The Royal Conservatory of Music is a 1-star charity. It is not financially transparent, and it has a C- Results Reporting grade which is below average. Its overhead costs are outside Ci’s reasonable range.

Founded in 1886, The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) teaches kids and young adults music at all levels of difficulty, and puts on performances at the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning in Toronto. It registered as a charity in 1991, and previously it was a division of the University of Toronto. Its mission is to develop human potential through leadership in music and the arts. The charity runs four programs: learning, teaching, training, and performing. It spent $40.3m on its programs and grants in the fiscal year ending in August (F2023), and it did not break down spending by program.

Learning includes the RCM Certificate program and the Oscar Peterson School of Music. The RCM Certificate program includes music study and assessment from elementary through advanced levels, accessible in-person or online. In F2023, over 500,000 students participated in the program. The Oscar Peterson School of Music includes activities for all ages and abilities such as music classes for babies, adult music programs, music history and theory courses, and summer camps.

The Teaching program connects teachers and families through RCM’s Teacher Directory, provides professional development resources to music teachers, and holds workshops and summits for music teachers to network. There were over 30,000 music teachers in F2023.

Training involves Glenn Gould School and Taylor Academy. Glenn Gould School is dedicated exclusively to performance training and there is a maximum enrolment of 130 students. Taylor Academy is an extracurricular program for youth aged nine to 18 where they take private lessons and perform in an orchestra with their peers.

RCM’s performing program presents concerts at Koerner Hall, Temetry Theatre, Mazzoleni Concert, and Ihnatowycz Hall, all located in the TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning.

The Royal Conservatory of Music is not financially transparent, which means Ci had to request its audited financial statements from the CRA. The charity received $17.7m in donations, which is 29% of revenue in F2023. It received $2.6m in government funding, $20.9m in fees for service, and $7.1m in investment income.

RCM spent $36.6m on its programs and granted $3.7m in scholarships and bursaries in F2023. The total of $40.3m was 65% of revenue. The charity ran a surplus of $11.1m, which is 18% of revenue. It spent $6.0m on fundraising (34% of donations) and spent $2.7m on administration, which is 5% of revenue (less investment income). For every dollar donated to the charity, 61 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci’s reasonable range.

RCM has $82.6m in its reserves (cash and investments). The charity’s reserves include $66.4m in donor endowed funds. It has $64.2m worth of interest-bearing debts, and excluding donor-endowed funds, the charity’s debts outweigh its reserves.

RCM has $1.9m in a trust fund maintained by the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF). At the discretion of OAF, the charity receives income from its funds. In F2023, RCM received $139k from the OAF.

Updated on June 27, 2025 by Joshua Leduc. This update has been sent to the charity and changes may be forthcoming.