1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8
President: David Farrar
Board Chair: Jane Allen

Charitable Reg. #:11903 5988 RR0001

STAR RATING

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

[Charity Rating: 5/5]

✔+

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

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

A

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.

94%

CENTS TO THE CAUSE

For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 94 cents are available for programs.



My anchor

OVERVIEW

About McMaster University:

McMaster University is a 5-star charity. It has an A results reporting grade, which is above average. Its overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range and it is financially transparent.

Founded in 1887, McMaster University is a public university in Hamilton, Ontario. McMaster has a focus on research and has six faculties: business, engineering, health sciences, humanities, science, and social science. Charity Intelligence estimates McMaster spent $1.2 billion on its programs in its fiscal year ending April 2024 (F2024). McMaster’s main programs are education and research. It does not provide a program spending breakdown.

A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity.

Education: McMaster had a total of 37,592 students in F2024. Of those students, 83% were domestic students (31,207) and 17% were international students (6,385). McMaster had 1,079 full-time faculty and 5,468 full-time staff in F2024. McMaster ranked 103rd in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. McMaster reports 92% of first-year undergraduates continued to second year.

Research: McMaster has 70 research centres and institutes. McMaster states it ranked number two in Canada for faculty research intensity. In F2024 McMaster provided $407k per faculty member for research. It also states it ranked number three in Canada for graduate research intensity. McMaster provided $68k per graduate student for research. In F2024 McMaster had 86 Canada Research chairs. Clarivite Analytics’ 2024 list of the World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers featured 18 McMaster researchers.

 

My anchor

Results and Impact

McMaster awarded 8,056 degrees in 2023. McMaster reports that from 2019 to 2023 the number of degrees awarded has increased by 18.5%.

The six-year graduation rate for the 2017 McMaster cohort was 84%.

McMaster states KPMG studied its economic impact. KPMG determined that McMaster’s annual economic impact is $9.2 billion. KPMG also reported that McMaster has a $3.87 billion impact on Hamilton’s GDP. KPMG reported that every dollar invested in McMaster returns nearly eight dollars to the economy.

McMaster also reports on its research publications. For example, researchers lead by a McMaster professor published a study in the journal Nature in 2023. It showed that the hormone GDF15 can help with weight loss.

While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent McMaster University’s results and impact.

Charity Intelligence has not yet rated McMaster on impact (n/r). This does not affect the star rating.

My anchor

Finances

McMaster University’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing, which is not a best practice. This means Ci referred to its T3010 filings to report program, administrative, and fundraising costs.

In F2024 McMaster received $198.2m in donations, a 133% increase from F2024 ($84.8m). McMaster received $461.4m in government funding, which is 29% of total revenue. It also received $615.1m in tuition and other fees (39% of total revenue).

Administrative costs are 2% of revenues (excluding investment income). Fundraising costs are 4% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 6%. For every dollar donated, 94 cents are available to go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

In F2024 McMaster spent $1.2 billion on its programs, which is 79% of its revenue. In F2024 it had a surplus of $282.7m, which is 18% of its revenue.

McMaster University has $2.4 billion in gross reserve funds (cash and investments) and $421.4m in interest-bearing debts. This results in net funding reserves of $1.9 billion. Excluding $645.4m in donor-endowed funds, the net funding reserves can cover 107%, or one year and just under one month of program costs.

This charity report is an update that has been sent for review to McMaster University. Changes and edits may be forthcoming. 

Updated on June 9, 2025, by Grady Simpson.

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending April
202420232022
Administrative costs as % of revenues 2.0%1.7%2.2%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 3.7%7.5%4.6%
Total overhead spending 5.7%9.2%6.8%
Program cost coverage (%) 107.4%113.0%113.2%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s
202420232022
Donations 198,20884,786120,996
Government funding 461,387519,601450,641
Fees for service 615,061592,183567,387
Business activities (net) 90,65986,10164,718
Investment income 179,164140,474(66,777)
Other income 22,694107,43770,220
Total revenues 1,567,1731,530,5821,207,185
Program costs 1,231,6281,118,7871,006,056
Administrative costs 27,36823,35128,400
Fundraising costs 7,3476,3645,514
Other costs 18,13018,18517,392
Total spending 1,284,4731,166,6871,057,362
Cash flow from operations 282,700363,895149,823
Capital spending 126,307179,573131,926
Funding reserves 1,933,7291,820,2261,656,235

Note: Deferred adjustment: McMaster uses deferred accounting. To show donors information on a consistent basis, Ci adjusted for these deferred revenues. This affected revenue by $734k in F2024, $64.8m in F2023, and $44.0m in F2022. Deferred capital contributions: Ci adjusted for deferred capital contributions. This affected revenues by ($29.7m) in F2024, ($4.2m) in F2023, and ($18.6m) in F2022. Endowment contributions: Ci included external endowment contributions in donations. This affected revenues by $32.5m in F2024, $32.6m in F2023, and $20.6m in F2022. Endowment investment income: Ci included external endowment investment income (loss). This affected revenues by $46.3m in F2024, $31.6m in F2023, and ($36.4m) in F2022. T3010: McMaster uses line-item costing. Ci used the charity’s T3010 filing to report administrative and fundraising costs. Amortization: Ci removed amortization on a pro rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs in F2024, F2023, and F2022. Government funding: Ci reported government funding using the charity’s T3010 filing and removed it from donations.

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 5,351

Avg. compensation: $111,727

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
10
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
0
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
0
$80k - $120k
0
$40k - $80k
0
< $40k
0

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024

My anchor

Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

No comments have been added by the charity.

Charity Contact

Website: www.mcmaster.ca
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 905-525-9140

Print  
Image

Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities for donors to be informed and give intelligently. Our website posts free reports on more than 800 Canadian charities, as well as in-depth primers on philanthropic sectors like Canada’s environment, cancer, and homelessness. Today over 500,000 Canadians use our website as a go-to source for information on Canadian charities reading over 1.6 million charity reports. Through rigorous and independent research, Charity Intelligence aims to assist Canada’s dynamic charitable sector in being more transparent, accountable and focused on results.

 

Be Informed. Give Intelligently. Have Impact

 

Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001