Founded in 1984, Gatineau Health Foundation raises money to support the Outaouais Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS), a hospital and social service provider in the region of Outaouais. The foundation hopes to improve the quality of health care patients receive. In F2018, the foundation granted $3.1m to the hospital. Funds collected are used to purchase medical equipment, support prevention programs, and fund investment projects. 

Gatineau Health Foundation’s granting activities allowed the hospital to purchase 37 new beds with barriers that prevent patients from falling out of them. The foundation was also able to help the hospital purchase equipment such as a bladder echograph, technegas technology, a balloon intra-aortic counter-drive, and 15 new cardio-memos. The charity reports that the implementation of these new pieces of equipment will help the hospital become more efficient and serve patients faster.

In F2019, the foundation helped set up a pediatric ophthalmology service in the hospital that diagnoses and treats children’s eye problems. This type of service was previously unavailable in Gatineau. Patients will no longer have to travel to Ottawa to receive a consultation or operations.  

The Gatineau Health Foundation is considered a medium-cap charity with donations of $2.0m in F2018. Its administrative costs are 9% of revenues (excluding investment income) and fundraising costs are 38% of donations. For every dollar donated to the charity, 52 cents go to its programs. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead costs. The charity has net funding reserves of $10.7m. Reserves can cover program costs for almost 3 and a half years.

Please note: this report was prepared by an English-speaking analyst using the audited financial statements which are in French. 

This report is an update that has been sent to Gatineau Health Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated July 31, 2019 by Stefan Tetzlaff.