Dalhousie University is a good, 4-star charity and one of Canada's largest charities. As with most large universities, the charity has an above average results reporting grade and is financially transparent. 

Founded in 1818, Dalhousie University is a public university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dalhousie has 13 faculties and over 200 different degree programs. It has over 90 exchange programs in more than 43 different countries, and over 400 student clubs and societies. The university has residence spaces which can house 2,660 students. Dalhousie’s main charitable programs are education, research, and renovations. It did not disclose a spending breakdown of its programs on its website.

In December of 2021, Dalhousie had 21,929 enrolled students. This included 16,884 undergraduate students, 4,261 graduate students, 129 technology students, and 655 students in post graduate residency. Dalhousie reports that 14% of its students are from Nova Scotia, 62% are from the rest of Canada, and 24% are international students. The university has students from over 115 different countries.

In 2021, Dalhousie reported that 92% of its 1,118 professors had a PhD or doctorate degree. Currently, the university is home to 56 research chairs. From 2018 to 2020, Dalhousie’s research program released 9,943 publications. Since 2005, its research program has had 4 Killam prize recipients, and has launched over 250 startup companies.

Dalhousie University is a Major 100 charity, One of Canada’s largest charities in terms of donations. In F2021 it received $50.8m in Canadian donations. Dalhousie also received $363.2m in government funding (39% of total revenue) and $251.9m in fees for service (27% of total revenue). The university earned $189.7m in investment income (20% of total revenue), which is a 25% annual return. Its average annual investment return since F2019 is 13%. Alternative assets represent 27% of Dalhousie’s investment portfolio.

Administrative costs are 5% of total revenue excluding investment income. Fundraising costs are 7% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 12%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 88 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Dalhousie has $1.0 billion in net funding reserves, which includes $1.2 billion in liquid assets less $161.2m in interest bearing-debts. Its net funding reserves include $667.8m in donor-endowed funds. Dalhousie’s net funding reserves, excluding donor-endowed funds, can cover annual program costs for around 8 months.

Charity Intelligence has sent this profile update to Dalhousie University for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 9th, 2022, by Arjun Kapur.