Mustard Seed is a three-star financially transparent charity. It has a C+ results reporting score, which is below average. For every dollar donated to the charity, 63 cents are available to go to the cause.

Founded in 1984 and based in Calgary, Mustard Seed is a Christian charity serving six cities across Alberta and British Columbia. Reducing both poverty and homelessness is the charity’s goal. It accomplishes this goal by providing emergency shelter, meals, clothing, affordable housing, and other services to those in need. The charity runs three programs: Basic Services, Affordable Housing, and Support Services. Mustard Seed spent $35.4m on its programs in the fiscal year ending March 2023 (F2023).

Basic Services was 52% of the charity’s program spending. Basic Services include food, its emergency night shelter, and clothing. In F2023, Mustard Seed served over 650,000 meals across six Canadian cities and provided 55,000 articles of clothing. The charity also made 670 shelter spaces available to those in need. The charity additionally opened a 40-bed women’s shelter in Calgary.

Support Services was 29% of the charity’s program spending. In Calgary, this program helped 1,300 homeless people obtain government issued IDs in F2023. Mustard Seed also provided 53,000 health & wellness services and 22,000 spiritual conversations in F2023.

Affordable Housing was 19% of the charity’s program spending. This program provided long-term affordable and supportive housing to over 600 clients in F2023. Supportive housing is specifically tailored for people who need help living independently. In Grand Prairie, 63 supportive and 43 affordable housing units were scheduled to be built by 2024. These were completed in February 2024.

This analysis consolidates Mustard Seed’s (operating charity) and The Mustard Seed Foundation’s (foundation) audited financial statements, henceforth called Mustard Seed.

In F2023, Mustard Seed received $17.9m in cash donations, a 16% decrease from $21.4m in F2022. The charity also received $15.8m in government funding, a 33% decrease from $23.5m in F2022. Administrative costs are 2% of revenues and fundraising costs are 35% of donations, resulting in 37% total overhead spending. This means that for every dollar donated, 63 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside Ci's reasonable range.

In F2023, Mustard Seed spent $35.4m on its programs, a 6% decrease from $37.7m in F2022.

At the end of F2023, Mustard Seed had $5.3m in reserve funds (cash and investments) which covers 15% or under 2 months of its annual program spending.

From F2019 to F2022, the foundation raised funds from external fundraisers. The foundation paid external fundraisers $44k in F2022 and $349k in F2021. In F2023, the foundation did not properly disclose whether or not they relied on external fundraisers in its T3010 filings.

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on June 27, 2024. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.