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Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation

610 University Ave.
Toronto, ON M5G 2M9
President & CEO: Michael Burns
Board Chair: Glenn Ives

Website: www.thepmcf.ca
Charitable Reg. #: 88900 7597 RR0001
Sector: Health - Hospital Foundation
Public Foundation

Charity Rating

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Donor Accountability

Grade: B+

The grade is based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

Financial Transparency

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity's website [ Audited financial statement for most recent year ]

Need for Funding

donor
endowed
Funding Reserves Program Costs

Spending Breakdown

Cents to The Cause

♦ ♦ ♦
95¢
75¢
avg
65¢
50¢
2016 2017 2018
For a dollar donated, cents funding the cause after fundraising and admin costs, excluding surplus.

Full-time staff #77

Avg. Compensation $135,393

Top 10 Staff Salary Range

$350k + 2
$300k - $350k 2
$250k - $300k 3
$200k - $250k 3
$160k - $200k 0
$120k - $160k 0
$80k - $120k 0
$40k - $80k 0
< $40k 0
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2017

About Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation:

Founded in 1982, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (PMCF) raises money to fund research, building upgrades, and equipment purchases at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. It is estimated that almost 50% of Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime and 25% will die from the illness. The centre aims to “conquer cancer in our lifetime”. 

In F2018, PMCF distributed $108.5 million to the cancer centre: 90% to research, education, and patient care; 8% to buildings; and 2% to equipment. The centre is visited over 400,000 times each year, including 17,797 new patients in F2017 who accessing 26 specialty clinics and 202 inpatient beds.

In F2017, the hospital employed 850 researchers and research staff. Researchers investigate the causes and treatment of cancers including using stem cells or a patient’s immune system to fight the illness.

The foundation will be renovating the main cancer clinical area. The new spaces will renovate the gynecologic cancer clinic, a new outpatient palliative care clinic, and reorganize the out-patient area. The renovated main floor will have a larger patient library for patient education, enhanced patient lounges, and new space for the foundation's fundraising. 

Results and Impact:

Princess Margaret self-identifies as one of the top five cancer research centres in the world. Between 2015-2017 it ranks itself 2nd, with 15% of its research papers published in high-impact oncology journals, and ranks itself 5th with 34% of the research papers placing in the Top 10 of papers published in the same field and the same year. This compares with 15% of its research papers published in high-impact oncology journals and 34% of its research papers highly cited between 2012-2015.

In F2018, Dr. John Dick's innovative research into blood and stem cells continues. With international colleagues, Dick's research into rare acute myeloid leukemia identified trackers that will enable earlier detection and could reduce the mortality rate from its current 90% in people over 65. F2015, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation committed $10.5 million to support the research of a team of 15 scientists. Since that time, the research team has developed two drugs to slow the spread of cancer, both of which are currently in a trial period.

Financial Review:

Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation is a Major 100 charity, with donations and special events revenue of $98.6m in F2018. The foundation received $29.7m in net revenue from lotteries, representing 19% of total revenues. Administrative and fundraising costs are 22% of revenues, meaning that for every $1 donated, 78 cents go to the cause. This falls well within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The foundation has $631.0m in funding reserved of which $156.3m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the foundation could cover 4.7 years of granting at the F2018 level.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 9, 2018 by Madison Kerr.

Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending March 		201820172016
Fundraising & admin costs as % of revenues 22.4%21.4%22.8%
Program cost coverage (%) 581.3%633.6%594.4%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $000s 		201820172016
Donations 77,96869,60268,704
Lotteries (net) 29,72727,69424,794
Special events 20,62225,60027,111
Investment income 31,56145,006(1,660)
Total revenues 159,878167,902118,949
Grants 108,53995,70494,069
Fundraising & administrative costs 28,70426,27727,517
Cash flow from operations 22,63545,921(2,637)
Funding reserves 630,977606,375559,186
Note: Ci has adjusted grants by grants payable, affecting expenses by $2.0m in F2018, ($6.8m) in F2017, and ($2.4m) in F2016.

Comments added by the Charity:

Comment added in 2018: 

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (The PMCF) raises funds to support one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world.  The Princess Margaret raised $112.1 million in net fundraising and lottery revenue in the year ending March 31, 2018 (a record year) and had $31.6 million in investment income.

Our audited financial statements can be found at thepmcf.ca/AR2018

 We are proud of our top 5 global position. The funds raised by the Foundation through our community of supporters helps us maintain this position and advance fundamental cancer discoveries and translation of these findings into the clinics. We also have Canada’s largest clinical trials program funded primarily through foundation grants.

