UHN Foundation is committed to maintaining fully accountable and transparent cost-per-dollar-raised ratios. By tightly controlling direct and general fundraising, as well as administrative expenses, we maximize the proportion of donor contributions that go to research, innovation and patient care. Transparency is at the heart of our success as a foundation, and the cornerstone of our approach to donor relationships. Our financial statements display our strong results in the areas of fundraising, cost effectiveness and grants to support University Health Network. We encourage you to access our audited financial statements through our website at UHNfoundation.ca and to access our Charity Information Return filed with the Canada Revenue Agency (Form T3010A), which is available on the Canada Revenue Agency website.

UHN Foundation (UHNF) recorded another outstanding year, realizing Total Fundraising Revenues of $238.6M for the year ended March 31, 2023. This represents the third consecutive year that fundraising revenues exceeded $200M.

The Foundation continues to be a leader in keeping costs well below industry standard. Direct Fundraising Costs of $10.4M represented only 4.3% of Gross Fundraising Revenues. General Fundraising and Administrative Expenses of $13.5M represented only 6.0% of Net Fundraising revenue. The Foundation remains committed to maintaining cost-efficient expenses in order to be accountable and transparent to our donors and stakeholders, including UHN.

Grants made by the Foundation in support of UHN totalled $120.3M, the second highest in the Foundation’s history, and fourth consecutive year above $100M. These grants continue to have significant impact on research (73%), patient care (20%) and education (7%) at UHN. Research grants include expenditures for researchers and principal investigators that support specific research projects and research capacity at the Krembil Research Institute, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, Toronto Rehab Research Institute (KITE), McEwen Stem Cell Institute, and the Institute for Education Research (TIER).

The Foundation’s Endowment Fund generated an investment return of 1.6% for the 12 months from April 2022 to March 2023. Due to the long-term approach and balanced investment strategy employed by the Foundation, there is a strong cushion of protection of $94M. The main investment philosophy of The Expendable Restricted Fund is the preservation of capital. During fiscal 2023 the Investment Committee approved a de-risking strategy which reversed the negative impact of investment returns in the first half of the year. This involved the withdrawal of equities and maturing fixed income securities, in favour of the purchase of GICs. This strategy generated additional income of $9.4M resulting in an overall Expendable Restricted Fund investment return of 0.7%.

At the end of the fiscal year March 31, 2023, total fund balances have surpassed $1 billion at $1,032M, representing an increase of $101M. These fund balances of $1,032M are almost exclusively donor restricted Expendable and Endowed funds that are held for future support of UHN’s new and ongoing priorities

The Foundation’s Endowment Funds provide a consistent and important base of funding for research and education at UHN. Endowment funds total $334M and include individual endowment funds supporting chairs, professorships, fellowships, lectureships, awards and scholarships.

The investment approach for endowments has always been to manage the endowment fund with a long-term outlook, designed to ensure a consistent stream of income for fundholders. Therefore, a balanced investment strategy has been adopted which involves investment in publicly traded stocks and bonds. The Investment Committee of the Foundation’s Board of Directors establishes the return and risk parameters for the Foundation’s endowment funds, and is responsible for the selection of professional investment managers and the monitoring of their performance. Membership of the Committee includes leaders in the Canadian investment community.

The Foundation’s strong ‘cushion’ of protection of $94M at year-end is the result of our deliberate long-term approach of reinvesting all investment returns in excess of the annual payout and administration fee, currently at 3.5% and 1.5% respectively. This cushion exists to mitigate the impact of market volatility so that our fundholders can rely on a steady stream of income on an annual basis.

With all investments, there is an element of risk, and the Foundation has always endeavoured to manage the endowment funds judiciously. The Foundation will continue to monitor and review investment and payout policies in the context of the economic climate and the needs of UHN.

* 2021 figures have been adjusted to include Toronto Rehab Foundation