Vancouver Art Gallery Association is a 2-star charity. It is financially transparent and has overhead spending within Ci’s reasonable range but has a below-average results reporting grade.

Founded in 1931, Vancouver Art Gallery Association (Vancouver Art Gallery) offers innovative visual art exhibitions and extensive public programs, focusing on the historical and contemporary art of British Columbia. The Gallery founded the Institute of Asian Art in 2014, paying special attention to First Nations artists and the Asia Pacific region's arts. 

Museum Services - 39% of program costs: Vancouver Art Gallery had 10,642 members in F2022. The charity produced five publications and four study guides during the same year. In F2022, Vancouver Art Gallery also provided 13 children programs and 115 art education tours and programming for 1,904 participants.

Curation and Programs - 30% of program costs: The charity produced 62 digital and ten onsite programs. During the same year, the charity also hosted three community arts and two artist-in-residence projects.

Exhibitions - 20% of program costs: In F2022, the charity showcased 311 artists from around the world. During the same year, there were a total of 131,074 gallery visitors for 18 exhibitions.

Art Acquisitions - 11% of program costs: Vancouver Art Gallery acquired 161 artworks for the Gallery's collection through purchases and donations, with 40 collection works on loan that traveled to 27 national and international venues and 52 new works commissioned from Canadian artists.

Vancouver Art Gallery is currently undergoing a capital campaign to build a new art gallery to accommodate the charity's growth over the past decade. The new building will have publicly accessible community spaces, a 350-foot theatre, approximately 25 permanent collection galleries, and more. It will also increase the Gallery's ability to provide education programs by 400%, enabling the Gallery to serve 90,000 children from across the province each year. The charity plans to open the new gallery in 2027.

In F2022, Vancouver Art Gallery received $8.7m in donations. The charity received $31.2m in government funding in F2022, representing 68% of total revenues. It also earned $2.7m in admissions and membership fees, representing 6% of total revenues. 

Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 25% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 28%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 72 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci's reasonable range for overhead spending. 

Vancouver Art Gallery has $80.0m in reserve funds, of which $11.7m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity can cover six years and five months of its annual program costs with its funding reserves. 

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Vancouver Art Gallery for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 2, 2023 by Krystie Nguyen.