610 Bronson Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1S 4E6
Executive Director: Julia Thompson
Board Chair: Kathleen Lauder

Charitable Reg. #:82246 8476 RR0001

STAR RATING

Ci's Star Rating is calculated based on the following independent metrics:

[Charity Rating: 2/5]

✔+

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Audited financial statements for current and previous years available on the charity’s website.

B-

RESULTS REPORTING

Grade based on the charity's public reporting of the work it does and the results it achieves.

Low

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.



My anchor

OVERVIEW

About Help Lesotho:

Help Lesotho is a 2-star charity with a Low demonstrated impact. The charity has a B- Results Reporting grade, which is below average. Its overhead spending is 12%, within Ci’s reasonable range, and its reserve funds can cover just under 1 year of annual program costs. This is within Ci’s reasonable range.  

Founded in 2004, Help Lesotho works to fight gender-based inequality and violence, promote education, and prevent HIV transmission across Lesotho. The charity’s head office is in Ottawa. Help Lesotho states that nearly one in four people in Lesotho are HIV positive and that half of Lesotho’s population lives in poverty. The charity reports that 86% of women and girls report experiences of gender-based violence. The charity states that Lesotho has the world’s highest suicide rate, as of February 2024.  

Help Lesotho states that it runs 22 life skills and psychosocial support programs for vulnerable and at-risk people. It lists twelve programs on its website: Grandmother Program, Young Mother Program, Herd Boy Program, Child Sponsorship, Schools Helping Schools, Leaders-in-Training, Leadership Centres, Computer and Life Skills, GIRL4ce, Pearl Program, Guys4Good, and Youth Employment Training. The charity does not report a breakdown of spending by program.  

In F2024, the charity reported that it reached 23,545 people directly through its programs, of which 48% were youth, 23% were children, 14% were grandmothers, 8% were herd boys, and 6% were young mothers. The charity reported that it reached 7,497 people indirectly.  

Help Lesotho’s Leader-in-Training (LIT) Program is its most intensive program, welcoming 60 youths annually for 24 training days over six weeks. The participants learn about effective communication, conflict resolution, and decision-making. In F2024, 67% of LIT graduates were female, 92% were unemployed and 36% faced mental challenges.  

My anchor

Results and Impact

Help Lesotho collected surveys at an Alumni Reunion in 2020 and reported that 98% of respondents said that the organisation made a very positive impact on their lives. 91% of respondents said that they make healthier life choices because of what they learned at Help Lesotho, 91% said their future is brighter because of the charity, and 86% said that they are more conscious about the needs of others. 

Help Lesotho surveyed LIT attendees after graduation, asking them to assess the modules offered and their personal development before and after the training. In F2024, the charity reported that 98% of graduates stated that they were more resilient. It found that 100% of participants identified as better leaders and 98% felt better equipped as leaders in F2024. 

The Charity’s Young Mothers program reported that 100% of young mothers reported improved resilience in F2022.  

In F2024, Help Lesotho’s Student Sponsorship Program covered the fees for 250 high school students who would otherwise have been unable to continue their education, due to high costs.  

Ci rated Help Lesotho as having a low demonstrated impact per dollar spent.  

This may not be a complete representation of Help Lesotho’s results and impact. 

Impact Rating: Low

My anchor

Finances

Help Lesotho’s audited financial statements follow activity-based costing, a best practice. This means that its expenses are clearly defined between program, administration, and fundraising categories.  

In F2024, the charity received $854k in Canadian donations, which is 59% of total revenue. It also reported $504k in international donations in F2024, representing 35% of total revenue. Help Lesotho recorded $84k in investment income in F2024. 

Help Lesotho spent $1.3m on its international program. The charity spent $95k on administration, which is 7% of revenue in F2024. It spent $45k on fundraising, which is 5% of donations. This means that the total overhead costs are 12%. For every dollar donated, 88 cents are available to go to the cause.  

In F2024, the charity recorded a deficit of ($3k) and had net funding reserves of $1.3m. This reserve can cover 97%, or just under 1 year, of annual program costs. This is within Charity Intelligence’s limit of 300%.  

According to its annual filing with the Charities Directorate, Help Lesotho used external fundraisers in F2024. It paid external fundraisers $1k to raise $40k, at a cost of $0.04 per dollar raised. 

Profile updated by Leah Holmes on June 12, 2025. Comments and corrections may be forthcoming.      

Financial Review


Financial Ratios

Fiscal year ending June
202420232022
Administrative costs as % of revenues 7.0%10.4%4.5%
Fundraising costs as % of donations 5.3%5.9%2.0%
Total overhead spending 12.2%16.3%6.5%
Program cost coverage (%) 96.5%89.2%114.0%

Summary Financial Statements

All figures in $s
202420232022
Donations 854,198638,6151,168,567
International donations 503,706622,605629,237
Business activities (net) 12,59414,14615,930
Investment income 84,03272,42449,045
Other income (2,499)(6,711)(8,050)
Total revenues 1,452,0311,341,0791,854,729
Program costs - International 1,314,3031,463,9641,443,453
Administrative costs 95,344131,39280,638
Fundraising costs 45,02937,91123,488
Total spending 1,454,6761,633,2671,547,579
Cash flow from operations (2,645)(292,188)307,150
Capital spending 58,37944,69631,129
Funding reserves 1,268,9031,306,4041,645,277

Note: Ci reported international donations from the charity’s T3010 filing with the CRA and removed the amounts from Canadian donations. Ci adjusted for deferred contributions and deferred capital contributions, affecting revenues by ($55k) in F2024, ($274k) in F2023, and $273k in F2022. Ci removed amortization included in program and administrative costs based on the charity’s financial notes. 

Salary Information

Full-time staff: 42

Avg. compensation: $19,182

Top 10 staff salary range:

$350k +
0
$300k - $350k
0
$250k - $300k
0
$200k - $250k
0
$160k - $200k
0
$120k - $160k
1
$80k - $120k
2
$40k - $80k
2
< $40k
5

Information from most recent CRA Charities Directorate filings for F2024

My anchor

Comments & Contact

Comments added by the Charity:

The following comment was provided for a previous profile update.

In 2014, Help Lesotho became one of the first 100 Canadian charities to achieve accreditation through the Imagine Canada Standards Program. Accreditation is a testimony to Help Lesotho’s transparency, accountability, and effective governance. With over 86,000 charities in Canada, fewer than 1% have been recognized with this gold standard for operational excellence. Accreditation through Imagine Canada is just one example of Help Lesotho’s commitment to being a Centre of Excellence in everything we do. One of our strategic priorities is to increase our capacity to measure the impact of our programs on the ground.

Charity Contact

Website: www.helplesotho.org
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tel: 613-369-5868

Print  
Image

Charity Intelligence researches Canadian charities for donors to be informed and give intelligently. Our website posts free reports on more than 800 Canadian charities, as well as in-depth primers on philanthropic sectors like Canada’s environment, cancer, and homelessness. Today over 500,000 Canadians use our website as a go-to source for information on Canadian charities reading over 1.6 million charity reports. Through rigorous and independent research, Charity Intelligence aims to assist Canada’s dynamic charitable sector in being more transparent, accountable and focused on results.

 

Be Informed. Give Intelligently. Have Impact

 

Charitable Registration Number: 80340 7956 RR0001