Canadian heritage institutions recorded more than $3.07 billion in revenue and welcomed 67.3 million in-person visits in 2023. The same sector also reached 313.6 million online visits, supported 80,851 volunteers, and reported a mixed picture of facility condition in the 2025 infrastructure survey. Together, these figures show the scale of heritage work across museums, galleries, historic sites, archives, zoos, and botanical gardens.
Contents
- Sector revenue and spending
- Government, donations, and earned revenue
- Employment and volunteering
- Visits, digital reach, and exhibitions
- Public and school programming
- Infrastructure condition and planned upgrades
Sector revenue and spending
The Government of Canada Survey of Heritage Institutions: 2025 reports 2023 financial results for Canadian not-for-profit heritage institutions. Across the surveyed institutions, total revenue was $3,077,957 thousand, while total expenditures reached $2,879,623 thousand. The sector’s overall profit margin was 6.4%.
Museums generated $1,357,932 thousand in total revenue in 2023, the largest amount among the institution types surveyed. Art galleries generated $619,052 thousand, archives generated $455,245 thousand, and zoos and botanical gardens generated $401,734 thousand. Historic sites generated $243,993 thousand.
| Institution type | Total revenue in 2023 |
|---|---|
| Museums | $1,357,932 thousand |
| Art galleries | $619,052 thousand |
| Archives | $455,245 thousand |
| Zoos and botanical gardens | $401,734 thousand |
| Historic sites | $243,993 thousand |
These figures describe revenue by institution type, not a ranking of individual organizations. The surveyed sector also reported different financial outcomes across institution types. Historic sites had a 0.2% profit margin, the lowest positive margin among the listed types, compared with the 6.4% overall margin.
For Alberta readers, the figures provide national context for the organizations that preserve local stories, collections, landscapes, and built heritage. They also show why heritage finances cannot be described by admission income alone: the sector combines public support, donations, investments, and visitor-related revenue.
Government, donations, and earned revenue
Unearned revenue across Canadian not-for-profit heritage institutions totaled $2,075,427 thousand in 2023. Government funding made up several large reported components of that total. Federal government funding supplied $666,187 thousand in unearned revenue, provincial government funding supplied $677,251 thousand, and local government funding supplied $289,665 thousand.
The survey also recorded several forms of charitable and investment income. Tax-receipted donations totaled $200,805 thousand, while non-tax-receipted donations totaled $48,134 thousand. Donations from other charities totaled $129,615 thousand. Interest and investment income added $63,771 thousand.
Admission fees produced $326,919 thousand in earned revenue. This is a substantial amount, but it sits alongside the much larger reported total for unearned revenue and the broader $3,077,957-thousand revenue figure. These categories should not be added together casually: they describe different parts of the survey’s financial reporting.
The funding mix matters when interpreting the sector’s public role. Government support can help sustain collections, buildings, staff, and programs; donations can support specific missions or activities; and admission fees connect revenue to physical visits. The figures do not identify how each source was spent by individual institutions, so they should be read as sector-level measures for 2023.
Employment and volunteering
Canadian not-for-profit heritage institutions employed 13,785 full-time employees and 19,554 part-time employees in 2023. They also reported 3,331 contract workers. In addition to paid and contracted work, the sector reported 80,851 volunteers.
Museums accounted for 48,433 of the reported volunteers, making them the largest reported volunteer grouping in the supplied institution-level figures. Historic sites reported 9,949 volunteers. These counts describe people reported by the institutions; they do not state how many hours each person contributed.
Employment patterns also varied by institution type. Archives employed 3,073 full-time employees. Museums employed 8,689 part-time employees, while zoos and botanical gardens employed 4,430 part-time employees. These figures are counts of employees, not full-time-equivalent measures, so they should not be used to calculate an average workload or direct comparison of hours.
| Workforce measure | Reported 2023 count |
|---|---|
| Full-time employees | 13,785 |
| Part-time employees | 19,554 |
| Contract workers | 3,331 |
| Volunteers | 80,851 |
The volunteer figure is especially important for understanding how heritage organizations operate beyond their payrolls. Volunteers may contribute to visitor services, collections, interpretation, events, and community activities, but the survey figures supplied here do not break the total into those roles.
