Western Grains Research Foundation
Public foundation · Saskatoon, Saskatchewan · BN 105637268RR0001 · Foundations Advancing Education · website
Source: T3010 return, FPE 2024-12-31. Split of total expenditures ($15,036,299) as filed with the CRA.
Western Grains Research Foundation is a public foundation based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, classified by the CRA under foundations advancing education. In its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, it reported $45.9M in revenue and $15M in expenditures.
Its funding that year was roughly 6% from government.
Compared with 74 education charities of similar size, its share of spending on mission — charitable programs plus grants to other charities — ranked above 74% of peers. Its highest-paid position fell in the $200,000–249,999 range. The charity reported 6 permanent full-time positions.
As a grantmaker, it reported gifts to 5 qualified donees totalling $618K in 2024, the largest being $388K to University of Saskatchewan. Revenue has grown substantially over its filings on record here, from $16.9M in 2020 to $45.9M in 2024. Its filed list of directors and trustees shows 14 names.
In its own words
The western grains research foundation (wgrf) supports and conducts research (through intermediaries) in grain production including the development of new crops and varieties weed disease adn insect control crop production and harvesting techniques herbicide and fertilizer effectiveness and soils and resource management. The wgrf supports and conducts (through intermediaries) grain economics and market research including research into a wider variety of uses for crops and their by-products.
Ongoing-program description from its T3010 filing, verbatim.
The ledger, 2020–2024
| Year | Revenue | Spending | Programs | Fundraising | Gifts out | Net assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $45.9M | $15M | $13.5M | — | $668K | $232.7M |
| 2023 | $34.6M | $15.4M | $13.4M | — | $616K | $201.8M |
| 2022 | -$6.2M | $14.3M | $12.4M | — | $616K | $182.7M |
| 2021 | $32.5M | $14.6M | $12.9M | — | $586K | $203.2M |
| 2020 | $16.9M | $9.9M | $9.2M | — | $257K | $185.3M |
Revenue printed in red where the year ran a deficit. Fiscal years by period end.
Public foundation — endowment and payout, December 31, 2024
- Other income$27,797,752
- Investment income$5,879,827
This ratio is gifts made divided by total assets at year end. It is not the CRA disbursement quota, which is calculated on the average value of property not used in charitable activities and cannot be derived from these filings.
Money between charities, 2024
Granted $618K to 5 qualified donees:
- University of Saskatchewan$388K
- University of Alberta$100K
- The University of Manitoba$100K
- The University of Lethbridge$15K
- The University of British Columbia$15K
As reported on the donors’ own T3010 qualified-donee schedules.
What it pays
Its ten highest-paid positions, by band:
- $200,000–249,9991 position
- $160,000–199,9991 position
- $120,000–159,9993 positions
- $80,000–119,9991 position
- Permanent full-time positions6
- Total compensation, all staff$1.2M
Schedule 3 of its 2024 return. The CRA discloses bands, not names or exact salaries.
Directors & trustees (2024)
Kevin Auch (director & vice-chair); Maurice Berry (director); David Bishop (director); Terry Boehm (director); Keith Degenhardt (director); Jacob Froese (director); Byron Hainstock (director); Alan Hampton (director); Adam Littman (director); Doug Martin (director); Malcolm Odermatt (director); Kenton Possberg (director); Christopher Procyk (director); Laura Reiter (director & chair).
As listed on its 2024 return.
Check the source
Every figure on this page is from Western Grains Research Foundation’s own T3010 filings, published by the Canada Revenue Agency. Verify against the CRA’s charities listing (search BN 105637268RR0001), or read how we compute the receipt.