Founded in 1974, Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter (CWES) works to end family violence and abuse. It states that half of all women will experience an incident of physical or sexual violence, and the Calgary Police Service responds to 20,000 domestic violence calls each year. Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter offers programs to help women and their families prevent, escape, or recover from abuse. In F2020, CWES states that it helped more than 15,000 clients through its shelter and programs.

Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter’s three largest programs are its Emergency Shelter, Community Services Counselling and Outreach, and Healthy Relationships.

Emergency Shelter services made up 46% of program costs in F2020. CWES offers a 50-bed facility to house women and children escaping abuse. Shelter clients receive food, clothing, counselling, and support with long-term housing searches. The shelter housed 320 women and 386 children in F2020, compared to 471 women and 457 children in F2019. Based on the charity’s reported spending on shelter programs, it cost $5,760 to house one client in F2020. This is up 32% from $4,357 per client in the previous year.

Community Services Counselling and Outreach made up 23% of program costs in F2020. These services help women who are unable to or choose not to enter the Emergency Shelter. CWES states that it serves over 90% of its clients through community services outside of its shelter. The charity provides counsellors to offer parenting support, safety planning, and other resources. In F2020, Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter reached 600 women and 640 children through counselling services

Healthy Relationships programs were 10% of program costs in F2020. The program targets adolescents aged 12 to 21. CWES provides group counselling sessions for young clients to discuss issues relating to family violence, unhealthy relationships, and abusive behaviour. The program relies on referrals by teachers and school guidance counsellors. In F2020, 410 clients participated in Healthy Relationships programs.

The remaining 21% of program spending included Men’s Counselling, Child and Family Support, Take-A-Stand Workshops, and Volunteer Programs. The charity’s 24-Hour Family Violence Helpline represented less than 1% of program spending in F2020. The service requires minimal spending but helps many clients. In F2020, CWES received 10,459 calls for an average of 29 calls per day.

Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter is a Large charity, with donations and special events revenues of $5.9m in F2020. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (less investment income) and fundraising costs are 9% of donations and special events revenue. This results in total overhead spending of 14%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 86 cents go to the cause. This falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter has $2.1m in total funding reserves, resulting in a program cost coverage ratio of 27%. This means that CWES could cover three months of annual program costs with its existing funding reserves.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 31, 2020 by Eric Zhao.