How much debt is too much? Which gifts are clean enough to accept? Is the organization’s workforce truly representative? The U of T Business Board meeting on September 25 centred discussions around answering these key questions. 

Debt and fundraising

The university’s fundraising team has raised over $361 million this year, consistent with their good performance in this area over the past five years, where they have raised an average $376 million per year. 

However, the current uncertainty around the economy is something to be aware of. Trevor Rodgers, the university’s Chief Financial Officer, reported during the meeting that fundraising is often intrinsically linked with economic volatility — donations to the university may slow down when markets are providing unfavourable outcomes. Despite the current volatility, donations of $5 million and above have been growing. These are less likely to be affected by market conditions and can consequently help sustain growth.

U of T’s debt burden ratio, or the percentage of its revenue used to pay off debts, is approximately 2.3 per cent and remains well below the 6 per cent ceiling the university enforces. However, while S&P Global, an agency providing institutions with credit ratings, confirms that U of T is in good financial standing, the university is planning to take on an additional $1.4 billion in debt by 2030 due to a backlog in infrastructural project upkeep, which may create an obstacle for managing risk. 

A changing donations framework after a controversial donation

Furthermore, the board discussed the formalization of new gift acceptance policies after a controversial donation in the 2021–2022 academic year 2021. The donation was from Amazon to the Faculty of Law and was treated as an anonymous gift. There was a concern that the incentive behind the gift was to support a conference on competition law. Concerns about corporate incentives resulted in the faculty eventually returning the donation.

Under the new framework, donations made will be scrutinized thoroughly before approval, and anonymous corporate donations will no longer be accepted. This is in line with the board’s greater aim to increase transparency. 

While private individuals may still donate anonymously, they will also face much stricter rules. There will be different levels of anonymity — for example, gifts above $250,000 must be publicly disclosed. This new framework will help address the complex nature of some donations, as it will better outline what actions must be taken when dealing with confusing scenarios.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion at U of T

Kelly Hannah-Moffat, Vice President of People Strategy, Equity & Culture, reported on progress and warning signs in her equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) Report. Although there was an overall increase in staff identifying as racialized and an improvement in their promotion rates, the number of employees with a disability decreased from 21.5 per cent to 19.8 per cent from last year. There was also a higher exit rate for differently abled faculty members. 

Hannah-Moffat drew attention to neurodiversity in employees, which has historically been under-captured. She pledged that her team would revise categories in the existing survey frameworks to allow more precise self-identification by employees to increase EDI data and statistical accuracy.

Results from the biennial Speaking Out survey conducted in 2024, which seeks to measure employee engagement to improve the workplace experience, found that 92 per cent of respondents found their work meaningful, 88 per cent felt safe at work, and 82 per cent felt satisfied at work. 

However, the university observed that only 65.8 per cent of respondents felt engaged and dedicated to their work, marking a three per cent decline from the 2022 results. Fewer people also expressed feelings of belonging compared to previous years. While the drop was minimal, Hanna-Moffat emphasized that “small differences matter, and we need to pay attention to [them].”

The university believes that fostering diverse environments is important and will be pursuing various initiatives to achieve this, as noted in the 2024 EDI Report. They updated the Diversity in Recruitment Staff Manual and Toolkit and also offered community engagement programs that improve inclusivity.