Aunt Leah's
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.
Good
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.
88%
CENTS TO THE CAUSE
For a dollar donated, after overhead costs of fundraising and admin/management (excluding surplus) 88 cents are available for programs.
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OVERVIEW
About Aunt Leah's:
Aunt Leah’s is a five-star financially transparent charity with a Good impact rating. It has an A results reporting grade, which is excellent, and reasonable overhead. For every dollar donated to the charity, 88 cents are available to go to the cause. The charity has low reserve funds which indicates a need for funding.
Founded in 1988, Aunt Leah’s both helps prevent former foster youths from becoming homeless and helps young mothers retain custody of their children. The charity owns and houses clients at four residential homes designed for communal living and two independent living apartments. It also offers its clients high school tutoring, skills training courses, counselling, and college grants. According to Aunt Leah’s, 32% of Vancouver’s 2020 homeless population were formerly part of the province’s foster care system.
Aunt Leah’s runs four programs: Housing, Employment, Education, and Life Skills. It spent $5.1m on its programs in the fiscal year ending in March 2024 (F2024).
A Charity Intelligence 2024 Top 100 Rated Charity
Housing was 70% of the charity’s program spending. During F2024, Aunt Leah’s acquired the 41-suite Pender St. apartment. According to the charity, this apartment will provide affordable housing to youths aging out of foster care and young mothers in need. In F2024, the charity provided rent subsidies to 69 people, a 31% drop from 100 people in F2023. It also helped 136 youths and mothers find housing, a 20% drop from 170 helped in F2023. Aunt Leah’s did not report standardized metrics like average length of stay or occupancy rates typically reported by comparable charities.
Employment was 16% of the charity’s program spending. During F2024, it ran eight job skills training courses attended by 55 people. Aunt Leah’s also provides its clients customer service training at its thrift store. According to the charity, its clients helped sell 5,357 Christmas trees during F2024.
Education was 9% of the charity’s program spending. During F2024, it provided grants to 19 people pursuing higher education. Aunt Leah’s also built a customized education plan for 64 youths.
Life Skills was 5% of the charity’s program spending. In F2024, Aunt Leah’s served 4,347 meals to 178 people and held 625 counselling sessions attended by 62 participants.
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Results and Impact
Five women living at Aunt Leah’s ‘Thresholds 1’ property fully transitioned into independent living and kept their families intact in F2024.
Of the 55 youths who received job skills training, 26 (47%) found a job after leaving the program.
11 youths successfully graduated high school after receiving tutoring offered by Aunt Leah’s.
For the past 20 years, Aunt Leah’s has advocated to extend the age at which youth age out of care. In 2024, the Ministry of Children and Family Development extended its services from 19 to 27 years of age in BC.
Ci has given Aunt Leah's a Good impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
While Ci highlights these key results, they may not completely represent Aunt Leah’s results and impact.
Ci has given Aunt Leah's an overall Good impact rating based on demonstrated impact per dollar spent.
Impact Rating: Good
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Finances
Aunt Leah’s Foundation (also known as Aunt Leah’s properties) manages housing on behalf of Aunt Leah’s Society (operating charity). Accordingly, this analysis consolidates the operating charity and foundation’s audited financial statements. ‘Aunt Leah’s’ henceforth refers to the combined financials of both charities.
In F2024, Aunt Leah’s received $10.2m worth of donations and special events revenue. This is 76% of revenues and represents a $6.4m increase from $3.8m received in F2023. The charity also received $2.9m worth of government funding which is 22% of revenues.
Administrative costs are 5% and fundraising costs are 7%, which means its total overhead is 12%. For every dollar donated, 88 cents are available to go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable overhead range.
During F2024, Aunt Leah’s spent $5.1m on its programs, a $523k increase form $4.6m spent in F2023.
Aunt Leah’s built a new property – the Laneway House – during F2024. As such, its capital expenditures increased to $12.3m in F2024 from $853k in F2023.
