A commitment is defined as the written letter issued by a UHN Foundation Partner committing funds to the accountholder’s UHN research account.

UHN's research activities are funded by granting agencies (including health charities), philanthropy through UHN’s foundation partners, government, and industry. Funds used to support the operating costs of research projects under the direction of our Principal Investigators (PI’s) are known as direct costs. Examples of direct costs include laboratory staff & trainee salaries, laboratory supplies, core facility fees, publication costs, travel, etc.

Organizational costs, sometimes called Indirect Costs, are actual costs incurred to support the conduct of research; without funding for these essential costs, research projects could not proceed. These costs include:

1. PI salaries and benefits, administrative staff;
2. Costs for services such as HR, IT, finance, legal, safety, grant administration, commercialization, etc.;
3. Costs to operate and maintain shared core facilities;
4. Costs for rent, utilities, and maintenance of our research spaces and buildings such as housekeeping, security etc.