London Health Sciences Foundation

747 Base Line Road East
London, ON N6C 2R6
President & CEO: John MacFarlane
Board Chair: Twee Brown

Charitable Reg. #:89478 1475 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 3/5]

✔+

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.

B

RESULTS REPORTING

Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

n/r

DEMONSTRATED IMPACT

The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.

NEED FOR FUNDING

Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.

84%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 84 cents are available for programs.



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OVERVIEW

About London Health Sciences Foundation:

London Health Sciences Foundation is a 3-star, financially transparent charity. Its results reporting score is B, which is average. Its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range. Its reserve funds can cover seven years and seven months of annual program costs. 

Founded in 1996, London Health Sciences Foundation (LHSF) raises money for the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). LHSC is a network of hospitals in London, Ontario, and one of Canada's largest acute-care teaching hospitals. In F2024, LHSF distributed $19.7m in grants. These grants covered three main areas: Research and Education, Capital, and Patient Care Needs. 

Research and Education was 56% of granting in F2024. These support clinical research and sponsor fellowships for healthcare professionals. 

Capital was 38% of granting in F2024. The charity reports that ten to twenty percent of Canadians suffer from acid reflux, where stomach acid enters the esophagus. Untreated, this condition can cause cancer. The hospital acquired the ERBEJET 2, a surgical tool which makes operations on the esophagus less invasive. This tool reduced post-surgery recovery time from two weeks to 24 hours.  

Patient Care Needs was 7% of granting in F2024. LHSF reported that the second pandemic was the mental health crisis. It states that more patients died of overdose and addiction than of COVID-19. In F2023, the hospital acquired smart boards. These enable more efficient virtual consultations that allow more patients to be seen. 

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Results and Impact

London Health Sciences Foundation reports that one of its doctors, Dr. Saman Maleki, conducted one of the first human trials of skin cancer in 2019. His research resulted in an improved treatment response rate of 65%, compared to the standard 30-40%. 

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of LHSF's results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).

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Finances

London Health Sciences Foundation is a Major 100: one of Canada’s top charities by donations. In F2024, it received $44.4m in donations and special events revenue. Administrative costs are 3% of donations, less investment income. Fundraising costs are 13% of donations. Total overhead spending is 16%. For every dollar donated, 84 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. 

In F2024, LHSF had $168.5m in gross funding reserves. Included in these are $31.6m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding these funds, its reserves can cover seven years and seven months of annual program costs. 

London Health Science Foundation reports using external fundraisers in F2023. It paid external fundraisers $57k to raise $52k. This puts the cost of raising a dollar at $1.10. Donors who want to give with maximum impact are encouraged to donate directly to LHSF. 

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to London Health Science Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 24, 2024 by Stellar Zhang.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending March
202420232022
Administrative costs as % of revenues 2.9%4.7%5.1%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 13.4%22.9%21.4%
Total overhead spending 16.3%27.5%26.5%
Program cost coverage (%) 756.7%746.8%916.9%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s
202420232022
Donations 41,56821,19819,637
Lotteries (net) 2,0772,4752,521
Special events 2,8682,9031,298
Investment income 17,3004,5284,036
Other income 81(66)(138)
Total revenues 63,89431,03827,354
Grants 19,67215,62712,237
Administrative costs 1,3521,2321,186
Fundraising costs 5,9705,5174,474
Total spending 26,99422,37617,897
Cash flow from operations 36,9008,6629,457
Capital spending 7425667
Funding reserves 168,536131,144124,751

Note: Ci adjusted for deferred revenue within other revenue, affecting revenue by $81k in F2024, ($66k) in F2023, and ($138k) in F2022. Ci reported lotteries net within revenues, removing the related expenses of $813k in F2024, $764k in F2023, and $629k in F2022 from total expenses. LHSF also runs a joint venture lottery with other hospital foundations. Its audited financial statements do not disclose if the revenue reported is gross or net. This amount totals $1.3m in F2024, 1.8m in F2023, and $2.0m in F2022. Ci included it within revenue, under lotteries. Ci included investment income within total revenues and subtracted investment management fees.  

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 43

Avg. compensation: $100,801

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
1
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
2
$200k - $250k
1
$160k - $200k
2
$120k - $160k
1
$80k - $120k
3
$40k - $80k
0
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023

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Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

[Charity Intelligence note: This profile has recently been updated. The comments that follow apply to an earlier version and may be revised.]

London Health Sciences Foundation is not a granting body and does not grant money as depicted by this report. Our foundation meets London Health Sciences Centre’s philanthropic needs, as identified by development councils at the hospital. These councils - comprising of physicians, researchers and administrators - prioritize needs within the hospital’s programs, based on medical requirement and financial sustainability. The foundation then raises funds by encouraging donations to these hospital-prioritized needs and disburses the funds as required. Our foundation is committed to ethical and transparent fundraising; acting as a trustee by honouring our donors’ wishes and ensuring that any money we accept is properly disbursed to the initiative or project designated by our donors.

 

Contrary to the Charity Intelligence analysis, financial reserves cannot be assessed in a simple division of one year disbursements compared to the reserve fund, as disbursements are not made at a steady rate year over year. For instance, in 2011 we disbursed $36.26 million to the hospital compared to $7.6 million in 2010. In addition to endowments, there are many reasons for holding reserves prior to disbursement, including saving funds for capital (construction) projects or equipment purchases, and holding donor-restricted funds (e.g. A donation that was directed by a donor to fund a specific multi-year research project will be disbursed over the lifetime of the project and cannot be used for other purposes).

 

Our audited financials can be found at http://www.lhsf.ca/legacy-lhsf/LHSF360/financials/LHSF038_AR_2011Financials.pdf

Charity Contact

Website: www.lhsf.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 519-685-8409

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Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001