Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada
Charitable organization · Stratford, Ontario · BN 119200103RR0002 · Arts · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($72,866,070) as filed with the CRA.
Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada is a charitable organization based in Stratford, Ontario, classified by the CRA under arts. In its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, it reported $76.5M in revenue and $72.9M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 10% from donations, 6% from government, 26% from other charities. In 2024, 72 other registered charities reported granting it a combined $1.6M.
Compared with 39 arts charities of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 36% of peers. Its highest-paid positions fell in the $350,000 and over range (2 positions in that band). The charity reported 194 permanent full-time positions.
It reported gifts to 60 qualified donees totalling $288K in 2024, the largest being $91K to Actors Fund of Canada. Revenue has grown substantially over its filings on record here, from $32M in 2020 to $76.5M in 2024. Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 31 names.
In its own words
Established in 1952 the Stratford Festival is one of North America’s longest running arts organizations. Running in repertory from April to October with the works of Shakespeare at the core of its artistic mandate it seeks to bring classical and contemporary theatre alive for an increasingly diverse audience. The goal is to stimulate the exploration of ideas and issues – both through the playbill itself and through thematically related events in the Meighen Forum ranging from panel debates to musical concerts. Other key activities include supporting the development of Canadian theatre pract…
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $76.5M | $72.9M | $57.9M | $2M | $318K | -$3.1M |
| 2023 | $68.9M | $75.7M | $59.5M | $1.5M | $245K | -$1.9M |
| 2022 | $67M | $64.7M | $50.1M | $1.1M | $164K | -$2.5M |
| 2021 | $31.3M | $29.9M | $21.1M | $787K | — | -$162K |
| 2020 | $32M | $33.6M | $26.9M | $993K | $0 | $890K |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Money between charities, 2024
Granted $288K to 60 qualified donees — largest 25 shown:
- Actors Fund of Canada$91K
- Professional Association of Canadian Theatres / Association professionnelle des theatres canadiens$22K
- Toronto Catholic District School Board$17K
- Waterloo Region District School Board$9,765
- United Way of Perth-Huron$9,175
- Toronto District School Board$9,160
- York Catholic District School Board$8,300
- Avon Maitland District School Board$7,204
- Simcoe County District School Board (scdsb)$7,050
- Halton District School Board$6,000
- Halton District School Board$6,000
- Lambton Kent District School Board$5,900
- Thames Valley School District$5,888
- Near North District School Board Charity Works$5,400
- Rainbow District School Board$5,100
- Ottawa Catholic District School Board$4,200
- Conseil scolaire catholique Providence$4,000
- Conseil Scolaire Catholique Monavenir$3,900
- London District Catholic School Board$3,600
- The Peel District School Board$3,400
- The Bluewater Education Foundation$3,200
- Niagara Catholic District School Board$3,000
- Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board$3,000
- Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion$3,000
- ST. Clair Catholic District School Board$2,700
Received $1.6M from 72 charities:
- M.E.H. Foundation$132K
- The William and Nona Heaslip Foundation$110K
- BenefAction Foundation$106K
- Arrell Family Foundation$100K
- Charitable Gift Funds Canada Foundation$85K
- The Whiteside Foundation$75K
- Danbe Foundation Inc.$70K
- Aqueduct Foundation$62K
- RBC Foundation$60K
- LRDR Foundation$50K
- The Blue Lupin Foundation$50K
- The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation$50K
- The Henry White Kinnear Foundation$50K
- Trust Under the Will of the Philip and Berthe Morton Foundation$45K
- The George Cedric Metcalf Charitable Foundation$36K
- Canadahelps Canadon$31K
- Canadahelps Canadon$31K
- The Slaight Family Foundation$30K
- Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto$28K
- The Westaway Charitable Foundation$25K
- R. Howard Webster Foundation$25K
- The Joan and Clifford Hatch Foundation$25K
- The Sixty Three Foundation$25K
- The Thor E and Nicole Eaton Family Charitable Foundation$25K
- The Peter Gilgan Foundation$22K
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $350,000 and over2 positions
- $250,000–299,9995 positions
- $200,000–249,9991 position
- $160,000–199,9992 positions
- Permanent full-time positions194
- Total compensation, all staff$41.5M
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Karon Bales (director); John Bell (director); John Ian Giffen (treasurer); John Lewis (director); Harvey McCue (director); Brian Joseph Rolfes (director); Kay Schonberger (director); Alan Shepard (director); David Simmonds (director); Kristene Steed (director); Antoni Cimolino (ex-officio); Anita Gaffney (ex-officio); John Cassaday (director); Tokunboh Olaoluwa (director); Anne Sado (director); Luke Gilgan (director); Alexander Graham (director); Suneeta Monga (director); David Staines (director); Peter Walters (directors); Carrie Wreford (director); Linda Rexer (director); Deborah Dorrell Erb (director); Dominique Hussey (director); Warda Shazadi Meighen (director); Kristin Taylor (director); John Gardner (ex-officio); Martin Ritsma (ex-officio); Robert Gorlin (ex-officio); David Adams (chair); Lawrence Stevenson (vice chair).
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 119200103RR0002), or read how we compute the receipt.