Crunching the Numbers - Mulgrave’s Financials

Mulgrave is both a fully not-for-profit organisation and a registered charity. Our official name is the Mulgrave Independent School Society. It is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors, which must follow BC Provincial laws as they relate to the Societies Act. There is no profit-sharing nor do Board members receive any kind of compensation. 

Mulgrave has no owner, nor does any individual receive dividends, profits, or commissions. All assets and income are directly reinvested into the school. 
 

The Mulgrave School Foundation is a separate entity that operates as a fundraising vehicle that can receive bequests, legacies, donations, gifts, funds, and properties and hold them as both endowment and non-endowment funds for the benefit of the Mulgrave Independent School Society. The Foundation’s endowment funds are held to specifically support the provision of financial aid and scholarships granted by Mulgrave School. These funds are restricted and cannot be used for any other purpose. 

Annual tuition and fees is used for the school’s base operating expenses, of which approximately 88% are related to faculty and staff salaries and benefits ($28.4 million of $32 million of tuition and fees in 2024-25). Other operating costs such as utility and maintenance expenses for our campus, technology, annual professional development for faculty, and core programming expenses are also covered by tuition.

Core programming includes costs associated with athletics (sports teams competitions, uniforms, and travel), performing arts (theatre productions, concerts, specialist instructors, and instruments), creative arts (specialty materials, displays, tools and machines), and outdoor education (camps and excursions, supplies, and specialist staffing). This is not an exhaustive list, but it is meant to provide an overview of the enrichment offerings at Mulgrave. 

As you can appreciate, staff/teacher salaries/benefits account for 88% of tuition revenue expenditure. Tuition does not cover the costs of many of the items that allow us to go further and deliver the ‘margin of excellence’ that makes a Mulgrave education truly special. For these items, we fundraise each year through our Momentum Annual Fund, so we can: 

• Offer our students transformative learning spaces, new programmes, and specialised resources
  • Examples include: 
    • PYP and EY Makerspaces 
    • Senior School Learning and Academic Centres
    • Linda Hamer Theatre upgrades
    • Climbing Centre in the Upper APAC gymnasium
    • Additional and varied resources for learning support teams
    • Social-emotional learning curriculum in the Junior School
    • Staffing for Blended Learning Technology and personalisation training for course development
• Focus on the retention and professional development of our talented teachers
  • Examples include:
    • Funding for advanced degrees for faculty, including subsidies for Master’s and PhD programmes
    • Variety of speakers and workshops to upskill faculty in specialty areas of curriculum development, student wellbeing, technology, and more
• Reduce barriers to a Mulgrave education through our needs-based financial assistance programme. All recipients complete a thorough financial analysis by a third-party vendor. 

There are a select number of events that are subsidized by Mulgrave. These include beloved annual traditions, such as the Terry Fox Run, Battle of the Houses, Week of the Young Child, Divisional parent and faculty socials, as well as MVP events such as the Welcome Back Fall Fair (this event is also subsidised by outside business sponsorship).

Other annual community gatherings are considered to be ‘cost neutral’, such as the 2025 Music Fest. A combination of ticket revenue and sponsorships resulted in no expenses incurred by the school.

Additionally, a sponsorship and ticket revenue approach is taken with events such as Gala, and may also include a fundraising element, meaning that the school is able to direct net revenue to the Momentum annual fund or another specific project.

Some other special events are sponsored directly by families who want to invest in specific areas. This includes initiatives like the 2025 leadership trip to Asia to tour globally leading independent schools and nurture relationships with alumni and philanthropic Mulgrave families.

Events such as Lunar New Year and Nowruz celebrations are generously planned, sponsored, and executed by our own families who wish to share their culture and traditions with the wider Mulgrave community. 

In order to retain our status as a charity, we are required to file a T3010 Registered Charity Information Return with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA reviews our financial records annually and re-certifies our status. Finances are part of this reporting, and through it, we must meet the criteria set forth by the government, including disclosing all fundraising revenue. 

A simplified financial report is included in our annual report, which is prepared for the school’s Annual General Meeting, normally scheduled to take place in the fall. Audited statements are presented for the meeting, and the Board of Directors, along with any society members in attendance, accept the finances as part of the meeting’s record. 
Detailed financial information is available to Mulgrave society members upon request or via the CRA website here. 
 

At Mulgrave, our annual fund, Momentum, supports priorities that are usually born from innovation, strategic priorities, or needs that extend beyond what our operational budget can cover. For example, Momentum this year has six funds: Three core funds that always include Financial Assistance, Teacher Development and Retention, and Head’s Priority. The other three have been identified as priority needs: The new Nature Playground on the Hill for JS and EY students, an electric bus for all grades, and Upper School Performing Arts upgrades that include the development of a recording studio. 

Head’s Priority funds help us pay for additional requests from our faculty. In the past, these have included AI projects, Unit of Inquiry prop boxes, new levelled readers for JS students, math resources for accelerated learners, athletics field shelters and team room upgrades, and more. These projects are requested by faculty and funded by committee decision. 

Mulgrave has been through three capital campaigns: 

Imagine Mulgrave was a $27+ million capital campaign that led to the development of our Senior School classrooms, upper and underground parking lots, cafeteria and Great Hall, and the Rooftop Garden. It also included the purchase of the land between the highway exit and Cypress Bowl Lane. This was completed in 2015. 

In 2018, we opened the West Wing, which was an $14m construction project, which provided much-needed room for Middle School classrooms, allowed us to integrate our preschool into the main building, and enhanced our student experience with a rooftop playground and purpose-built Upper School Makerspace and Art Studio.

Finally, we had a smaller but equally impactful campaign to furnish the Athletics and Performing Arts Centre, which opened in 2021. The construction itself was funded through a line of credit and debt facilities (since paid off), but funds were raised to ensure the facilities were well-equipped. 

It is thanks to the very generous contributions of families enrolled at Mulgrave during these periods that we have such a remarkable campus. These types of projects, which we know have a direct impact on the student experience, can only be undertaken through fundraising efforts. 
 

Operating expenses shown on the income statement do not include capital expenditures, critical infrastructure allocation, debt repayment, or capital projects funded by donations. A portion of donations is also earmarked for upcoming projects. These items are not reflected in the simplicity of the income statement but are captured in the asset section of the balance sheet.