Support from donors is the fuel that drives Heart & Stroke’s mission. Your gifts fund critical advances that prevent heart disease and stroke, save lives and enhance recovery.
But how do we transform your support into impact? Here are answers to the questions we hear most frequently from donors, and people considering a donation to Heart & Stroke
All figures are from our 2024 fiscal year, Sept. 1, 2023 to Aug. 31, 2024.
How does Heart & Stroke spend my money?
Of every dollar spent in fiscal 2024, 66.2% went to mission (which includes research, advocacy and health promotion). Here’s how that breaks down:
- Research: Heart & Stroke invested a total of $34.1 million in research, supporting 1,005 of Canada’s top researchers, trainees and contributors from across the country. Their work will advance science that saves lives, prevents disease, supports diagnosis, care and recovery, and improves the health of people in Canada.
- Advocacy and health promotion: We invested $38 million in health promotion programs and advocacy. These programs ranged from our school education program Jump Rope for Heart, to our advocacy campaigns, which successfully called for legislative changes including pharmacare and protecting youth against the harm caused by vaping.
In 2024, 31.4% was spent on fundraising, allowing us to manage a range of programs, many of which deliver valuable health information. See more details below.
Finally, 2.4% went to administration, including accounting and information technology for our operations across Canada.
No donor dollars are spent on Heart & Stroke lottery operations.
How do these numbers compare to the previous year?
Heart & Stroke is focused on increasing available funds to support our mission initiatives and sustain and amplify our impact over the long term, while reaching as many people in Canada as possible. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, and our commitment to collaboration, innovation, and careful management, our total spend on mission activities has increased by nearly 62.5% since 2020.
This strategy funded life-saving heart and brain health research, which will help improve outcomes for people living with heart disease and stroke. It ensured stability for transformative, multi-year programs like the Women’s Research Networks of Excellence, Black and Indigenous Scholars Awards, and innovative initiatives like CardiacCrash™, allowing them to deliver lasting impact across Canada.
Your generous donations also enabled us to advocate for healthy public policies, deliver critical health promotion programs and support people and families living with heart disease and stroke, as well as those at risk.
Why should I donate to Heart & Stroke?
Heart & Stroke’s critical priority is to invest in world-class, life-saving heart and brain research that leads to medical breakthroughs.
We have seen great progress in awareness, prevention, treatment, and recovery. However, as Canada’s population ages and more younger people are being diagnosed, the urgency to beat heart disease and stroke grows.
The reality is heart disease, stroke or vascular cognitive impairment take one life every five minutes in Canada.
As one of Canada’s largest and most effective health charities, we measure our overall effectiveness by our ability to drive impact in our priority areas through new knowledge and innovation, effective health policies, health systems change, and awareness and education programs for people at risk of or living with heart disease and stroke.
Since 1952, Heart & Stroke has invested almost $1.7 billion in heart disease and stroke research. Over that time, the death rate from heart disease and stroke has declined by more than 75%.
Together, heart disease and stroke are the second leading cause of death and a leading cause of disability in Canada. Along with vascular cognitive impairment, these conditions cost the Canadian economy more than $24.8 billion every year. We are working hard to change these statistics and we need your help.
Why do you spend donations on fundraising?
At Heart & Stroke, we work as cost effectively as possible to engage Canadians to support our mission work.
Investing in fundraising allows us to generate the necessary funds to advance our mission priorities, raise awareness, create impact and change the lives of people living with heart disease and stroke and those at risk. Today, our fundraising spend has never been lower as a result of our efforts to leverage digital fundraising and community engagement platforms to minimize overhead costs.
Heart & Stroke’s investment in fundraising is monitored closely by our management and board of directors.
Can you give me detailed examples of how my money was used to support research in 2024?
Find our latest results here.
Where can I find more in-depth financial information?
Find our detailed financial statements here.
If you still have questions, please click here to request information.