Read more about our top 5 position at: 

http://thepmcf.ca/Our-Impact/Top-5-Cancer-Research-Centre

The Princess Margaret is a comprehensive cancer research centre committed to research that leads to innovative therapies across the spectrum of cancer care from detection, diagnosis, targeted therapies and supportive programs for the patients and their families.  We are also a very large training organization for other cancer centres across Canada and around the world and are affiliated with the University of Toronto.

In addition, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre staff play a very large role in shaping cancer care policy and new standards of cancer care both at the provincial level and across Canada and beyond.

The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre prides itself on delivering future care now and sharing those advances across the province, across Canada and around the globe.  In the words of Medical Director Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz, “Through our interdisciplinary and well integrated basic science and clinical programs, The Princess Margaret raises the bar in cancer care. We are designing and testing future care now, uncovering new targets in our laboratories, and moving this learning into the clinic through our world leading evidence based clinical trials program.”  We are also an innovator in the use technology in cancer care to enhance diagnosis and treatment. You can read all about this at ThePMCF.ca/Transformers. The Princess Margaret embraces the whole person approach to patient care and providing the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time.

The PMCF is making a sizable impact and stewards the funds carefully through oversight of grants to the cancer centre by our distinguished board (listed in our annual report at thepmcf.ca) and granting committee work.  The PMCF was graded B+ in Donor Accountability which is a strong rating and we are proud of our top rating of 20 out of 20 for Financial Transparency. Patient outcome measures are difficult to obtain as many of our patients once treated through our clinics -  go back into the community and may only come back to us if their cancer re-occurs.

Our administrative and fundraising costs (as calculated by Charity Intelligence) )were 22 % of revenues so for every dollar donated 78 cents went to the cause which falls within the reasonable range. Of note, this includes our general fundraising and administrative costs, as well as costs for of our strategic events, and annual giving programs.

Overall, The PMCF received a 3-star rating out of a possible 4 stars. While this is an improvement over last year’s 2 star rating, we did not get a 4 star rating mainly due to our fund balance which Is at 4.4 years.  This is disappointing in one way, but it is actually very good news in another.

According to Charity Intelligence criteria only Charities with a reserve balances under 3 times coverage receive full points. It is important to point out that, Charity Intelligence does not take into account the future long-term commitments made by The PMCF to the Cancer Centre.

Importantly, The PMCF is holding funds for three primary reasons:

  • Funds are reserved to finance initiatives in Personalized Cancer Medicine that are being developed. The fund balance is crucial for multiple-year research commitments. This extends beyond the salaries of newly-hired scientists, fellows and students as they continue to work on multi-year projects, many of which are already in progress, but also to the infrastructure: space and equipment required to deliver Personalized Cancer Medicine.
  • Long-term support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre research and clinical programs that require multi-year commitments for research initiatives. The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the largest cancer research organization in Canada, and one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world. The cancer centre employs over a thousand people doing research. The Foundation is the primary funder of the research enterprise through philanthropy and our social enterprise programs. In order to ensure sustainability of our leading scientists and innovative programs, we must maintain a fund balance to support these individuals and their research initiatives over their multi-year timeframes. This differs from many other foundations who are primarily granting organizations that have the flexibility to turn up or down their grants depending on the funds available in any given year.
  • Transformation of the Cancer Centre. Currently in progress. Over the next many years we will be advancing our ambitious multi-phased project to transform cancer care. The first phase of this was announced in the late spring of 2017. We are in the midst of the total transformation of the main floor including a revamped  therapeutically designed  outpatient pharmacy and blood collection centre,  and our first-ever Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic and a new Gynecologic Oncology Clinic on our 5th       
  • Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has the most comprehensive Immunotherapy program in Canada and this area is very exciting and will need continued funding to ensure we continue to lead in this most promising area of cancer care.
  • The Foundation through the generous support of our community also funds innovative programs that require sustainable funding such as: Survivorship, Biobank, Cancer Informatics, Precision Genomics, Cancer Stem Cells, just to name a few.

We urge you read our FY 2018 annual report and audited financial statements in full at www.thepmcf.ca/AR2018. If you have questions, we encourage you to contact one of our staff at 416-946-6560, toll-free at 1-866-224-6560 or at info@thepmcf.ca. In doing so, we hope you will understand what efficiency and effectiveness in the social enterprise sector truly is and we hope you will continue to support the outstanding work of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. If you are interested in having a tour of our cancer centre or how you can support our Research and/or Transformation campaign please call our office.

 

Comment added in 2017: 

The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation (The PMCF) raises funds to support one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world.  In April 2012, we embarked on a 5 year challenge to secure $1 billion in funding to create the new gold standard in cancer care: Personalized Cancer Medicine. On January 11, 2017 we announced the successful achievement of the Billion Dollar Challenge ahead of schedule.

