Founded in 1922, Children's Health Foundation (CHF) raises funds for the Children's Hospital at London Health Sciences Centre, the Children's Health Research Institute (CHRI), and the Thames Valley Children's Centre (TVCC). The three health centres work together to improve children’s health across London, Ontario.

In F2021, Children’s Health Foundation granted $7.3m towards pediatric health care, research, and rehabilitative service programs.

Pediatric health care at the Children’s Hospital represented 58% of grants. In F2021, CHF reports that the hospital received 161,690 patient visits, 41,551 virtual appointments, and 21,180 emergency visits. The Children’s Hospital also reported a total of 56,564 pediatric care patients and 5,486 births during the year. CHF helped to fund 89 equipment replacements or upgrades in F2021, including a new ultrasound and neonatal incubator.

Research at the Children’s Health Research Institute represented 26% of grants. Children's Health Foundation states that the CHRI is the third-largest children’s hospital research site in all of Canada. As of F2021, the research institute has 137 researchers and associate scientists working on projects. During the year, CHF funded seven new research projects.

Rehabilitative service programs at Thames Valley Children’s Centre made up the remaining 16% of grants. TVCC specializes in support for physical disabilities, communication disorders, developmental delays, and autism. It focuses on helping children develop social, communication, and life skills. In F2021, CHF reported that Thames Valley Children’s Centre provided 148,275 hours of care to 10,934 children and families.

In F2021, Children’s Health Foundation also reported spending $645k on its own education programs. It does not report on outputs associated with these programs.

Children’s Health Foundation received donations of $9.8m in F2021. It also received $597k in government wage subsidies during the year. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 18% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 22%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 78 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

CHF has $23.2m in funding reserves, of which $263k is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity can cover annual program and grant costs for around 2.9 years. Its funding reserves contributed $3.9m in investment income in F2021, at an estimated rate of return of 20% (compared to an investment loss of $1.3m at a return of -6% in F2020). Over the last eight years, Ci estimates that CHF’s investment returns have averaged 6%.

Children’s Health Foundation has committed $7.0m in grants ($4.3m to the Children’s Hospital, $1.6m to CHRI, and $1.0m to TVCC) and $9k in lease payments in F2022.

CHF’s capital spending spiked in F2020 due to the purchase of a new building with a fair market value of $1.6m. It paid $1.0m and received a $600k discount, recorded as an in-kind donation in its audited financial statements.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Children’s Health Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 29, 2021 by Eric Zhao.