Founded in 1983, Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter (Ernestine’s) helps women and their children escape violence and rebuild their lives after abuse. According to the charity, 6,000 women and children in Canada sleep in shelters each night because they are unsafe at home. Ernestine’s believes in early intervention to end cycles of violence in families. The charity reports that it has supported over 15,000 women and children in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) since it opened.

Ernestine’s runs six primary programs: Women’s Program, Child and Youth, Housing and Legal, Transitional Housing and Outreach, Settlement, and Food Support. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending on its programs.

Ernestine’s operates a 32-bed emergency shelter with 14 private bedrooms for women and their children. Clients stay at the shelter anywhere from six months to over a year until Ernestine’s finds them permanent housing. Women at the shelter have access to any items they need including bedding, clothes, school supplies, toiletries, baby supplies, prescriptions, money for transportation, and more. Ernestine’s also offers services to help women and children get back on their feet, like counselling, training programs, and legal and immigration support. The charity reports that the shelter was at capacity or over capacity for the duration of 2020. Throughout the year, Ernestine’s provided 244 counselling sessions for women and 149 counselling sessions for children. The charity also runs an on-site food bank and donation room. In F2020, Ernestine’s served 139 unique families at its food bank.

In addition to the shelter, Ernestine’s helps women and children facing abuse at home through its Outreach Program. The charity understands that it may be dangerous or scary for a woman to escape her abusive partner. As a result, Ernestine’s supports women at home through a 24-hour crisis line and similar services offered to shelter residents, including housing, legal, and settlement support. In F2020, Ernestine’s supported 189 women and 277 children staying in-house.

In F2020, Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter had total donations of $1.0m. The charity also received $1.5m in government funding, representing 60% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 7% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 8% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 16%. For every dollar donated, 84 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Ernestine’s has $940k in funding reserves, which could cover 46% or almost six months of annual program costs.

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 5, 2021 by Sydney Olexa.