Founded in 1983, Shepherds of Good Hope (SGH) provides individuals in Ottawa with appropriate supports to break the cycle of homelessness. SGH provides shelter, food, clothing, and support services to people struggling with mental health challenges, addiction, and trauma. SGH's major programs include transitional shelter services, supportive housing, and community support services. At the time of this report, the charity has not posted its F2021 annual report. The following information is reported from the Foundation's F2020 publications. The charity does not provide a breakdown of spending on its programs.

SGH’s specialized shelter programs help people transition from homelessness to permanent housing. Programs include a traditional men’s shelter, a supervised consumption and treatment service for those struggling with addiction, and women’s and men’s transitional emergency shelters for people with complex needs. In F2020, SGH’s shelters provided nightly stays to 2,532 people, with an average length of stay of 40 days.

SGH’s supportive housing program allows people with physical and mental health challenges to live independently. The charity operates four residences that housed 184 people in F2020. In 2022, the charity plans to open its fifth supportive housing residence, which will house 42 people.

SGH’s community support services provide food and activities to shelter clients, supportive housing residents, and members of the broader community. In F2020, SGH purchased a new refrigerated truck for picking up perishable food donations across Ottawa. The charity provided a total of 239,377 meals in its soup kitchen in F2020.

Charity Intelligence consolidated Shepherds of Good Hope’s financial statements with Shepherds of Good Hope Foundation's financial statements for the following analysis.

In F2021, Shepherds of Good Hope had total donations and special events revenues of $6.1m. The charity also received $9.5m in government funding, representing 52% of total revenues. Administrative costs are 5% of revenues (excluding investment income), and fundraising costs are 15% of donations. This results in total overhead spending of 19%. For every dollar donated, 81 cents go to the cause, which is within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending.

SGH has $4.8m in funding reserves, once $3.7m in short-term and long-term debt is accounted for. The charity could cover 37% or four months of annual program costs with reserves.

Charity Intelligence sent an update of this report to Shepherds of Good Hope for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on August 26, 2021 by Sydney Olexa.