Discovery House
STAR RATINGCi's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics: |
✔+
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY
Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.
A
RESULTS REPORTING
Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.
n/r
DEMONSTRATED IMPACT
The demonstrated impact per dollar Ci calculates from available program information.
NEED FOR FUNDING
Charity's cash and investments (funding reserves) relative to how much it spends on programs in most recent year.
80%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 80 cents are available for programs.
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Programs
About Discovery House:
Founded in 1980, Discovery House (DH) helps women and children escape violence and live safely in Calgary. Discovery House estimates that one woman is killed by a current or former partner every six days in Canada. DH further states that one in four Canadian women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, and Alberta has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the country. Discovery House provides housing for women and children escaping abuse. It mainly acts as a second-stage shelter, providing a transition between short-term emergency shelters and long-term independent housing.
Discovery House uses a “housing first” model, meaning that they prioritize finding stable housing for families. Discovery House offers 19 secure apartment units and one single-family home. Discovery House reports that an average stay at its shelter is around seven months. Apart from its main shelter, DH also provides a Community Housing Program (CHP) that matches more than 100 clients to affordable rental homes each year. Discovery House states that clients stay in CHP housing for around 14 months on average. In F2020, the charity reports that it provided supportive housing to a total of 210 women and 423 children.
Discovery House provides families with additional services and support after they are safely housed. DH states that it assigns each family a case manager, a youth case manager, a mental health clinician, and a housing liaison. Discovery House provides mental health assessments, counselling, employment training, parenting classes, and financial planning.
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Results and Impact
In F2020, Discovery House reports that 104 women and 193 children transitioned out of DH housing and into independent, stable housing. Among its clients during the year, DH states that 80% of children under age five improved their emotional, social, and cognitive development. In addition, 76% of children reported decreased levels of stress, anxiety, and problematic behaviours.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not be a complete representation of Discovery House’s results and impact.
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Finances
Discovery House is a medium-sized charity with $2.1m in donations and special events revenue in F2020. It received $1.5m in government funding, representing 35% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 4% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 15% of donations and special events revenue. This results in total overhead spending of 20%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 80 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.
Discovery House has $4.0m in funding reserves, of which $1.2m is donor-endowed. Excluding donor-endowed funds, Discovery House could cover 81% or ten months of annual program costs.
Updated on July 31, 2020 by Eric Zhao.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 4.1% | 4.6% | 4.8% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 15.4% | 13.4% | 10.9% |
| Total overhead spending | 19.5% | 17.9% | 15.7% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | 81.0% | 89.2% | 78.5% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $s |
2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 1,828,471 | 1,888,766 | 2,015,434 |
| Government funding | 1,544,479 | 1,490,759 | 1,533,090 |
| Fees for service | 402,975 | 343,725 | 198,970 |
| Business activities (net) | 131,590 | 200,552 | 203,098 |
| Special events | 290,577 | 183,428 | 96,901 |
| Investment income | 34,685 | 34,488 | 31,431 |
| Other income | 123,804 | 38,386 | 8,548 |
| Total revenues | 4,356,581 | 4,180,104 | 4,087,472 |
| Program costs | 3,621,300 | 3,573,255 | 3,950,664 |
| Administrative costs | 176,796 | 189,732 | 195,803 |
| Fundraising costs | 326,787 | 276,751 | 230,396 |
| Total spending | 4,124,883 | 4,039,738 | 4,376,863 |
| Cash flow from operations | 231,698 | 140,366 | (289,391) |
| Capital spending | 331,310 | 106,978 | 106,164 |
| Funding reserves | 4,036,865 | 4,285,734 | 4,208,049 |
Note: Ci adjusted for changes in deferred contributions relating to operations and capital assets. This affected donations and total revenues by ($401k) in F2020, $125k in F2019, and ($96k) in F2018. Ci reported strategic planning in administrative costs. Ci reported salaries associated with fundraising from the charity’s financial notes as fundraising costs, and removed the amounts from program costs. Ci typically reports lotteries and business activities net of expenses. However, Ci reported gaming and facilities revenues (gross of expenses) in business activities, based on information available from the charity’s financial statements.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
1 |
$80k - $120k |
5 |
$40k - $80k |
4 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2019
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 403-670-0467