Mercer Union A Centre For Contemporary Visual Art
Publicly funded institution · Toronto, Ontario · BN 868574161RR0001 · Arts · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-05-31. Split of total expenditures ($603,393) as filed with the CRA.
Mercer Union A Centre For Contemporary Visual Art is a charitable organization based in Toronto, Ontario, classified by the CRA under arts. 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 May 31, 2024, it reported $478K in revenue and $603K in expenditures. Spending exceeded revenue that year — the gap came out of reserves.
Its funding that year was roughly 70% from government, 7% from other charities. Government funding is the majority of its budget. In 2024, 5 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $46K.
Compared with 355 arts institutions of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 31% of peers. Its fundraising cost per donated dollar was higher than 81% of that peer group. Its highest-paid positions fell in the $40,000–79,999 range (3 positions in that band). The charity reported 3 permanent full-time positions.
Revenue has declined over its filings on record here, from $789K in 2020 to $478K in 2024. Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 10 names.
In its own words
Mercer union a centre for contemporary visual art is dedicated to the presentation and examination of canadian and international contemporary art and related cultural practices. A central concern for mercer union is to support emerging and diverse artists in their professional development while striving to engage an equally diverse audience in their work. Pursues its activities through exhibitions public programme and special events
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $478K | $603K | $422K | $42K | — | $349K |
| 2023 | $568K | $620K | $461K | $46K | — | $355K |
| 2022 | $666K | $547K | $382K | $41K | $2,200 | $312K |
| 2021 | $537K | $449K | $305K | $43K | — | $208K |
| 2020 | $789K | $670K | $522K | $66K | — | $102K |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Received $46K from 5 charities:
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $40,000–79,9993 positions
- Permanent full-time positions3
- Total compensation, all staff$291K
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Adefemi Adeyinka (treasurer); Matt Brown (director); Miles Gertler (director); Sarah Heim (director); Christie Kirchner (secretary); David Neligan (president); Philip Ocampo (director); Erica Russell (director); Marina Shepaksov (director); Farnoosh Talaee (director).
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Mercer Union A Centre For Contemporary Visual Art’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 868574161RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.