University of Manitoba is a four-star charity and one of Canada's largest charities. As with most large universities, it has a high results reporting grade and is financially transparent. The university does not have large funding reserves and can cover less than a year of program costs. 

Founded in 1877, the University of Manitoba (U of M) is a public research university located in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is the oldest university in western Canada and the only research-intensive university in Manitoba. U of M has two main campuses: the Bannatyne campus in downtown Winnipeg and the Fort Garry Campus located 20 minutes outside of the city centre. It also has multiple satellite sites across the province. The university’s main charitable programs are Academics, Research, and Renovations.

In fall of 2021, University of Manitoba had 31,037 students enrolled. This included 26,412 undergraduate students, 3,931 graduate students, and 694 postgraduate medical students. The charity reports that 2,614 of its students are indigenous and 6,788 students are from outside of Canada. U of M offers over 100 programs of study to undergraduate students and over 140 programs for graduate students. In the fall 2021 term, the university taught a total of 275,585 credit hours.

U of M reports that it has 85 endowed and sponsored research chairs, including 50 Canada Research Chairs, a Senior Canada 150 Research Chair, a Canada Excellence Research Chair, and a Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate. The university has over 50 different research centres. In F2021, U of M spent $2.3m renovating the Drake Centre, $2.1m renovating the RTDS Technologies Research building, and $1.6m renovating the Pathology building.

University of Manitoba is a Major 100 charity, one of Canada’s largest charities in terms of donations. In F2021 it received $114.9m in Canadian donations. It also received $206.7m in student fees (21% of total revenue) and $560.9m in government funding (58% of total revenue). In F2021, the university earned $36.4m in investment income, which represents a 3% annual return. Its average annual investment return since F2014 is 6%. The average annual investment return of the S&P 500 from 2014 to 2021 is around 13%. Investments in a private infrastructure fund comprise 6% of the charity’s portfolio.

University of Manitoba’s administrative costs are 3% of total revenue excluding investment income. Its fundraising costs are 2% of Canadian donations. This results in total overhead spending of 5%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 95 cents go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

The university has $1.2 billion in net funding reserves ($1.5 billion in liquid assets less $323.9m in interest-bearing debts). Its liquid assets also include $550.8m in donor-endowed funds. The charity’s net funding reserves, excluding donor-endowed funds, can cover annual program costs for around 11 months.

This charity report is an update that is being reviewed by University of Manitoba. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 28th, 2022 by Arjun Kapur.