Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 980454111
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2020–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Ottawa, ON, CA
- Phone
- 6137985555
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Research Institutes and/or Public Policy Analysis
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $113,187,858
- Expenses
- $112,597,282
- Assets
- $153,192,012
- Liabilities
- $125,125,933
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dr Rebecca Auer (Director & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Dr Rebecca Auer (Director & CEO): $365,308 total reported compensation
- Dr Dean Fergusson (Senior Scientist): $257,502 total reported compensation
- Dr Rashmi Kothary (Senior Scientist): $256,649 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See schedule 0
What it reported doing in 2025
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute is an independent health research facility closely affiliated with The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, committed to the excellence in the creation of scientific knowledge that contributes to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Grant-funded. 72% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
- 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 89
- Transparency & Controls: 44
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 34
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.5%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 100%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 0.5%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.36; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.82; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 99.5% of revenue deployed · 100% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $112.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $365K · 26 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.8M reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 33/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 37/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 16/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.