Habitat for Humanity Saskatchewan is a one-star charity with low demonstrated impact. It is not financially transparent and has a low results reporting grade. For every dollar donated to the charity, 60 cents are available to go to the cause, which is outside Ci's reasonable range. Read Ci's report before donating to this charity. 

Founded in 2021 through the merger of Habitat Regina, Habitat Saskatoon, and Habitat Prince Albert, Habitat for Humanity Saskatchewan (Habitat Saskatchewan) helps to provide low-income families with affordable housing. Habitat Regina, the primary chapter of Habitat Saskatchewan was founded in 1993. Habitat Saskatchewan is one of Habitat for Humanity Canada’s 46 local affiliates that work toward a country where everyone has a safe and stable place to live. The charity has three main chapters in Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert; and four small chapters in Estevan, Yorkton, Moose Jaw, and Melfort. Habitat Saskatchewan's small chapters help the charity build homes, fundraise, and partner with families in need of affordable housing.

Habitat Saskatchewan’s main program is homeownership. The program helps low-income families buy affordable homes. The charity raises funds for land and materials to build new houses. Habitat Saskatchewan sells its homes to eligible families with no down payment required, financed through interest-free mortgages paid over 20 years. To keep homes affordable, Habitat Saskatchewan caps these mortgage payments at 25% of annual household income. The charity also requires each family to contribute 500 hours of “sweat equity” by volunteering to build homes or working at Habitat ReStores. Habitat Regina receives mortgage payments through a revolving fund used to finance future building projects. Since founding, Habitat Saskatchewan states that it has helped over 200 families become new homeowners.

Habitat Saskatchewan provided no information on its main chapters. The charity reports that its Estevan chapter is building its second home, its Yorkton chapter is building its eighth home, and its Moose Jaw chapter is building its ninth home.

ReStore is Habitat for Humanity’s retail store that accepts donations of overstocked or used discontinued items and usable building materials. ReStore then sells the donated items to the public at a reduced cost. Habitat Saskatchewan has three ReStore locations located in Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert.

Habitat Saskatchewan received $773k in donations in F2022. This is a 26% decrease compared F2021 where the charity received $1.0m in donations. It also received $1.9m in fees for service (mortgage payments from families, amounting to 42% of total revenue) and $751k in government grants (19% of revenue) during the year.

Habitat Saskatchewan does not report on fundraising in F2022 and F2021 in its audited financial statements and its T3010 filing with the CRA. Administrative costs are 40% of revenue. This results in total overhead spending of 40%. For every dollar donated to the charity, 60 cents are available to go to the cause. This is outside of Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending, which has been the case for the past five years.

Habitat Saskatchewan’s funding reserves are shown as negative since its interest-bearing debts of $6.4m exceed its cash and investments of $966k. This is common for Habitat for Humanity chapters across Canada, which hold mortgages for first-time homeowners. Excluding interest-bearing debts, Habitat Saskatchewan’s gross reserve funds can cover 18%, or two months of its annual program costs.

Charity Intelligence has sent this update to Habitat for Humanity Saskatchewan for review. Changes and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on July 26, 2023 by Liam Chapleau.