Founded in 1957, University of Waterloo (Waterloo) is a public research university in Waterloo, Ontario. Originally founded on a curriculum of science and engineering, it now boasts six faculties and four affiliated institutions. Waterloo offers undergraduate and graduate programs, research facilities, cooperative education (co-op), and entrepreneurship programs. It strives to be one of the most innovative universities in the world.

In F2019, University of Waterloo reported an enrollment of 31,624 undergraduate and 4,909 graduate students. Of its student body, 22% of undergraduate and 40% of graduate students are international students. Waterloo received $258.3m in research funding from external sources during the year. Its co-op program, the largest in Canada, had 23,017 students registered in fall 2019. The average student earnings for a typical four-month co-op term was $14,791.

Waterloo places a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship. It hosts Velocity, the largest free startup incubator in the world. Since founding in 2008, Velocity states that it has helped over 300 startups and more than 2,300 people. As of F2019, Waterloo reports that Velocity startups have secured $1.26 billion in investment. In F2019, Pitchbook ranked University of Waterloo first in Canada and 21st in the world for producing venture capital-backed entrepreneurs. It produced 433 backed entrepreneurs in F2019.

Waterloo measures the long-term employment outcomes of its students. Among its graduates in 2016, Waterloo reports a 90% employment rate within six months and a 96% employment rate within two years. This compares to an average employment rate of 89% in six months and 95% in two years among all Ontario university graduates.

University of Waterloo is a Large charity with donations of $16.2m in F2019. Administrative costs are 1% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 55% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 56%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 44 cents go to the cause. This falls outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending, which has been the case for the past three years.

University of Waterloo has $1.2 billion in total funding reserves, of which $276m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity could cover 88% or between 10 and 11 months of program costs with its existing reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to University of Waterloo. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 23, 2020 by Eric Zhao.