Dalhousie University
Publicly funded institution · Halifax, Nova Scotia · BN 886806561RR0001 · Teaching Institutions · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-03-31. Split of total expenditures ($893,293,000) as filed with the CRA.
Dalhousie University is a charitable organization based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, classified by the CRA under teaching institutions. It appears on the charity register the way hospitals, universities, and other publicly funded bodies do — to issue tax receipts — rather than as a donation-driven charity in the usual sense. In its fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, it reported $949M in revenue and $893.3M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 40% from government. In 2024, 135 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $18.5M.
Compared with 733 education institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 69% of peers. Its reserves, measured in years of spending on hand, sat in the top decile of the group. Its highest-paid positions fell in the $350,000 and over range (4 positions in that band). The charity reported 4,367 permanent full-time positions.
It reported gifts to 3 qualified donees totalling $2,500 in 2024, the largest being $1,000 to Canadian Mental Health Association Nova Scotia Division.
In its own words
Dalhousie university provides undergraduate graduate and professional post-secondary education education to approximately 21 000 full and part time students. The university also conducts research in a variety of academic disciplines.
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $949M | $893.3M | $834.7M | $4.2M | $2,500 | $1.7B |
| 2023 | $901.6M | $824.7M | $772M | $4.1M | $3,850 | $1.6B |
| 2022 | $819.6M | $752.2M | $703.9M | $3.7M | — | $1.5B |
| 2021 | $762.4M | $700.6M | $656.9M | $3.5M | $300 | $1.3B |
| 2020 | $781.2M | $732.4M | $687.4M | $3.4M | $3,467 | $1.1B |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Granted $2,500 to 3 qualified donees:
Received $18.5M from 135 charities:
- The Robert Steele Foundation$2.5M
- Canadian Cancer Society$1.8M
- River Philip Foundation$1.8M
- Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre Foundation Inc.$1.5M
- The Garron Foundation$1.1M
- Waverley House Charitable Trust$725K
- United Jewish Appeal of Greater Toronto$660K
- La Fondation Jean Monbourquette$500K
- Thistledown Foundation$490K
- Actua$418K
- Weston Family Foundation$403K
- Trust Under Will of F B McCurdy Est Dalhousie University & ST Davids$366K
- The Maccallum S Grant Charitable Foundation$307K
- The McCain Foundation$300K
- The Windsor Foundation$300K
- Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada$269K
- Hewitt Foundation$241K
- Walker Wood Foundation$235K
- Cancer Research Society$211K
- The Trottier Family Foundation/la Fondation Familiale Trottier$210K
- Lockward Memorial Scholarships$202K
- RBC Foundation$200K
- Suncor Energy Foundation/fondation Suncor Energie$200K
- Canadahelps Canadon$153K
- Canadahelps Canadon$153K
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $350,000 and over4 positions
- $300,000–349,9992 positions
- $250,000–299,9994 positions
- Permanent full-time positions4,367
- Total compensation, all staff$518.2M
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Dalhousie University’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 886806561RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.