Visits, digital reach, and exhibitions
The surveyed institutions recorded 67,288,336 in-person visits in 2023. They also recorded 313,594,199 online visits. The two measures indicate very different forms of reach, and they should not be treated as interchangeable visits or combined into a single attendance total.
Museums recorded 32,794,027 in-person visits, while historic sites recorded 14,214,241. The source reports these as institution-type totals for 2023, not as attendance at a particular Alberta attraction or as unique visitors across Canada.
Heritage institutions hosted 113,660 school groups during the year. Their exhibition activity included 16,441 permanent exhibitions, 9,019 exhibitions created during the year, and 3,231 exhibitions circulated. They also hosted 16,679 online exhibitions.
| Engagement or exhibition measure | 2023 count |
|---|---|
| In-person visits | 67,288,336 |
| Online visits | 313,594,199 |
| School groups | 113,660 |
| Permanent exhibitions | 16,441 |
| Exhibitions created | 9,019 |
| Exhibitions circulated | 3,231 |
| Online exhibitions hosted | 16,679 |
The exhibition counts cover different activities. Permanent exhibitions describe ongoing displays, exhibitions created describe new work during the year, circulated exhibitions describe material moved or shared among institutions, and online exhibitions describe digital presentation. The supplied data does not indicate how many visitors viewed each exhibition or how many exhibitions were located in Alberta.
Public and school programming
Programming reached different age groups and covered both creative practice and cultural learning. In 2023, 55% of institutions offered general-public programming for children aged 12 or younger. The share offering general-public programming for youth aged 13 to 17 was 58%, while 72% offered general-public programming for adults aged 18 to 59.
Across the sector, 22% of institutions offered painting, sculpting, or sketching programs. Craft-making programs or workshops were offered by 39%. Cultural workshops on traditional knowledge and skills, including Indigenous and other cultural groups, were offered by 33% of institutions.
In-person general-public programs attracted 7,064,013 participants in 2023. Online general-public programs attracted 1,454,799 participants. These are participation counts, not necessarily unique people, and the supplied figures do not provide a breakdown by province, age group, or program type.
School-related programming was also reported separately. Forty percent of institutions offered educator or school-curriculum programming for children aged 12 or younger. For youth aged 13 to 17, 34% offered educator or school-curriculum programming.
| Programming measure | Share or participation count |
|---|---|
| General-public programs for children 12 or younger | 55% of institutions |
| General-public programs for youth 13–17 | 58% of institutions |
| General-public programs for adults 18–59 | 72% of institutions |
| In-person general-public participants | 7,064,013 |
| Online general-public participants | 1,454,799 |
| Educator programs for children 12 or younger | 40% of institutions |
| Educator programs for youth 13–17 | 34% of institutions |
These percentages measure the share of institutions offering a type of program. They do not measure the share of visitors who participated, the number of sessions, or the quality of the programming. For communities and schools, the figures nonetheless show that heritage engagement extends beyond exhibitions and admission-based visits.
Infrastructure condition and planned upgrades
The infrastructure results come from the 2025 survey and should not be blended with the 2023 financial and activity measures. Institutions rated their facilities across five physical-condition categories. Two percent rated their facilities as very poor in physical condition. Seven percent rated them as poor and approaching the end of service life.
A further 36% rated their facilities as fair and requiring attention. Another 36% rated facilities as good and adequate, while 17% rated them as very good and fit for the future.
| Facility condition rating | Share of institutions in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Very poor | 2% |
| Poor, approaching end of service life | 7% |
| Fair, requiring attention | 36% |
| Good, adequate | 36% |
| Very good, fit for the future | 17% |
The planned-work figures point to several types of investment. Within the next three years, 16% planned a new facility or an expansion. Forty-one percent planned improvements to current facilities, such as accessibility, storage, or curatorial spaces. Thirty-five percent planned improvements to facility physical plants, such as HVAC or roofing. Twenty-seven percent planned facility improvements specifically to enhance environmental sustainability.
These plans are not forecasts of completed construction. They describe what institutions planned within the three-year period covered by the 2025 infrastructure survey. Likewise, the condition ratings are reported assessments of facilities, not independent engineering inspections stated in the source. For Alberta heritage organizations, the figures are useful national benchmarks for thinking about access, collections care, building systems, and long-term stewardship while keeping the survey year and scope in view.