Inn from the Cold Society

About Inn from the Cold Society:

Established by a network of volunteers in 1997, Inn from the Cold (IFTC) is Calgary's original and largest emergency family shelter. For families going through the stress and trauma of being homeless, the Inn offers the programs and supports required so they can begin to stabilize and rebuild their lives. Its mission is to offer shelter, sanctuary, and healing to assist homeless children and their families achieve independence. IFTC provides shelter and relieves immediate needs of homeless children and their families, while simultaneously addressing the root causes of family homelessness to create long-term solutions.

Services include 24/7 emergency family shelter and basic needs. In 2016, 25 families stayed at Inn from the Cold’s Journey House – a housing program for single female-headed households. A second Journey House will open in 2017. Families stay up to 2 years in IFTC’s housing and are given case management services and housing advocacy, available for up to 2 years after shelter stay. Community Inns provide volunteer-run emergency shelter with up to 30 beds, while Knox Inn Satellite Shelter provides overflow shelter space with 75 beds.

Inn from the Cold’s early childhood development program offers on-site intervention programming for children and their parents. Over 500 children and family members participated in this program in 2016. Assessment & Triage provided 2896 medical appointments and 2896 program referrals to connect families to community resources. In 2016, Inn from the Cold provided 33,034 bed stays of which 56% were provided to children.

Charity Intelligence has reviewed Inn from the Cold since 2009 and has consistently found it to be a high rated charity with good charity impact. 

In January 2017, Abe Brown became the new executive director of Inn from the Cold, previously managing client programs at Calgary Drop In Centre.  Bruce Alger is also the new Board Chair. 

Financial Review:

Inn from the Cold is a big-cap charity with donations of $7.7m in F2016. The Calgary Homeless Foundation contributed $2.9m of donations (39% of total donations). Administrative costs made up 12% of revenues and fundraising costs made up 6% of donations in F2016. For every $1 donated, 81 cents go to the cause, falling within Charity Intelligence’s reasonable range of overhead spending.

With total funding reserves of $6.6m, Inn from the Cold has a program cost coverage of 121%. This means that IFTC has enough cash on hand to fund 1 year and 2 months of programming, indicating a need for additional funding. IFTC changed its year-end from December to March in 2015.  Ci has not included the 3-month reported period in 2014.

This charity report is an update that is currently under review by Inn from the Cold. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 23, 2017 by Juliana Badovinac.