Fred Victor is a 3-star, financially transparent charity with an excellent A results reporting grade. It has $14.8m in reserve funds that can cover just over three months of its program spending. Its overhead spending is 31%. For every dollar donated, 69 cents are available to go to the cause. Fred Victor has grown from an $11m charity to $61m over the last 15 years with expanding services for Toronto's homeless.

Founded in 1984, Fred Victor provides comprehensive services to Toronto’s homeless population. The charity operates short-term emergency shelters, long-term transitional housing, harm reduction services, job skills training, and criminal diversion programs for those in need. According to the charity, over 12,000 people across Toronto sleep on the streets, in shelters, or in jails each night, with an average of three people each week dying of homelessness in the city. 

Fred Victor runs five programs: Emergency Shelter; Transitional Housing; Employment & Training; Health & Wellness; and Prevention, Outreach, and Engagement. It spent $54.7m on its programs in the March 2025 fiscal year (F2025). 

Emergency Shelter was 46% of Fred Victor’s program spending funding operations at eight emergency shelters and respite centres. In F2024, the charity housed 2,643 people (2,456 in F2023) who stayed for an average of 136 days across its shelters. Fred Victor provided a total of 225,707 nights of shelter in F2024 and reported a 95% occupancy rate.

Employment & Training was 19% of Fred Victor’s program spending. The charity’s case managers set career goals for clients who enter retail, kitchen, and baking skills training courses. Fred Victor also helps clients who graduate these programs find work through employer partnerships. In F2024, the charity provided 47,400 hours of employment training programming to 237 people. 

Housing was 14% of Fred Victor’s program spending. The charity manages 774 rent-subsidized apartments in 12 locations across Toronto. In F2024, the charity housed 820 people (778 in F2023) in second-stage transitional housing and reported a 98% average occupancy rate across its locations.

Health & Wellness was 11% of Fred Victor’s program spending and includes healthcare services provided by its clinic and safe consumption site. In F2025, the charity reported 21,195 safe consumption site visits. An average of 286 people visited this site every month in F2024.

Prevention, Outreach, & Engagement was 10% of Fred Victor’s program spending. The charity’s outreach and diversion teams diverted 1,284 homeless people to Fred Victor's shelters in F2024 (447 diversions in F2023). These teams also reported 17,964 interactions with Toronto's homeless in F2024.

Fred Victor’s audited financial statements follow line-item costing. The charity’s financials do not clearly separate expenses into program, administrative, and fundraising activities. This is not a best practice.  Ci referred to its CRA Charities Directorate T3010 filings for these cost allocations. Fred Victor has assured Ci of plans to report financial information consistently between its audited financial statements, annual report, and T3010 filings. 

Fred Victor refiled its F2024 and F2025 fundraising and administrative spending . These restated figures reduced overhead spending. 

In F2025, Fred Victor received $5.7m in donations (8% of total revenue) and $61.1m of government funding (83% of revenue). It also earned $3.6m of rental income from its rent-subsidized apartments (5% of revenue). 

Administrative costs are 9% of total revenue less investment income and fundraising costs are 22% of donations. Overhead spending is 31% that means that, for every dollar donated, 69 cents are available to go to the cause. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.

Fred Victor spent $52.7m on its programs in F2025 – a 23% increase from $43.0m spent in F2024. It also spent $11.9m on capital expenditures in F2025. The charity purchased new property and opened 64 new apartment units in F2025. 

At the end of F2025, Fred Victor had $26.0m gross and $14.8m net reserves (cash and investments). Ci backed out $11.2m worth of mortgage interest-bearing debt from its gross reserves. 

Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on July 29, 2025, revised with refiled/restated costs by Kate Bahen on March 3, 2026. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.