AODA website compliance for nonprofits, in plain English.
AODA sounds like an Ontario web-police law with hundred-thousand-dollar fines. For your website, it comes down to one standard — WCAG 2.0 Level AA — and it may not even apply to you. Here's who AODA actually binds, what it asks of your site, the dates that matter, and how a nonprofit gets compliant without the panic.
Published July 9, 2026
What does AODA require for your website?
One specific thing. If you’re an Ontario public body, or a business or nonprofit with 50 or more employees in Ontario, your public website has to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA, the web accessibility standard, for content published after January 1, 2012. The deadline was January 1, 2021, so it’s already here. If you have fewer than 50 employees, that website rule doesn’t apply to you, though you may still file a compliance report at 20 or more. AODA sounds like a maze. For your website, it’s really one standard and a couple of dates.
Does AODA even apply to you?
Most of the panic online skips this question. AODA only binds some organizations, and the website rule has a size cutoff. Find your row first, because for a lot of small nonprofits the honest answer is that the website standard doesn't apply at all.
Ontario public sector body
Any sizeMunicipalities, school boards, colleges, hospitals, and other designated public-sector organizations have had to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA on their public websites since January 1, 2021.
Business or nonprofit, 50+ employees
50 or moreWith 50 or more employees in Ontario, your public website and web content have had to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA since January 1, 2021, for anything published after January 1, 2012.
Business or nonprofit, under 50
1 to 49The WCAG website standard doesn't reach you. You may still have to file a compliance report at 20 or more employees, but making the site meet WCAG isn't legally required. Most small nonprofits sit here.
Anywhere outside Ontario
Any sizeAODA is Ontario law. A nonprofit in BC, Alberta, or anywhere else isn't bound by it, even though most online advice is written as if everyone is.
Outside Ontario and wondering which Canadian law does apply to you? Here’s the plain-English rundown of all three.
The standard, in things you can picture
AODA doesn't invent its own technical rules. It points at WCAG 2.0 Level AA, an international standard. Stripped of the jargon, that's mostly a handful of plain, testable things about your public website.
- Every link, button, and form can be used with a keyboard alone, no mouse needed.
- Text has enough contrast against its background to read on a phone in daylight.
- Images that carry meaning have alt text a screen reader can announce.
- Form fields have visible labels, and error messages say what to fix in plain words.
- Pre-recorded video has captions. Live captions and audio description are the two pieces AODA specifically leaves out.
- The page still works when someone zooms in, or reads it top to bottom with a screen reader.
Ready to fix it yourself? Here’s how to make your website WCAG compliant, step by step, starting with what you can do without a developer.
50 is the website number. 20 is the paperwork number.
The single biggest source of AODA confusion is mixing up two employee thresholds. They're different rules with different cutoffs, so it's worth pinning down which one you've hit.
Your website must meet WCAG 2.0 AA
Public-sector bodies too, at any size. In force since January 1, 2021, for public web content published after January 1, 2012.
You file an accessibility compliance report
A short self-report to the province, filed every three years. The next deadline is December 31, 2026. Confirm the current cycle on ontario.ca, since the province updates it.
You’ll see the scary number quoted a lot: up to $100,000 a day for a corporation, $50,000 a day for a director. Those are the Act’s ceilings, not what a small nonprofit would ever see. Enforcement is graduated. It starts with the compliance report, then a compliance order, and only escalates from there, with real penalties far below the maximum. Nobody is going to bankrupt your charity over an alt-text gap. The honest reason to comply is simpler: the standard is a finite checklist, and once your site meets it, it’s done.
It’s a WCAG job, and WCAG is the same everywhere
AODA compliance for a website isn’t an Ontario-only skill. It’s meeting WCAG, and that standard doesn’t change at a provincial border. We’re a BC team, and we build and audit to WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 AA remotely, over email and a few calls, so an Ontario nonprofit can get there without us setting foot in the province. When we audit, one of us drives a screen reader through the site by hand and works every form with just the keyboard, because that’s the part of the standard no automated scan can check. It’s how we build every site by default, to WCAG 2.1 AA from day one.
Our accessibility audit: nine dimensions, from $1,500- An assessment against WCAG 2.0 AA, the exact standard AODA points to
- A prioritized, plain-language list of what to fix and in what order
- Documentation you can keep on file or attach to a compliance report
- Manual screen reader and keyboard testing, not just an automated scan
What nonprofit leaders ask about AODA
Does AODA apply to my nonprofit?
Only in Ontario, and it depends on size. The website standard applies to Ontario public bodies and to businesses or nonprofits with 50 or more employees. Under 50, the website rule doesn't apply, though you may still have to file a compliance report at 20 or more employees. Outside Ontario, AODA doesn't govern you at all.
What WCAG level does AODA require for websites?
WCAG 2.0 Level AA, with two exceptions: live captions (success criterion 1.2.4) and pre-recorded audio descriptions (1.2.5). It covers public web content published after January 1, 2012. WCAG 2.1 AA, which is what we build to, includes everything in 2.0 AA and more, so meeting 2.1 puts you past the AODA bar.
We have fewer than 50 employees. Do we still have to make our website accessible?
Not under AODA's website rule, which starts at 50 employees. Two things are still true, though. If you have 20 or more employees you have to file an accessibility compliance report, and accessibility is worth doing regardless, because funders increasingly ask for it and a lot of the people you serve rely on it.
What was the deadline for AODA website compliance?
January 1, 2021. Designated public-sector organizations and businesses or nonprofits with 50 or more employees had to meet WCAG 2.0 AA by then. If that describes you and your site doesn't meet it yet, you're already past the date, which is worth knowing but not worth panicking over.
What are the penalties for AODA non-compliance?
The Act sets high ceilings: up to $100,000 a day for a corporation and $50,000 a day for a director or officer. Those are statutory maximums, not what a small nonprofit would face. Enforcement is graduated, starting with reports and compliance orders, and real penalties are far smaller. The reason to comply isn't dodging a fine, it's that the checklist is finite and knowable.
Do we have to file an accessibility compliance report?
If you're a business or nonprofit with 20 or more employees in Ontario, yes, every three years. The next deadline is December 31, 2026. It's a self-report filed with the province confirming you meet the standards that apply to your size. Confirm the current requirements on ontario.ca, since the reporting cycle changes.
Can a company outside Ontario help us comply with AODA?
Yes. AODA points at WCAG, and WCAG is the same technical standard everywhere. We're a BC team, and we build and audit to WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 AA remotely, so we can get your Ontario site meeting the standard over email and a few calls, without being in the province. For the legal specifics of your obligation, check with a compliance advisor; for making the site actually meet the standard, that's the audit.
AODA compliance sounds like a wall. It's a checklist. Let's see how much you've already cleared.
Book a free call. We'll tell you honestly whether AODA even applies to you, and if it does, exactly what your site needs to meet WCAG 2.0 AA. No fear, no upsell.