The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) sets out clear requirements for the accessibility of websites operated by Ontario organizations. If your nonprofit is based in Ontario or serves Ontario residents, this guide is for you.
What AODA requires for your website
Under the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR), Ontario organizations must comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA for their websites and web content. In practice, this means your website must be perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for users with disabilities — including people who use screen readers, keyboard navigation, or require high contrast.
The deadlines that apply to nonprofits
For organizations with 1–49 employees, the deadline for public websites was January 1, 2021. For organizations with 50 or more employees, the deadline was also January 1, 2021. If your website predates these deadlines and has not been updated, you are not compliant — and you are at risk.
The most common AODA failures on nonprofit websites
- Missing alt text on images. Every informational image needs a text description. Decorative images should have empty alt attributes.
- Low colour contrast. Text must have a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 against its background. Many nonprofit sites use light grey text on white backgrounds that fails this test.
- Forms without labels. Every form input must have a visible, associated label. Placeholder text alone is not sufficient.
- Videos without captions. All video content must have accurate captions — auto-generated captions from YouTube do not always meet the standard.
- PDFs that are not accessible. Annual reports, program guides, and forms published as PDFs must be tagged for accessibility.
- Keyboard navigation failures. All functionality — menus, forms, modals — must be usable without a mouse.
How to get your nonprofit website AODA compliant
Start with an accessibility audit. This identifies every barrier on your site, prioritized by severity. Then address the issues — some can be fixed with content changes, others require code changes or a full redesign of specific components.
Noble Pixels provides AODA accessibility audits and full remediation for Canadian nonprofit websites. Learn more about our accessibility service → or contact us to start your audit.
