Harvest House Ministries of Ottawa

About Harvest House Ministries of Ottawa:

Founded in 1979, Harvest House Ministries of Ottawa-Carleton (Harvest House) operates a recovery program for young men, ages 16 to 30, suffering from drug and alcohol abuse. Harvest House aims to rehabilitate young men who are chemically dependent, to instill in them self-discipline, and to reintegrate them into society by an inner change brought about by faith in Jesus Christ. The charity operates a 24-bed facility in southern Ottawa. Harvest House receives no government funding and relies on fundraising to fund its operations.

Harvest House offers a wide variety of programs to its residents including anger management, bible study, running and a skills development program. In 2017, 97 men were welcomed into treatment with the average age of residents being 28. Harvest House offers a continuing education program which helps residents without a high school diploma prepare to write the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) test. The charity noted that 21 residents studied in the GED education program in 2017.

Harvest House has four additional “re-entry” houses to assist graduates as they face the difficult challenge of re-entering society after completing a year at the main facility. In 2017, the charity also ran 312 hours of personal development in its group counselling program and taught 156 classes on recovery education & relapse prevention. Harvest House’s primary outreach program, Values, Influences and Peers (VIP), aims to educate students ages 13 to 19 about the dangers of substance abuse. In 2017, the charity reports to have 30 residents share their stories at 56 schools in the Ottawa area, reaching 1561 students.

Results and Impact: In 2017, Harvest House reported that it had 14 clients graduate from its one-year re-entry program. This program has had a success rate of 24.8% since it started.

Financial Review:

Harvest House is a medium-sized charity with donations and special events revenue of $1.6m in F2017. Administrative costs are 10% of revenues and fundraising costs are 22% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.68 goes towards its programs, falling within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. Harvest house has funding reserves of $193k, which cover less than 2 months of annual program costs, indicating a need for donations.

This charity report is an update that has been sent to Harvest House Ministries of Ottawa-Carleton for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on June 28, 2018 by Derek Houlberg.