At the F2024, the charity had $736k gross and ($4.6m) net reserve funds. This means Aunt Leah’s is unable to fund its program if it stops receiving funding. Ci backed out $5.4m worth of interest bearing debts from the charity’s gross reserve funds.
Profile updated by Julian Dranitsaris on March 11, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.
Financial Review
Fiscal year ending March
|
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative costs as % of revenues | 4.9% | 10.5% | 7.6% |
| Fundraising costs as % of donations | 6.7% | 15.1% | 14.0% |
| Total overhead spending | 11.6% | 25.6% | 21.6% |
| Program cost coverage (%) | (91.2%) | 23.7% | 21.8% |
Summary Financial StatementsAll figures in $000s |
2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 9,449 | 3,038 | 2,802 |
| Government funding | 2,938 | 2,444 | 2,310 |
| Fees for service | 256 | 208 | 261 |
| Business activities (net) | (60) | (72) | 163 |
| Special events | 752 | 736 | 890 |
| Investment income | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Total revenues | 13,341 | 6,355 | 6,425 |
| Program costs | 5,137 | 4,615 | 4,589 |
| Administrative costs | 657 | 667 | 487 |
| Fundraising costs | 685 | 569 | 517 |
| Other costs | 25 | 24 | 13 |
| Total spending | 6,504 | 5,875 | 5,605 |
| Cash flow from operations | 6,837 | 480 | 819 |
| Capital spending | 12,340 | 853 | 331 |
| Funding reserves | (4,633) | 1,143 | 1,051 |
Note: 1. LINE ITEM COSTING: Even though Aunt Leah’s Society's (operating charity) financials follow activity based costing, the foundation’s financials do not. Accordingly, Ci assigned line items to program, administrative, and fundraising expenses to the best of its ability. 2. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES: Business activities are recorded on a net basis. This means Ci backed out the operating costs of Aunt Leah’s thrift store. This affected revenue and expenses by ($962k), ($945k), and ($811k) in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 3. INTEREST-BEARING DEBTS: Ci backed out ($5.4m), ($912k), and ($944k) worth of interest-bearing debts from Aunt Leah’s gross reserve funds. 4. PRO-RATA AMORTIZATION: Ci backed out the operating charity’s amortization on a pro-rata basis from program, administrative, and fundraising costs. 5. DEFERRED DONATIONS ADJUSTMENT: Aunt Leah’s follows deferred accounting. Ci adjusted revenues for changes in deferred donations to show donors financial information consistently. This affected donations by ($129k), ($250k), and $164k in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 6. DEFERRED GOVERNMENT FUNDING ADJUSTMENT: Ci also adjusted government funding for changes in deferred government grants, affecting revenue by ($79k), $26k, and ($121k) in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively. 7. DEFERRED LEASE INDUCEMENT ADJUSTMENT: Ci also adjusted fees for service for changes in deferred lease inducement (rent), affecting revenues by ($9k), ($9k), and $69k in F2024, F2023, and F2022, respectively.
Salary Information
$350k + |
0 |
$300k - $350k |
0 |
$250k - $300k |
0 |
$200k - $250k |
0 |
$160k - $200k |
0 |
$120k - $160k |
0 |
$80k - $120k |
8 |
$40k - $80k |
2 |
< $40k |
0 |
Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024
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Comments & Contact
Comments added by the Charity:
Comment received and added on October 7, 2024:
We support youth from foster care and mothers at risk of losing custody of their children, who have been pushed to the margins of society due to poverty and lack of housing.
Fifty percent of our programming, which receives no government funding, is unique. Rather than provide time-limited services, we offer youth and mothers the time they need to stabilize, gain confidence, and create a safe environment that allows them to transition to stable housing and employment. We believe that this flexible, holistic approach—combined with the strengths and resilience of the young people themselves—is key to the success we can achieve.
Learn more:
Aunt Leah's 2024 Impact Report
Charity Contact
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Learn more about the challenges facing BC youth transitioning out of foster care:
McCreary Centre Society's Youth Research Academy, Youth Transitioning Out of Care in BC, March 2022 update.
Tel: (604) 525-1204