, including three paid artist residencies, three paid research residencies, and a series of free mentorship workshops. The charity also ran Virtual School Programs (VSP), offered for free to students to inspire a love of learning and art. 

Launched in 2023, Art Gallery of Ontario has continued its expansion project known as the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery. The charity reported that it broke ground in 2024 and that the project will increase the gallery space by 40,000 square feet. It is expected to be completed in 2026. 

Art Gallery of Ontario’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, which is not a best practice.  

Charity Intelligence consolidated the audited financial statements of Art Gallery of Ontario and the Art Gallery of Ontario Foundation. Charity Intelligence has done its best to reconcile the Foundation’s Dec. 2024 year-end with the operating charity’s Mar. 2025 year-end.  

In F2025, AGO received $38.5m in donations and $44.6m in gifted works of art. AGO also received $27.4m in government funding in F2025. Administrative costs are 7% of revenue (less investment income). Fundraising costs are 12% of donations. For every dollar donated, 81 cents are available to go to the cause, within Ci’s reasonable range.  

AGO has $170.2m in reserve funds, of which $104.5m is donor endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, AGO’s net reserves can cover 182%, or just under one year and ten months of annual program costs.  

Profile updated by Leah Holmes on August 29, 2025. This charity report is an update that has been sent to the charity for review.Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.