Glenbow Museum is a 1-star rated charity with large funding reserves that can cover program spending for over 6.7 years. It is financially transparent and has a below-average results reporting grade and overhead spending within Ci's reasonable range. Before you give, read Charity Intelligence’s report.

Founded in 1967, Glenbow Museum (Glenbow) is an art museum based in Calgary, Alberta. According to the charity, its 33,000 art pieces make it the largest public art collection in Western Canada. About two-thirds of the collection was created by artists from Calgary, Alberta and the rest of Canada. Aside from its collection, Glenbow Museum also operates a student education program, offering interactive learning experiences. The charity does not disclose how much it spent on each program.

In F2022, Glenbow hosted five exhibitions and 15,077 free admission tickets were booked. All exhibitions wrapped up on August 29, 2021, when Glenbow closed for renovations.

The education program is designed to engage with students through a hands-on learning experience. In F2022, Glenbow Museum delivered 63 in-school based and 25 virtual programs to 3,070 students. 76% of the school programs were focused on Indigenous history and culture.

Recent news: The city of Calgary committed $12.4m to Glenbow Reimagined – the charity’s renovation project. This increases the city’s total support for Glenbow to $37.0m. The museum has been closed for renovation since August 29, 2021.

In F2022, Glenbow Museum received $3.3m in donations. The charity also received $15.5m in government funding (63% of revenues). This includes $12.4m funded by the City of Calgary for Glenbow’s renovation project. Administrative costs are 6% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 26% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 32%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 68 cents go to the cause. Glenbow Museum’s total overhead spending is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Glenbow has $35.2m in reserve funds, including $23.9m in donor-endowed funds. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Glenbow can cover 6.7 years of its annual program costs with its reserves.

In addition to reported salary information, Glenbow reported that it paid $1.5m in professional and consulting fees in F2022, or 47% of total wages paid (up from $1.1m in F2021). Compensation figures for staff do not include these consulting fees.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Glenbow Museum. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 28, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.