Dieu foundation’s costs eat up big chunk of donations
A large well-paid staff and high fundraising costs ate up more than half of all spending at the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation during the past three tax years.
During the tax year ending in 2011, the foundation gave $278,000 to the hospital, accounting for just 22 per cent of the $1.2 million the organization spent over that period of time.
That ratio was better during the previous two tax years, when gifts to the hospital accounted for just over half of spending, but still fell significantly short of the 65 per cent minimum standard set by charity watchdog organizations.
During the most recent tax year, the foundation spent $ 626,112 on the salaries of eight full-time staff and one employee who splits time and salary between the foundation and the hospital itself, which is almost $350,000 more than it gave to the hospital.
The Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation, where total revenue and total spending are similar to the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation’s, spent $307,788 on compensation, or less than half as much.
Bill Marra, the president and executive director of the foundation, said changes began when he took the position in September and more are on the way.
He said he reduced the number of full-time staff to five, including himself, and is conducting an operational review of the foundation that he will present to its board of directors this month.
Marra wouldn’t say what other changes he plans to suggest when he presents his review.
“I can’t tell you what I’m going to recommend because it hasn’t gone to the board yet,” he said. “We’ve made a few changes and there are more changes coming.”
Two staff members at the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation made between $80,000 and $119,999 annually during that period.
Marra wouldn’t say who those staff members were, what positions they held or what the five remaining make now, but said he is currently the only staff member in that salary range and makes $115,000 a year.
Marra said the numbers from the tax statements are missing some context that helps explain the disparity between the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation’s ratio of giving to the hospital versus total spending compared to Windsor Regional’s foundation.
For one thing, the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation has been raising money for an angioplasty lab since 2008 with its Beyond Medicine campaign. Marra said the fundraising body has been holding onto funds raised for the campaign until construction starts in 12 to 18 months, which is one reason why the amount given to the hospital has been so low over that period of time.
“I think as we draw closer to that date, you’re going to see more funds dispersed,” he said.
The Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation is also fundraising for a capital campaign and still funnelled 69 per cent of its total expenses into the hospital.
In addition, the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation’s figures show only part of the salaries earned by foundation executive director Ron Foster and director of public affairs, communication and philanthropy Gisele Sullens. Both of them split their time between the foundation and the communications department of the hospital and their salaries come out of two different budgets, making them appear in a lower salary bracket in the foundation’s tax return.
Foster said the split designation makes for long hours, but a leaner foundation.
“We run very effectively and efficiently. We do work as a team. We like our work and we’re focused,” he said.
The Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation used to keep its books the same way, with former president and executive director Kim Spirou also heading public relations at the hospital and splitting her salary between the two budgets. Spirou was fired in December 2010 and has filed a $3.3-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit against former CEO Warren Chant.
Marra said the board of directors chose to change that and put his salary entirely under the foundation’s budget.
“There could be an argument made to combine it again but I don’t know if that’s something they’re considering or not,” he said.
High fundraising costs are also contributing to the Hotel-dieu Grace Hospital Foundation’s poor ratio of giving to the hospital compared to total expenditures. It cost the foundation $48 to raise $100 in the 2011 tax year, $51 in 2010 and $77 in 2009, if gifts from other charities are excluded as per the Canada Revenue Agency’s method for calculating fundraising ratios.
In comparison, it cost the Windsor Regional Hospital Foundation between $20 and $23 to raise $100 during the same three years.
The Hotel- Dieu Grace Hospital Foundation’s fundraising costs were still high in 2011, but the good news is they’ve been decreasing every year, Marra said.
“The trend has been that our cost per dollar raised has decreased over the last few years.”
Marra said he’s dedicated to continuing to improve. “My mandate is to continue to look at providing an efficient service, which means reducing costs where possible and increasing revenue. I think when you combine those two approaches, you’ll address your cost per dollar raised,” he said.