Archdiocese of Toronto is a 2-star charity with a below average results reporting grade and reasonable overhead spending. It is not financially transparent. With its current reserves, the charity can cover seven months of annual program costs.

Founded in 1845, Archdiocese of Toronto (AOT) was established to provide Roman Catholic Church services to members of the parishes and community. Activities by AOT include building and renovating religious buildings; establishing missions and chaplaincies; teaching Catholic faith through religious services, courses, retreats, and seminars; disseminating Catholic religion using various types of media like print and broadcast media; working with other Catholic organizations; providing funds and services in the evangelization of the Catholic church; and responding to disaster relief. 

In 2022, AOT had 1 archbishop, 4 auxiliary bishops, 385 diocesan priests, 376 religious order priests, 150 permanent deacons, 40 brothers, and 430 sisters. There were 225 parishes, 23 missions, and 2 chapels within AOT. In terms of Catholic schools within AOT, there were 6 Catholic school boards, 485 Catholic elementary schools, 98 Catholic secondary schools, and 1 postsecondary Catholic institute. AOT performed 12,335 baptisms, 6,725 of which were for babies under the age of one. It also performed 13,422 first holy communions: 12,698 confirmations, 2,274 marriages, and 7,747 funerals.

Archdiocese of Toronto is not financially transparent. It does not provide its audited financial statements. This heavily redacted version used for analysis comes from the CRA Charities Directorate. At the time of the update, the F2022 audited financial statements were not available. 

Archdiocese of Toronto’s financial statements do not use non-profit accounting standards which is highly unusual. Instead, each year AOT writes down all spending on its properties. As such, AOT reports its land and buildings have a $2 value. If accounting standards were used, AOT’s auditors estimate these properties would have an estimated book value of $958.8 million. The auditor also notes that these financial statements do not include the required disclosures of Archdiocese of Toronto’s controlled and related entities. As such, this financial review is incomplete. 

Archdiocese of Toronto is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities, receiving $133.7 million in donations in F2021. Its administrative costs are 8% of donations and fundraising costs are 1% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 9%. For every dollar donated, 91 cents go to the cause. This is within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range. 

Archdiocese of Toronto had $51.5m in reserve funds in F2021. These are the charity’s cash and investments. Relative to its annual spending on religious services and parish transfers, this covers seven months of its annual spending. Funding reserves do not include advances to controlled and related entities of $15.8m. 

In 2013, Archdiocese of Toronto launched its “Family of Faith Capital Campaign” to raise $105m. To date, this campaign has received $144.8m of which $21.7m is held for future disbursements to parishes and diocesan priorities. 

Archdiocese of Toronto uses external fundraisers. In F2021, external fundraisers were paid $14k and raised $1.6m. This means it costs Archdiocese of Toronto $0.01 to raise $1 using external fundraisers. 

This report is an update to Charity Intelligence’s first report in August 2019 on Archdiocese of Toronto. It has been sent to the charity. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Financial review completed by Kate Bahen. Updated July 19, 2023 by Alessandra Castino.