Macdonald-Laurier Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 980578530
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario, CA
- Phone
- 6134828327
- Rating
- 60
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,920,297
- Expenses
- $3,196,887
- Assets
- $1,440,961
- Liabilities
- $1,337,601
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
2 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Brian Lee Crowley (Managing Director): $305,187 total reported compensation
- Mike Therien (Deputy Managing Director): $109,475 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Help improve public policy by proposing thoughtful alternatives through non-partisan and independent research and communications
What it reported doing in 2024
Aboriginal Policy Program
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 65
- Transparency & Controls: 46
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 14
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 73.1%; rating input score 73
- Program expense ratio: 66.5%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.78 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 86.7%; rating input score 87; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -9.5%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.45; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.93; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.3% per year; rating input score 100; 70th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 73.1% of revenue deployed · 66.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $2.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $305K · 2 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $312K reported
- Consistency: 24 of 26 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2018 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 8 not reported.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D expense reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.