McMaster University
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.
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.
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OVERVIEW
About McMaster University:
Founded in 1887, McMaster University (McMaster) is a public university in Hamilton. The school is named after Senator William McMaster, founding president of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, who funded its creation through a $900k bequest. Today, McMaster is a research-intensive university with six main faculties: business, engineering, health sciences, humanities, science, and social sciences. Its main programs are education and research, for which it does not provide a spending breakdown.
In fall 2020, McMaster University had 36,450 enrolled students, including 31,533 undergraduates and 4,917 graduates. Around 16% of its student population consists of international students. McMaster has 1,050 faculty members, of which 32% teach health sciences, 20% teach science, and 17% teach engineering.
McMaster University is home to 88 Canada Research Chairs. Its researchers also include 118 endowed research chairs, two Ontario Research Chairs, and a Canada 150 Research Chair. McMaster states that it ranks first across universities in Canada for faculty research intensity, based on research spending per faculty member. In F2020, it spent $404k per faculty member and $75k per graduate researcher.
McMaster publishes an annual Community Engagement Report to highlight local projects that it funds across Greater Hamilton. The McMaster Access Program works with local school boards to help underrepresented students plan for their postsecondary education. In F2020, it reached more than 400 local students through recruiting events and hosted 70 one-on-one academic advising sessions.
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Results and Impact
In April 2019, McMaster University completed an impact evaluation with KPMG. Its impact assessment found McMaster contributes around $1.6 billion in GDP and 14,000 full-time jobs to Ontario’s economy each year through its spending. Including the indirect effects of spending, KPMG estimated that McMaster’s total economic impact is around $9.2 billion each year.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of McMaster University’s results and impact. This charity is not yet rated on impact (n/r).
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Finances
McMaster University is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities in terms of donations. It received donations of $113.6m in F2020. During the year, it also received $479.5m in tuition and other fees (43% of revenues) and $429.9m in government funding (39% of revenues). Administrative costs are 2% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 5% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 6%. For every dollar donated, 94 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
McMaster has $1.3 billion in net funding reserves, of which $476.0m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, McMaster can cover 87% or around ten months of annual program costs with its reserves.
Charity Intelligence has sent this update to McMaster University for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.
Updated on August 30, 2021 by Eric Zhao.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending April
|
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Administrative costs as % of revenues | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.7% |
Fundraising costs as % of donations | 4.5% | 4.1% | 4.2% |
Total overhead spending | 6.4% | 5.9% | 6.0% |
Program cost coverage (%) | 86.8% | 90.3% | 86.6% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
---|---|---|---|
Donations | 113,640 | 119,576 | 110,868 |
Government funding | 429,859 | 425,547 | 415,126 |
Fees for service | 479,465 | 469,275 | 425,724 |
Business activities (net) | 75,959 | 78,202 | 77,112 |
Investment income | 15,104 | 96,033 | 73,290 |
Total revenues | 1,114,027 | 1,188,633 | 1,102,120 |
Program costs | 950,931 | 925,111 | 877,749 |
Administrative costs | 21,359 | 19,977 | 17,817 |
Fundraising costs | 5,093 | 4,862 | 4,681 |
Other costs | 13,257 | 13,300 | 13,340 |
Total spending | 990,640 | 963,249 | 913,587 |
Cash flow from operations | 123,387 | 225,384 | 188,533 |
Capital spending | 127,922 | 148,010 | 156,500 |
Funding reserves | 1,280,903 | 1,313,652 | 1,222,128 |
Note: Ci reported government funding from the charity’s T3010 filings and removed the amounts from donations. Ci excluded amortization of deferred capital contributions, as McMaster’s audited financials do not disclose the source of this funding. This affected revenues by ($40.8m) in F2020, ($38.8m) in F2019, and ($40.2m) in F2018. Ci included external endowment contributions in donations and investment gains (losses) from external endowments in investment income. This affected revenues by ($6.2m) in F2020, $34.5m in F2019, and $32.8m in F2018. McMaster does not report administrative and fundraising costs in its audited financial statements. Ci gathered administrative and fundraising costs from the charity’s T3010 filings, removing the amounts from program costs. Ci removed amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs.
Salary Information
$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 F2020
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
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