Loran Scholars Foundation

About Loran Scholars Foundation:

Founded in 1988 as the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation, Loran Scholars Foundation (LSF) partners with universities, donors and volunteers across Canada to offer the country’s largest 4-year undergraduate award to young Canadians based on character, service and the promise of leadership. The charity name was changed in 2014 to reinforce its focus on identifying and developing leaders of character. Loran is short for Long-Range Aid to Navigation and was chosen to emphasize the lifelong impact and values of being a Loran Scholar.

Each year, LSF identifies and supports up to 33 exceptional young Canadians who demonstrate character, service and leadership. By 2021, Loran Scholars Foundation hopes to increase the number of annual scholarship awards to 35. Each Loran Scholar receives a renewable undergraduate award valued at up to $100,000 over four years. The Loran Award includes an annual stipend of $10,000, a matching tuition waiver from one of 25 partner universities, mentorship, a summer program, an orientation expedition, and access to an extended network of scholars, alumni and supporters. It also offers up to 54 one-time finalist awards ($3,000) and 40 provincial awards ($2,000) annually. Since 1990, LSF has invested in 569 Loran Scholars.

In the past 23 years, 19 Loran Scholars have become Rhodes Scholars. Loran Scholars Foundation is currently in a capital campaign to raise $20m by 2021. Of alumni Loran Scholars, 91% of 452 alumni have donated a cumulative $1.3m to the foundation.

Financial Review:

Loran Scholars Foundation is a medium-sized charity with $3.3m in donations (including endowments not reflected on the charity’s income statement). Administrative costs were 7% of revenues and fundraising costs were 2% of donations. For every $1 donated, 91 cents went to the cause. This falls within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Funding reserves of $11.8m (including donor-endowed funds of $3.2m) cover annual grants and program costs 5.3 times, or 4.2 times excluding donor-endowed funds.

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by Loran Scholars Foundation. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 5, 2017 by Juliana Badovinac.