Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation

About Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation:

Founded in 1977, Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation (TGWHF) funds research, patient care, and education at Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, and the Michener Institute of Education at University Health Network (UHN). Within each of the three granting areas, TGWHF focuses on a variety of health areas, including diabetes, emergency medicine, neurology, Parkinson’s disease, radiology, stroke, surgery, transplant, and vision. No spending breakdown among these subprograms is provided.

Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation's annual report displays spending 90% of grants on research, 5% on patient care, and 5% on education. TGWHF’s research focus includes arthritis, brain and spine diseases, injuries, diabetes, emergency care, eyes, the heart, the liver, and the lungs.  UHN’s Multi-Organ Transplant Program is the largest adult transplant program in North America, performing 639 adult transplants in 2017, including 195 liver, 202 kidney-only, 19 kidney-pancreas, and 21 pancreas-only transplants performed at TGH.

Results and Impact: In August 2016, a research team at UHN identified two biomarkers that contribute to joint degeneration associated with spine osteoarthritis. TGH established the ex vivo lung perfusion procedure in 2008. The procedure, which repairs damaged lungs outside of the body for implant,  increased the number of lung transplant procedures at TGH by 70% over five years. In 2015, a Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation-funded research project found a 12-week drug regime that cures hepatitis C in over 99% of patients.

Financial Review:

Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation is a Major 100 charity with donations and special events revenues of $127.7m in F2017. Its administrative and fundraising costs were 13% of revenues. For every dollar donated, 87 cents go towards TGWHF’s grants, falling within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead costs.

TGWHF holds funding reserves of $535.7m, of which $209.9m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, TGWHF’s funding reserves can cover 4.8 years of granting activities. This high program cost coverage ratio does not show a need for funding. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Toronto General & Western Hospital Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 18, 2018 by Joeyanne Cheung.