Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
C
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.
55%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 55 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation:
Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation is a 2-star charity. It has a C Results Reporting grade, which is below average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 55 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci's reasonable range. The charity holds reserve funds within Ci's reasonable range.
In 2022, Dalhousie University and the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation merged. As of March 2023, Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation transferred 98% of its cash and investments to Dalhousie University. Charity Intelligence will no longer update this report on Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation. For more information on Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, read Ci’s report on Dalhousie University.
Founded in 1979, Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation (DMRF) funds medical research at Dalhousie University Medical School and its related research facilities across the Maritimes. Dalhousie Medical School focuses its research on four key areas: cancer; cardiology; neuroscience; and inflammation, infection, and immunity. In F2023, DMRF spent $3.3m on research grants, and sent a $77.4m transfer to Dalhousie University. The charity did not provide a spending breakdown of its grants. The charity did not report the total number of researchers funded, the total amount of research projects ongoing, or the total number of research grants provided.
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Results and Impact
Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation reports research breakthroughs and publications from the past fiscal year.
Anu Jose, a PHD student, had her paper published in the American Journal of Physiology. The paper studied the way the metabolism affects disease progress, focusing on an enzyme called Lipid Phosphate Phosphatase 3 (LPP3).
Dr. Marrie’s research on MS, where she analyzed 17 clinical trials, found that 25% of people have at least one other condition, 11% have two other conditions, and 6% had three or more other conditions.
Dr. Giacomantonio’s research uses a process called targeted hyperthermia therapy. This process heats cancer cells to 42-48 degrees Celsius, which triggers a “cancer death cycle”. After the therapy, tumours from breast cancer and melanoma shrank. He published a paper in the Frontiers of Immunology journal.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation’s results and impact.
This charity is not yet rated on impact. This shows as n/r and it does not affect its star rating.
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Finances
Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation is not financially transparent and did not provide its financial statements upon request. Charity Intelligence received its financial statements from the CRA. Its financial statements are not audited and do not contain any notes or the cash flow statement.
Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation received $2.4m in donations in F2024. The charity spent $80.6m on grants and recorded a deficit of $85.9m.
DMRF’s $86.0m in investments lost $6.7m, at an estimated return of -8%. Over the past five years, its investments average a 2% return.
DMRF did not report any fundraising costs and spent $1.1m on administration, which is 45% of revenue (excluding investment income). For every dollar donated to the charity, 55 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci’s reasonable range.
DMRF has $97k in reserve funds (cash and investments), as it granted 98% of its reserves to Dalhousie University in F2023. The charity’s reserves can cover under one month of its annual grant costs.
This charity report is an update that has been sent to Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation.
Updated on June 4, 2025 by Liam Chapleau.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 44.6% | 22.7% | 16.2% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 0.0% | 38.4% | 24.7% |
| Total overhead spending | 44.6% | 61.1% | 40.9% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 0.1% | 1,296.6% | 1,419.0% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 2,448 | 3,744 | 5,350 |
| Government funding | 69 | 317 | 253 |
| Investment income | (6,724) | 3,083 | 12,446 |
| Total revenues | (4,207) | 7,144 | 18,049 |
| Grants | 80,611 | 6,633 | 6,202 |
| Administrative costs | 1,123 | 923 | 907 |
| Fundraising costs | 0 | 1,438 | 1,320 |
| Total spending | 81,746 | 9,013 | 8,445 |
| Cash flow from operations | (85,941) | (1,850) | 9,620 |
| Capital spending | 0 | 90 | 3 |
| Funding reserves | 97 | 86,009 | 88,010 |
Note: 1. Federal Government Receivable: Ci adjusted for the change in federal government receivable, which affected revenue by $69k in F2023, $86k in F2022, and ($95k) in F2021. 2. Donations receivable: Ci adjusted for donations receivable, which was $331k in F2023, ($97k) in F2022, and ($234k) in F2021. 3. Amortization: Ci reported amortization from the charity’s T3010 and removed in pro-rata from programs, fundraising and administration. Amortization was $12k in F2023, $20k in F2022, and $16k in F2021.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
1 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
2 |
$80k - $120k |
1 |
$40k - $80k |
6 |
< $40k |
1 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2023
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
100% of donations to our annual programs, such as the Molly Appeal, In Memoriam, and other fundraising initiatives are directed to research projects in Medicine, Health and Dentistry at Dalhousie University.
The statement above that only $.61 of every dollar donated to DMRF is directed toward research grants is based on a generic calculation and is incorrect. Ci has assumed that donations are directed first toward administration and fundraising costs, with the remaining balance going to grants. The impact of investment income, a significant source of funding for us and other similar foundations, has been omitted.
Owing to the foresight of our founding members and careful investment management, the Foundation’s endowment has grown significantly over the past 40 years. Investment income on these endowed funds not only supports an increasing amount of research funding, a portion also covers our operating costs. This spending policy is articulated in Note 2 to our audited financial statements.
Comments submitted regarding F2017 rating and review.
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 888-866-6559