 $532M was secured in philanthropic support and $520M was secured in research grants by Princess Margaret Cancer Centre for a total of $1,052B.

Those funds have allowed the Cancer Centre to expand and streamline bio-banks, establish the cancer genomics program, accelerate the epigenetics program, as well amplify the Cancer Clinical Research Unit (CCRU) and expand our research enterprise to the Princess Margaret Research Tower – to name just a few of the many investments that were made with these funds.

We are proud of our top 5 global position and the funds raised by the Foundation through our community of supporters. These funds help advance fundamental cancer discoveries and translation of these findings into the clinic through Canada’s largest clinical trials program. Princess Margaret is a comprehensive Cancer Research Centre committed to research that leads to new innovative therapies across the spectrum of cancer care from detection, diagnosis, targeted therapies and supportive programs for the patients and their families.  This link to our website provides the support for our top 5 position.

http://thepmcf.ca/Our-Impact/Top-5-Cancer-Research-Centre

The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre prides itself on finding tomorrow’s treatments today and sharing those advances across the province, across Canada and around the globe.  In the words of Medical Director Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz, “Through our interdisciplinary and well integrated clinical-basic science programs The Princess Margaret raises the bar in cancer care. We are uncovering tomorrow’s cures in our laboratories, and moving them into the clinic through our world leading evidence based clinical trials program.” The Princess Margaret embraces the whole person approach to patient care and providing the right treatment, for the right patient, at the right time.

The PMCF is making a sizable impact, as was exhibited in Charity Intelligence’s reporting on Social Results. The PMCF was graded A-, putting us in the top 15% for all charities. The PMCF received a perfect score of   20 out of 20 on Financial Transparency.

Our administrative and fundraising costs were 21% of revenues so for every dollar donated 79 cents went to the cause which falls within the reasonable range. Of note, this includes our general fundraising and administrative costs, as well as costs for of our strategic events and annual giving programs.

Overall, The PMCF received a 2-star rating out of a possible 4 stars. While this is disappointing in one way, it is actually very good news in another.

The key reason that The PMCF received less than the 4-star rating was the level of grant giving compared to fund balances.  According to Charity Intelligence calculations The PMCF has 4.6 years of reserves in fund balances. According to CI’s analysis, only Charities with a reserve balances under 3 times coverage receive full points. It is important to point out that, Charity Intelligence does not take into account the future long-term commitments made by The PMCF.

It is the view of PMCF management that the calculation of Program Cost Coverage ought to reduce funding reserves by Total Endowments (the principle which must be invested permanently).  If Total Endowment funds are reduced from funding reserve then Funds Available of $606M minus Total Endowments of $250M result in a $356M Funding Reserve. Dividing this reserve by  the $102.5 granted in FY17  results in a 3.5 year program cost coverage and would have PMCF qualify for a 3 Star rating.

Importantly, The PMCF is holding funds for three primary reasons:

  • Funds are reserved to finance initiatives in Personalized Cancer Medicine that are being developed. Included is a major research recruitment drive for The Princess Margaret. The fund balance is crucial for multiple-year research commitments. This extends beyond the salaries of newly-hired scientists, fellows and students as they continue to work on multi-year projects, many of which are already in progress, but also to the infrastructure: space and equipment required to deliver Personalized Cancer Medicine.
  • Long-term support of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre research and clinical programs that require multi-year commitments for research initiatives. The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the largest cancer research organization in Canada, and one of the top 5 cancer research centres in the world. The cancer centre employs over a thousand people doing research. The Foundation is the primary funder of the research enterprise through philanthropy and our social enterprise programs. In order to ensure sustainability of our leading scientists and innovative programs, we must maintain a fund balance to fund these individuals and their research initiatives over their multi-year timeframes. This differs from many other foundations who are primarily granting organizations that have the flexibility to turn up or down their grants depending on the funds available in any given year.
  • Transformation of the Cancer Centre. Over the next 10 years we will be embarking on an ambitious multi-phased project to transform cancer care. The first phase of this was announced in the late spring of 2017 and will include a total transformation of the main floor including a revamped  therapeutically designed  outpatient pharmacy and blood collection centre,  and several new clinics on the 5th floor with our first-ever Outpatient Palliative Care Clinic and a new Gynecologic Oncology Clinic.                                                                         * * *

We urge you read our FY 2017 annual report and audited financial statements in full at www.thepmcf.ca. Our financial summary pages are on Pages 68 and 69 of the report. If you have questions, we encourage you to contact one of our staff at 416-946-6560, toll-free at 1-866-224-6560 or at info@thepmcf.ca. In doing so, we hope you will understand what efficiency and effectiveness in the social enterprise sector truly is and we hope you will continue to support the outstanding work of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

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