Heart & Stroke

222 Queen Street, Suite 1402
Ottawa, ON K1P 5V9
CEO: Yves Savoie
Board Chair: Andrew W. Cockwell

Website: www.heartandstroke.ca
Charitable Reg. #: 10684 6942 RR0001

Sector: Health

Operating Charity

Charity Rating

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Results Reporting

Grade: A-

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

Financial Transparency

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity's website [Audited financial statement for most recent year]

Need for Funding

Funding Reserves Program Costs

Spending Breakdown

Cents to the Cause

♦	♦	♦
			95¢



			75¢
			avg
			65¢


			50¢

2015	2016	2017

For a dollar donated, cents funding the cause after fundraising and admin costs, excluding surplus.

Full-time staff #606

Avg. Compensation $68,736

Top 10 Staff Salary Range

$350k +	0
$300k - $350k	1
$250k - $300k	5
$200k - $250k	4
$160k - $200k	0
$120k - $160k	0
$80k - $120k	0
$40k - $80k	0
< $40k	0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2017

About Heart & Stroke:

Founded in 1952, the mission of Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Heart & Stroke) is to “prevent disease, save lives and promote recovery”. Heart & Stroke's activities fall under four priority areas: preventing disease, saving lives, promoting recovery, and investing in research. Core programs include research and health promotion & community programs. The charity notes that 1.6 million Canadians are living with heart disease and stroke, and that 80% of premature heart disease & stroke is preventable. Heart & Stroke has two major goals for 2020: decreasing the risk factors for heart disease and stroke in Canadians by 10%, and reducing Canadians’ death rate from heart disease and stroke by 25%.

Health promotion & community program spending made up 54% of Heart & Stroke’s total program costs and grants in F2017. Heart & Stroke aims to prevent disease by generating awareness. It organizes school and community programs, issues health information, and influences public policies. Heart & Stroke aims to save lives by enabling better response and treatment for cardiac emergencies and strokes. This is accomplished by developing educational materials, and educating the public on CPR, AEDs (automated external defibrillators) and stroke awareness. Heart & Stroke also aims to promote recovery by providing recovery information and creating a support network for survivors.

In F2017, Heart & Stroke generated health awareness among more than 950,000 kids in 3,415 schools across Canada through the Jump Rope for Heart program. The charity trained 215,000 people in CPR during the year, and trained 323,000 clinicians, first responders, and other personnel in Canada on how to respond to heart emergencies. In F2017, Heart & Stroke launched its online Community of Survivors to 300 people who have experienced heart disease or stroke. This program connects heart disease, heart failure and stroke survivors together.

Research grants made up 46% of total program costs and grants in F2017. Heart & Stroke states that it supported more than 800 researchers in medical institutes, universities, hospitals and communities across Canada in 2017. It reports that it has invested $1.52 billion in research since 1952. As per the charity’s T3010 CRA filings, Heart & Stroke’s five largest grants (making up 64% of total grants) for F2017 were to Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario ($2.4m), University of Alberta ($2.0m), Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation ($1.9m), University of BC ($1.8m), and McMaster University ($1.5m).

Results and Impact: As a result of Heart & Stroke’s campaigns to publicize the FAST (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) signs of stroke, it states that more people can recognize a stroke and know to act quickly to reduce the damage it can cause. The charity reports that in F2017 its FAST campaign increased awareness amongst Quebecers significantly, with 71% of respondents indicating they knew any one of the three signs (vs. 54% pre-campaign), 37% knew any two of three signs (vs. 22% pre-campaign), and 13% knew all three signs (vs. 5% pre-campaign).

Heart & Stroke reports its last milestone research breakthrough occurred in 2015 during the ESCAPE trial, which was co-funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The researchers studied 316 people who were diagnosed with a major ischemic stroke. Using a procedure called endovascular thrombectomy (ET) as a treatment for stroke, the trial found a 50% reduction in the overall death rate among the patients who were treated with ET. Heart & Stroke also reports that the death rate from heart disease and stroke has declined by more than 75% since 1952.

Financial Review:

Heart & Stroke is one of Canada’s largest charities, a Major 100, with donations of $115.8m in F2017. Administrative costs are 3% of revenues and fundraising costs are 44% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.53 goes towards its programs and grants, which falls outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity’s funding reserves of $78.7m include $5.6m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding endowed funds, Heart & Stroke’s reserves can cover 1 year of annual program and granting costs. The charity has program and research grant commitments to pay out $52.0m in the next 5 years, which is 71% of its current non-endowed funding reserves.

Heart & Stroke uses external fundraisers as part of its fundraising activities. In F2017, the charity reported paying external fundraisers $1.0m that raised $14.6m. For every dollar Heart & Stroke raised from external fundraisers, it paid $0.07 to the third party.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada for review. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 20, 2018 by Derek Houlberg.

Financial Ratios Fiscal year ending August	2017	2016	2015
Administrative costs as % of revenues	3.4%	3.0%	3.7%
Fundraising costs as % of donations	43.9%	43.9%	46.6%
Program cost coverage (%)	112.9%	105.9%	110.7%

Summary Financial Statements All figures in $000s	2017	2016	2015
Donations	115,823	116,152	115,647
Government funding	2,700	4,360	7,932
Lotteries (net)	3,549	5,870	709
Investment income	2,978	1,791	2,400
Other income	604	2,334	9,199
Total revenues	125,654	130,507	135,887
Program costs	37,108	41,836	48,770
Grants	32,587	31,506	30,934
Administrative costs	4,160	3,792	4,931
Fundraising costs	50,860	50,994	53,922
Cash flow from operations	939	2,379	(2,670)
Funding reserves	78,657	77,690	88,268

Note: Ci included endowment contributions in donations, increasing total revenues by $59k in F2017, $110k in F2016 and $129k in F2015. Ci reported lottery revenue net of direct costs, reducing total revenues and expenses by $10.6m in F2017, $11.0m in F2016 and $33.0m in F2015. Ci backed out amortization from program costs, reducing total program costs by $927k in F2017, $580k in F2016 and $847k in F2015.

Comments added by the Charity:

The following comments were added to a previous charity profile:

Heart&Stroke is a national charity with an ambitious vision: “Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.” We need Canadians to join with us, as they have over the last 60 years, to help us in our mission to prevent disease, save lives and promote recovery.

Our national strategic plan, launched in 2013, set us on the path to achieving even greater tangible improvement in the health of Canadians. The plan identifies two specific impact goals, and everything we do ladders up to achieving these goals by 2020:

Reduce Canadians’ rate of death from heart disease and stroke by 25 per cent
Significantly improve the health of Canadians by decreasing their risk factors for heart disease and stroke by 10 per cent

Since Heart&Stroke was established in 1952, we have invested more than $1.45 billion in vital heart and stroke research, making us the largest contributor in Canada after the federal government. In that time, the death rate from heart disease and stroke has declined by more than 75 per cent. Our research grants have led to breakthroughs such as:

A hormone that revolutionized how we can control blood pressure, the leading risk factor for stroke;
The first heart transplant surgery in Canada;
Identification of the risk factors accounting for 90 per cent of all strokes and first heart attacks; and
A procedure that cuts stroke deaths by 50 per cent and significantly reduces disability in survivors by quickly pulling the clots out of the brain (ESCAPE trial 2015).

Below are some other recent examples that illustrate the impact we’re having:

In 2015, we created – along with the Childhood Obesity Foundation – a coalition of influential national, provincial and regional groups with an interest in promoting nutrition and health to advocate to restrict all commercial marketing of foods and beverages to Canadian children, and were successful in making this an issue during the federal election. Heart&Stroke was the first Canadian organization to call on Canadians to limit the amount of added sugar they consume each day. Too much sugar is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and high blood cholesterol.
In 2015, we released a thought-provoking position statement on saturated fats, calling on Canadian society to think about saturated fats and heart disease in a new way.
In 2015, our advocacy efforts led to Nova Scotia and Alberta being the first jurisdictions to introduce a ban on menthol in cigarettes, the most commonly used flavour among youth.
Since 2004, we have empowered more than 1 million Canadians to assess their risk of heart disease and stroke, to target high blood pressure (the number one risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease), and to make other healthy changes through the use of our free eTools.
In 2015, Heart&Stroke continued to provide a range of patient information and resources. We introduced Your Stroke Journey, a free comprehensive guide that helps stroke survivors and their families understand the effects of stroke and manage their recovery process.
In 2015, Heart&Stroke unveiled our Community of Survivors, a network of nearly 700 Canadians who have experienced heart disease, heart failure or stroke and are interested in improving their recovery. This group engaged in a variety of work, including being spokespeople during stroke month and testing the use of online technology for helping manage recovery.
In 2015, Heart&Stroke committed $1.5 million over five years (matched by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research) to the Canadian Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium (CanROC), an ambitious, multi-provincial initiative aimed at improving survival rates from cardiac arrest by ensuring that all Canadians, regardless of their location, receive excellent care, from bystander response and early defibrillation through to advanced pre-hospital care.
In 2015, Heart&Stroke funded research in regenerative medicine that could be a game changer for patients with heart failure. A heart transplant is the only solution for advanced heart failure but research that is close to being translated into therapy could help the heart to repair itself after a heart attack.

Heart&Stroke is committed to providing the highest level of financial responsibility and transparency around our operations. We believe in monitoring and measuring our performance on an ongoing basis; continuously reviewing which programs and activities deliver higher returns and identifying ways to increase revenue so we can have even more impact against our mission. We continue, as always, to be strongly committed to improving the efficiency of our organization. We are confident that the strategic investments we made in becoming one organization will ensure the longer term success and efficiency of the HSC – leading to meaningful improvements in the health of Canadians.